Dealing with salinity in Wheatbelt Valleys - Department of Water

with Salinity in Wheatbelt Valleys Conference
Dealing
Prospects and Practical Options
Processes,
LANDSCAPE ECOSYSTEMS
• Describe and publicise the biophysical status of the environment (rural landscapes that
include wheatbelt valleys) as they are predicted to be in 2021
• Biologically significant areas (remnant bush, lakes, wetlands) should be assessed
according to values and risks. Priority funding should go to high values at risk
• Sustainability of all systems imposed on our landscape be proven to be not harmful to any
other part
CHANGING COMMUNITIES AND LANDSCAPE USE
FUNDING
• Identify the behavioural and cultural determinants of change – what is require to gain
successful adoption of best practice?
• Don’t knock ‘Tall Poppies’ – they are probably innovators for our future.
• Need to better identify the personal and community characteristics of those who live in the
Wheatbelt (Homosapien inlander)
• Decision-makers need to live amongst the decisions that are made
• The community is waiting for science but science is just catching up with the community
• Rural communities want to have ‘environmental vandal’ tag removed – they did not set out
to vandalise!
• Communities need to establish a “durable set of standards” – what are the important
values to each local community? Can ‘commodity’ and ‘community’ values be merged?
• Provide an audit of how money has been spent
• Use the ‘Investment Framework’
• Arrange systems of ‘financial rewards’ or ‘market accreditation’ for adoption of best NRM
practice or for delivery of measure outcomes towards NRM targets
• A wider range of funding options be assessed (eg Corporate funding for development of
‘Carbon Sinks’
• Identify new sources of capital – sharing risk and ownership of farms through investment.