Despite the worsening nature crisis and its increasing social and economic impacts,
Australia’s legacy of structural underfunding for on-ground nature conservation has largely continued.
ALCA strongly supports a role for robust OECMs in Australia and supports the Government in proceeding with its work to define and implement OECMs.
An enlivened and refreshed Biodiversity Conservation Act is needed to deliver a nature positive future for NSW.
ALCA recommends that several occupations – environmental managers, conservation officers, environmental consultants, environmental research scientists, and rangers – be updated to more accurately reflect the conservation land management sector.
ALCA recommends that the Government adopt “Environmental and Community Resilience” as one of its national science and research priorities, with the aim of building Australia’s capacity – especially its community-level capacity – to respond to the interconnected crises of climate change and biodiversity decline.
ALCA welcomes the introduction of the Nature Repair Market Bill to Parliament, stressing the importance of the Government’s role in building confidence in the market by outlining their biodiversity investment strategy as well as being a cornerstone investor.
ALCA is not supportive of the market being used to facilitate environmental offsets.
Building environmental resilience prior to the disaster of drought will help mitigate its economic, social and environmental impacts.
After the disaster of drought, management activities – including, where appropriate, relevant, a transition to sustainable land use change – will help build resilience back into the landscape, and into communities.
ALCA continues to welcome a national biodiversity market that can deliver high-quality, high-integrity, and positive outcomes for the environment, and which sits alongside stronger environmental laws that protect much more of Australia’s remaining natural habitat.
With further strengthening, the Bill has the potential to deliver a successful nature repair market.
It is in Australia’s interest to rapidly progress implementation of standards for climate-related financial risk disclosures.
The legislation on these standards should also be flexible enough to incorporate expected future standards for nature-related financial risk disclosures.
ALCA supports a transition to renewable energy that delivers on both climate action and nature.
Given nature’s underpinning role in our economy, ALCA recommends that the nature sector be included as one of the National Reconstruction Fund’s priority areas for investment, as well as recommending a range of nature-positive changes to the Fund’s Investment Mandate Direction.
ALCA recommends three primary environmental indicators for the Federal Budget, namely: biodiversity (by way of protected areas), access to green space, and
greenhouse gas emissions per capita.
