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PDF file

• Establishing east-west landscape linkage in the Southern Desert uplands (PDF - 2960 KB)

About this report

This report is the final report from a research project funded under the National Market Based Instruments program. The report includes a number of recommendations about the design of a MBI to establish a vegetation corridor zone across the region. These outcomes should be more widely applicable in other regions of Australia where engaging groups of landholders to achieve resource protection goals is important. The focus of this report is to outline a number of the issues that have been considered, and to give a summary of the key findings.

Background to the issue being considered

Rapid land development in the southern Desert uplands bioregion has fragmented the landscape, especially in the central part. To minimise risks of long-term biodiversity losses, it is desirable to establish a number of strategic east-west vegetation linkages across the region. The Vegetation Management Act (2004) was enacted in Queensland just as the project commenced and will limit further land development. However the establishment of landscape linkages across the bioregion to be primarily managed for their biodiversity values is still justified. Landscape linkages are important because there are still substantial pressures to further increase the intensive agricultural management of this bioregion as land prices escalate and cell grazing practices are in vogue (Rolfe and McCosker 2003). Linkage zones would reserve some areas from these pressures and provide buffer and migration zones in terms of adverse climate conditions.

Agreements with 10 to 12 landholders are needed to establish each vegetation corridor. In this instance landholders would be paid to not increase the intensity of grazing use in the bid area and they have one of four broad management options:

1. Maintain current production outputs by forsaking increased production outputs i.e. not putting in additional waters or reducing paddock sizes.
2. Modify current production outputs to have a better biodiversity vegetation condition outcome i.e. de-stock area over wet season.
3. Decrease production outputs.
4. Eliminate production outputs i.e. totally de-stock.

The key challenge in this process is to identify the most cost-effective corridors across the region given that a number of potential routes exist and landholder choices are inter-related. Market-based incentives (MBIs) offer a potential cost-effective means of establishing corridors. Potentially useful MBIs include competitive tendering and iterative negotiation rounds, as well as within-property transfers of vegetation clearing permits (this option is no longer possible due to legislative changes).

Objectives of the project

The overall aim of the project was to plan and develop a proposal for vegetation corridors to be established across the Desert Uplands through the use of an auction or other MBI-related voluntary landholder participation processes.
The main issues to be addressed in the project were:

1. How to involve landholders in a bidding process,
2. How to assess the environmental/ecological values of different corridor options,
3. How the auction/bidding process might work, and how to ensure that landholders and funding bodies achieve a "fair" deal.