Media Contacts
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Vanessa Billy
Communications Manager
The Nature Conservancy Australia
Phone: 0478 638 180
Email: vanessa.billy@tnc.org
The Nature Conservancy Australia (TNC) today welcomed the introduction of the Nature Repair Market Bill into Parliament as the first step in creating a national biodiversity market.
TNC’s Managing Director, Alison Rowe, said TNC looks forward to working with the Australian Government in the coming months and years to develop science based, high integrity methods to achieve long term conservation outcomes.
“Our world faces a dual climate crisis and nature crisis,” Ms Rowe said. “While our world is committed to net zero, we must also commit to nature positive, and to do that, we need to adequately fund it, including through markets,” she said.
TNC supports the need to incentivise and reward landholders for the protection, good management and restoration of native vegetation, threatened species habitat and other natural values.
“As we’ve said throughout the Government’s consultation process, getting the design right at the start to ensure better outcomes at the end, as well as maximum participation and trust in the market, is paramount. Recommendations from the review of the carbon market on the transparency of governance and decision-making, integrity, market access and participation, are fundamental to the design of the new market,” Ms Rowe said.
To address the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, the Nature Repair Market is one of the tools in a much bigger toolkit which includes the need to:
- renew investment in the National Reserve System including establishment of new public, private and Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) to meet Australia’s international and domestic commitments
- more comprehensive fund Indigenous Ranger Programs and in-perpetuity funding for Indigenous Protected Areas
- reform of environmental protection law, policy and planning, including to limit land clearing and prevent other further degradation of our environment
- increase investment in management of invasive species, and
- reform of the tax treatment of conservation activities.
The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organisation dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we focus on getting things done efficiently and with the greatest positive impact for conservation. We’re a trusted organisation working in more than 70 countries and territories around the world on innovative solutions to our world’s toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. To learn more about The Nature Conservancy in Australia, follow us on Facebook.