Research: Helping our farmers support conservation
Private landholders in rural communities are invited to participate in research that could potentially lead to a new, streamlined scheme of conservation funding that will best meet the needs of farmers and rural landholders.
Conservation, which aims to protect species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and major land erosion, is an important contemporary issue.
Mr Kip Werren, PhD candidate, from the University of Western Sydney’s School of Law, says the current ways that conservation is funded can be confusing to the farming community.
“The questionnaire asks participants to choose between several conservation models and to provide information on why they have made that particular choice,” says Mr Werren.
“This research is intended to find the best way forward to fund conservation that will be most attractive to landholders, so that they and the government can get the best possible value from this investment.”
Mr Werren has spent his working life in rural regions and noticed that the ‘best way’ to approach conservation problems did not seem to stack up with the feedback he received from the regions he worked within.
While our current environmental objectives and commitments are being made in Australia according to the OECD, he says that we need to do more.
“What we are doing now is not enough to stop the gradual erosion and destruction of our country. The major reason for this is the gap between what is required financially to achieve sufficient levels of conservation and restoration and the public funds that are allocated to environmental issues.”
“Devising a better way to fund conservation for farmers and rural private landholders will go a long way in bridging the gap between maintaining conservation and the associated costs involved to keep Australia environmentally sound.”
The survey is anonymous and will take between 10 and 25 minutes to complete. Participants can opt to take an online version (opens in a new window) of the survey, or hardcopies and further information are available from Kip Werren at kwerren2@une.edu.au.
This study has received ethical approval from the University of Western Sydney Human Ethics Research Committee. The approval number is H8971.
Ends
22 August 2012
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