Tell your MP to reverse Victoria's ecosystem decline | Tell your MP to reverse Victoria's ecosystem decline

Tell your MP to reverse Victoria's ecosystem decline

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I write to you regarding the Ecosystem Decline Inquiry, tabled on the 2 December 2021 in Victoria's State Parliament.

As a constituent in your electorate it is important you raise my concerns with your colleagues in parliament, and advocate for the restoration of our incredible natural heritage.

The report tabled echoes the very recent, and very scathing, Victorian Auditor-General’s report confirming the dramatic absence of native wildlife in our landscapes.

As a citizen concerned with the health of our natural environment, I know that we didn't get here by accident. Decade after decade, state governments have failed to curb the decline of Victoria's ecosystems. Year after year, our leaders neglect to act.

Our native animals and natural places are part of what makes Victoria the place to be, our marine world, landscapes and iconic wildlife make us who we are.

Yet I was dismayed to learn that the degree of decline – 400 critically endangered and almost 2000 threatened animals, plants and communities in Victoria.

How many reports and inquiries do there need to be? How much are we willing to sacrifice?

I write to call on you to hear the alarm bells and take action to protect wildlife in Victoria.

The conclusions from the tabled report reiterate the concerns I’ve held for years that our nature protection laws are not being used to their full capacity. The report also acknowledged the additional pressures of outdated and underfunded policies and legislation, population growth and spread, and climate change on ecosystems across Victoria.

Victoria takes pride in its identity as a progressive state with strong environmental protections. I am encouraged that Victoria has the legal levers in place to properly protect nature, like the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, but these tools aren't currently being used.

But that alone is not enough to ensure that these ecosystems across land and sea can continue to thrive in Victoria. The Victorian Government must also use them effectively. Even in the last 50 years some of our most iconic creatures like Regent Honeyeaters, Grey Nurse Sharks, Red-tailed Black Cockatoos have all but vanished.

That’s why I can’t stand by and let this shameful pattern continue, and I hope you won’t either.

I urge you to implement the recommendations from the Ecosystem Decline Inquiry, especially:

RECOMMENDATION 1: We have recommended the government think about referring a parliamentary inquiry into the health of rivers, and the marine environment.

RECOMMENDATION 18: That the Victorian Government consider funding the immediate purchase or leasing of remnant high quality grasslands within the proposed Western Grassland Reserve and the 36 reserves proposed by the Melbourne Strategic Assessment within Melbourne’s urban growth boundary. These areas should be urgently acquired to facilitate ecologically sound management to conserve and restore biodiversity values.
 
RECOMMENDATION 27: That the Victorian Government allocate adequate resources to administer and fully implement the Flora and Fauna Guarantee (Amendment) Act 2019 (Vic), including communicating the Act’s changes to relevant stakeholders and the broader community.

RECOMMENDATION 31: That the Victorian Government consider significantly increasing the funding allocated to threatened species and habitat conservation activities under Protecting Victoria’s Environment – Biodiversity 2037.
 
RECOMMENDATION 36: That the Victorian Government consider providing additional funding, as recommended by the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, to enable Parks Victoria to manage the newly created national parks in Victoria’s central west region.
 
RECOMMENDATION 37: That the Victorian Government increase funding for Parks Victoria to undertake active and adaptive land management in the State’s parks and reserves, and consider increasing this funding to 1% of Gross State Product.

I also would like to see you support firm commitments in four key areas:

1.A dedicated long term threatened species program for Victoria, of at least $500 million which will:
- Activate all available actions under State threatened species laws to protect species in decline (including using laws to protect critical habitats)
- Improve prioritisation of threatened species for protection.
- Enable enhanced and targeted landscape programs to control key threats statewide including feral animals & pests to facilitate recovery.
2. Dramatic increase in public funding for land and sea conservation & threatened species programs including:
- Increase in funding core ecological management funding for Parks Victoria to at least 1% of state expenditure annually and an enhanced threatened species recovery and action program across all public land across land and sea
- Increase targeted funding for Community Action, Landcare and private land protection
- Expanded Traditional Owner Joint Management on Country
- Dramatically speed up the transition out of native forest logging
3. Injecting $30-$50 million for a Land Conservation Revolving fund which “purchase, protect, resells” high conservation private land to be run by the Trust for Nature.
4. Strengthen the Wildlife Act to properly protect all native species

It's now time to take a stand,

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