Australian Framework for Landcare

The Australian Government is supporting the Landcare community to develop an Australian Framework for Landcare to guide Landcare over the next 20 years. The development of the Australian Framework for Landcare is your opportunity to have a say about the way forward for Landcare. The submission period to comment on the draft Australian Framework for Landcare is currently open and will close on 30 July 2010.

Community Landcare

Community Landcare is made up of individuals and groups with similar objectives and a community based approach to sustainable resource management, including:

• Landcare
• Coastcare
• Bushcare
• Indigenous groups
• ‘Friends of’ groups
• Farming systems groups.

Community Landcare will guide and own the framework.

Initial framework meeting

The community development of an Australian Framework for Landcare was initiated at a workshop held in Melbourne on 30 April 2009, with a small cross section of community Landcarers. It was enthusiastically agreed that the first community-driven framework should be developed.

Framework development

The Framework has been drafted by the Australian Framework for Landcare Reference Group which is made up of Landcare community members. The reference group has been working to ensure that views expressed by the Landcare community during the extensive community consultation period are accurately reflected in the Framework document. The consultation period commenced in April 2009 and concluded with discussions at the recent National Landcare Forum. The process for the development of the framework has been fully supported by the Australian Government.

Have your say

Comments on the draft Australian Framework for Landcare are welcome and you can have your say online. The submission period is currently open and will close on 30 July 2010.

More information on the Australian Framework for Landcare, including input from all state and territory conferences, is available from the National Landcare Facilitator.

Water Leader Scholarships Available

Full and partial-tuition scholarships are now available for Australian and international students to study International WaterCentre’s Master of Integrated Water Management (Australia)

• Full tuition scholarships – AU$39,960
• Partial tuition scholarships
• Scholarships open May 1 – August 1

The program equips students with the integration, leadership and managerial skills to become part of an elite group of water leaders with sustainable and holistic solutions to global water and climate change challenges.  The Master of Integrated Water Management is custom-designed and taught by leading practitioners and academics from a range of disciplines from International WaterCentre (IWC) member universities.  For more information click here.

Attracting the corporate dollar

Last week I attended a workshop the Australian Government organised for natural resources management agencies, government and non-government, to share their insights into how to attract the corporate dollar.  There were some excellent presentations from a range of small and large organisations about how they have built relationships and developed corporate partnerships.  My take home messages from the event were that chasing the corporate dollar requries skill, a clarity of purpose and a commitment to tailoring your product to meet their needs.  A summary of the conference outcomes can be found on our ‘New Information and Knowledge’ page.

Siwan

Hawkesbury Nepean Smart Farms Newsletter

The Smart Farms projects (NutrientSmart Farms and WaterSmart Farms) are working with landholders in the lower Hawkesbury Nepean region to improve nutrient management and water use efficiency.

See the latest Smart Farms newsletter for these feature articles:

• NutrientSmart Farms on target early
• Grants for River Water Irrigators
• Case study: Microbes to Manage Dairy Effluent Ponds
• Grants for Land Management Projects: BIG or small!

The Smart Farms projects are part of the Hawkesbury Nepean River Recovery Program which aims to improve river health by making more water available for environmental flows and reducing nutrient inputs to the river system. The Hawkesbury-Nepean River Recovery Program is funded by the Australian Government through the Water for the Future program.