TASK 2:

Secure adequate funding for threat abatement

[For] funding programs that encourage restoration and threat abatement…the distribution of funding is often scattergun, unreliable and short-term. Funding cycles do not support an enduring, focused or prioritised approach. 

10-year review of the EPBC Act (2020)

The major barrier to effective abatement of threats to nature in Australia is lack of funding. We don’t know exactly how much is spent on threat abatement, nor how much is needed, but the rapidly growing number of threatened species and ecological communities indicates the funding gap is substantial. Public funding for conservation in Australia has declined significantly over the past decade. The following research and actions are necessary to secure the funding needed for effective threat abatement. 

1

Investigate the economics of threat abatement – the annual costs of effective abatement and the economic consequences of abatement failures and successes

Australia needs accurate costs for threat abatement and threatened biodiversity recovery, likely to be at least $1.5–2 billion a year. To help justify the funding in the face of competing demands, we also need to understand the economic benefits of abatement and the consequences of inadequate abatement. Threats to nature are often also threats to industries and human wellbeing, and conservation programs often yield great economic and social benefits. These collateral costs and benefits need to be clearly defined and quantified to demonstrate a solid economic and social, as well as conservation, return on investment in threat abatement.

2

Substantially increase public spending on threat abatement as well as threatened species recovery, including through biodiversity levies

The level of funding needed for effective threat abatement and threatened species recovery is at least 10 times typical current budget allocations. This is affordable with current taxation revenue, but to achieve and sustain the level of funding needed, we recommend that the Australian Government imposes biodiversity levies, particularly on activities that exacerbate threats to nature. Australia’s federal, state and territory governments should develop a biodiversity funding plan that includes a revolving biodiversity trust fund funded by (a) agreed allocations from each government (involving a substantial increase in current budgets for biodiversity), (b) new sources of funding, including biodiversity levies and perhaps a national lottery, and (c) private and philanthropic contributions.

Australia also needs a transparent method for allocating funds to biodiversity conservation, based on systematically determined priorities using the most effective instruments – whether threat abatement plans, recovery plans or other means.

Dig deeper

Dear Project Team,

[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

Kind regards,
[Your name]
[Your email address]
[Your postcode]


Dear Project Team,

[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

Kind regards,
[Your name]
[Your email address]
[Your postcode]