Title: Biodiversity : integrating conservation and production : case studies from Australian farms, forests and fisheries /
Authors: Lefroy, E. C.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing,
Year: 2008
Subjects: Biodiversity Australia Case studies.; Biodiversity conservation Australia Case studies.; Vegetation management Australia Case studies.; Plant diversity conservation Australia Case studies.; Agriculture Environmental aspects Australia Case studies.
Abstract: "In June 2007, 20 years after the Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke announced the Decade of Landcare, 250 farmers, foresters and fishers from all states met in Launceston as guests of the community Group Tamar Natural Resource Management to reflect on the question Is it possible to be good environmental managers and prosper in our businesses? This book contains 17 of their stories. They include heroic accounts of families who changed their way of farming and their relationship to the land so significantly they found they could stop hand feeding stock during a drought and see the bush coming back. It describes the experience with bush tenders that were over subscribed as farmers competed with each other for stewardship payments to manage their grazing lands for endangered ground-nesting birds as well as beef and wool. And a group of wheat growers who plant patches of grassland for beneficial insects that save them tens of thousands of dollars a year in pesticide bills. Australia's experiment in community based environmental repair is unique in the world, and there has been no shortage of analysis by bureaucrats, academics and environmentalists. This collection of case studies gives us the view from ground level. As well as tales of environmental hope, there are also messages about the limits of duty of care, the need to share the costs of achieving society's expectations, and the possibility of learning from unlikely places. "--Provided by publisher.