A strong national stewardship scheme could see more than 65 million hectares managed for conservation by 2020 - giving wildlife and landholders a fighting chance in a changing climate, the ACF said.

This is a key finding of Delivering on the Promise of Stewardship, a new report prepared by senior CSIRO researchers for ACF. The report explores the role payments could play in reversing the decline of bushland and wildlife on private land. 

ACF Rural Landscapes Campaigner, Corey Watts, said Australia needed to lift its game when it came to working with farmers and Indigenous communities because without more action on private land the country faces a wave of extinctions.

“Scientists and communities around the country say we’re living with the costly legacy of 200 years’ worth of mistakes and short-sightedness,” Mr Watts said.

“Existing stewardship schemes, while welcome, are hamstrung by woefully small budgets; less than one-fifth of one per cent of federal funds is invested in wildlife conservation and land repair.”

The report says government could resource a strong stewardship scheme, starting now, including by: 

· Investing a small fraction, around 5 per cent, of the revenue raised by auctioning pollution permits in the new Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme;

· Ensuring carbon offsets pass an environmental benefits test; and

· Re-tailoring drought assistance to enable farmers to better manage climate change and retire land that is economically marginal but ecologically valuable.

Between them, farmers, pastoralists and Indigenous communities manage nearly 80 per cent of the continent, making them crucial to Australia’s environmental future.

Delivering on the Promise of Stewardship (report)

Media Brief on the report