Michael Jansen, City of Casey’s team leader for environmental services, is one of the many officers helping in the fight against biodiversity.By Kelly Yates
THE City of Casey is one of 24 local councils frustrated by a lack of State Government funds to battle the growing biodiversity crisis, according to a recent report.
A report released on Monday by the Environment Defenders Office (EDO) found the majority of councils raised concerns about the threats posed to Victoria’s native plants and animals by climate change.
The report analysed submissions to the first stage of the Government’s Land and Biodiversity White Paper inquiry.
Karen Alexander from Victoria Naturally said councils and local environment groups were at the frontline of nature conservation.
“The Land and Biodiversity White Paper represents a major opportunity to turn this around by ensuring significant funding increases for statewide initiatives, and for councils to do their job well and help protect the state’s environmental assets,” she said.
In a five-page submission, the City of Casey addressed factors including flora and fauna, land management and farming practices, population growth, pest species and coastal management.
The submission from the council said the region’s population growth was the single biggest pressure on ecosystems in the Casey-Cardinia Growth Corridor.
City of Casey engineering and environment manager David Richardson said as a growth municipality, the City of Casey’s natural resources were affected by urban expansion.
In regional Victoria, however, weeds and pests were the dominant threats.
“There is a need for a coordinated approach to natural resource management across the state,” Mr Richardson said.
The council wants stronger breaches of planning permit requirements as the current penalty for removing trees was a fine of a few hundred dollars.
“Penalties for those landholders illegally removing trees need to be strengthened,” Mr Richardson said.
The EDO analysis found more than 350 submissions supporting “urgent, ongoing and longer-term funding” for environment projects across Victoria.
Mr Richardson said Casey Council acknowledged that climate change was also having a significant impact on biodiversity.
According to Mr Richardson, Casey hopes the result will be a more coordinated approach to natural resource management across the state.
The White Paper is due to be released in early 2009.
