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Biodiversity resources
Southern Queensland Biodiversity Conferences
Convened by the Southern Queensland Biodiversity Network, biodiversity conferences in 2000, 2001 and 2002 brought together a diverse range of participants with the objective of saving Southern Queensland's declining biodiversity. The wide range of participants and viewpoints at these conferences were great strengths, with conference delegates including representatives from Local Governments and State Government agencies; landholders; university lecturers, researchers and students; and representatives from Landcare, catchment management, environment and community groups.
1998 WWF South-East Queensland Rainforest Recovery Conference &
Recovering Rainforest - 2007 Queensland Rainforest Forum
The 1998 South-East Queensland Rainforest Recovery Conference, titled Rainforest Recovery for the New Millennium, brought together landholders, government bodies, scientists and Landcare and conservation groups to share their knowledge of rainforest conservation issues and the range of recovery work underway. Organised by World Wide Fund for Nature Australia (WWF), it was a unique event, with the purpose of advancing recovery plans for whole ecosystems, rather than just individual plant and animal species. One of Australia’s first multi-species recovery planning projects, the South-East Queensland Rainforest Recovery Project, was subsequently initiated.
Inspired by the 1998 WWF SEQ Rainforest Recovery Conference and the SEQ Rainforest Recovery Cross Regional Implementation Program (SEQRRCRIP), the 2007 Queensland Rainforest Forum also had the theme “Recovering Rainforest”. The 2007 Forum attracted over 260 delegates and asked "Ten years on from the WWF Conference, what have we achieved and where should our current efforts be focussed?"
Local Government Biodiversity Recovery
The Gatton Shire Biodiversity Strategy was prepared in 2000 as a component of the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) funded 'Gatton Shire Vegetation Assessment and Conservation Project'. The Strategy advanced innovative win-win solutions to benefit both biodiversity and the landholders and community of Gatton Shire, and built on the foundations of the land systems planning approach in the Lockyer Catchment as discussed in the Land Use Planning Handbook for the Lockyer Catchment (see the NRM Resources page).
An outcome of the Gatton Shire Biodiversity Strategy was the development of the Biodiversity Recovery Plan for Gatton and Laidley Shires, South-East Queensland 2003-2008. This Recovery Plan takes a multi-species recovery planning approach, addressing the conservation and recovery of all known significant species and ecological communities within the defined local government areas of Gatton and Laidley Shires.
Notable aspects of both the Gatton Shire Biodiversity Strategy and the Biodiversity Recovery Plan for Gatton and Laidley Shires are their linkages to local government planning, as shown in the Biodiversity Code and Policy in the Gatton Planning Scheme and in the paper 'Managing Biodiversity Through the Gatton Shire IPA Planning Scheme' on pages 125-130 of the 2001 Southern Queensland Biodiversity Recovery Conference Proceedings (see above).
WWF Vineforests and Threatened Species Projects
The WWF Vineforests and Threatened Species Projects developed and advanced conservation proposals for South-East Queensland's 12 highest-priority endangered vineforest sites and developed threatened plant and ecosystem recovery programs for the Queensland Threatened Species and Ecosystems Unit.
Actions included the development of an interpretive trail at Teddington Weir, located near Maryborough Queensland, and the Glen Rock Green Corp Project which engaged unemployed young people to carry out nature conservation work and visitor facility construction at the Glen Rock Regional Park in Queensland's Lockyer Valley.
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