By Lauren Burns
AUSTRALIANS’ love of nature unites us. A 2019 survey of 55,000 people by the ABC found that ‘appreciation of the natural environment’ was the second most important aspect of ‘being Australian’.
Yet, paradoxically, we are in the midst of an extinction crisis. The Australian Conservation Foundation reports that 1 million species are at risk of extinction globally, including nearly 2000 Australian plants, animals and ecosystems.
AUSTRALIANS’ love of nature unites us. A 2019 survey of 55,000 people by the ABC found that ‘appreciation of the natural environment’ was the second most important aspect of ‘being Australian’.
Yet, paradoxically, we are in the midst of an extinction crisis. The Australian Conservation Foundation reports that 1 million species are at risk of extinction globally, including nearly 2000 Australian plants, animals and ecosystems.
Habitat destruction from land clearing for agriculture, urban sprawl and industry is the primary driver of extinction. Victoria is the most densely populated state with the most cleared native vegetation and smallest percentage of protected public land. The Victorian Parliamentary Environment and Planning Committee is currently holding an inquiry into ecosystem decline in Victoria.
Once common throughout coastal Australia, today southern brown bandicoots are limited to fragmented populations and listed as endangered. Locally, Bass Coast Shire provides important habitat and is home to 58 nationally listed threatened species such as the swift parrot, giant Gippsland earthworm, growling grass frog, and my personal favourite, the southern brown bandicoot. Southern brown bandicoots are introverts. Once common throughout coastal Australia, today they are limited to fragmented populations and listed as endangered. Their main threats are habitat destruction, large-scale fires and predation by cats and foxes. Southern brown bandicoots have a close relationship to grass trees as during the daytime they sleep in well concealed nests, often established within the vegetation skirts of grass trees.
Two maps strikingly illustrate the dramatic changes in vegetation cover in Bass Coast Shire since colonisation. Indigenous rights and environmental justice are closely interlinked. Since 1750, more than 90 per cent of native vegetation has been cleared, leading to ecosystem decline, an increase in threatened species and risk of extinctions.
Two maps strikingly illustrate the dramatic changes in vegetation cover in Bass Coast Shire since colonisation. Indigenous rights and environmental justice are closely interlinked. Since 1750, more than 90 per cent of native vegetation has been cleared, leading to ecosystem decline, an increase in threatened species and risk of extinctions.
 Land cover in Bass Coast Shire pre-1750: Dark green = Eucalypt open forest, brown = low forest & shrubland, yellow = Acacia woodland |  Land cover in Bass Coast Shire today: Light green = pasture, pink = urban, red = roads, brown = plantations and black = industry |
Biodiversity is an important measure of the health of the entire ecosystem and a protective factor to prevent viruses from infecting humans. Pollinators such as bees are critical to our food production, and clean air and water are essential for human health and well-being. Healthy ecosystems equal healthy people.
The Australian Conservation Foundation reports that more than 7.7 million hectares of threatened species habitat was cleared nationally between 2000 and 2017 despite our federal environment law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
Former ACCC Chair Graeme Samuel is currently undertaking a once-in-a-decade review of the EPBC Act. His interim report found that Australia’s environment is in an “unsustainable state of decline,” and yet the Federal Government has responded with a bill currently before parliament that proposes to step back federal oversight and hand decision making power to the states, leading to criticism it will further further weaken laws described by Samuel as “ineffective”.
Bass Coast has a growing population, placing pressure on remnant vegetation and urban boundaries. People and wildlife can co-exist, but we need to take a Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design (BSUD) approach to building and invest in natural infrastructure for our growing population by improving water catchments, revegetating and implementing recovery plans for threatened species.
Incorporating nature into our built environment has many upsides. Personally, nature has been a real refuge for me during COVID-19 lockdown in Inverloch. Incredible research shows that surgery patients who have a view from their hospital bed of a single tree are discharged faster compared to those that have no view of nature.
Bass Coast has many outstanding examples of people acting for nature through community driven conservation. In partnership with Parks Victoria, the South Gippsland Conservation Society has worked to conserve and restore Screw Creek, replanting local indigenous species and constructing tracks, boardwalks, fishing platforms, information shelters and seating. More than 10,000 people now visit the Inverloch reserve each year over.
Cape Paterson Coastal Plains Landcare, Friends of Wonthaggi Heathland & Coastal Reserve (FoWHCR), the Wonthaggi Seed Bank and several other community groups together planted 7000 trees and 12,000 wetland plants to transform the Rifle Range - a degraded piece of public land that had been grazed by stock for the last 100 years - into a wetland with walking tracks, interpretive signage and a bird hide. Today it is home to more than 100 species of birds.
Communities are playing their part, and it’s critical to support their efforts. Local government has a role in developing policy solutions to address extinction while strengthening and decarbonising Bass Coast’s economy. For example, the strategic indicator to revegetate 1.5 per cent of the shire per year could be turned into a centrepiece of landscape-scale regeneration of nature and communities for a jobs-rich economic stimulus, as recommended by the Pew Charitable Trust.
Council elections are coming up in October. The most important action you can take on behalf of Nature is to vote for elected representatives across all levels of government who will prevent environmental destruction and address climate change.
Critical issues include working with all stakeholders to ensure conservation of the Holden Proving Ground bushlands, the Grantville grasstree forest and surrounding corridor, monitoring and enforcement of current planning frameworks, and working to ensure the Yallock-Bulluk Marine and Coastal Park will protect and enhance Bass Coast Shire’s unique beauty.
National Threatened Species Day on September 7 commemorates the anniversary of the death of the last known Tasmanian Tiger in 1936 and raises awareness of the plants and animals at risk of extinction.
Cape Paterson Coastal Plains Landcare, Friends of Wonthaggi Heathland & Coastal Reserve (FoWHCR), the Wonthaggi Seed Bank and several other community groups together planted 7000 trees and 12,000 wetland plants to transform the Rifle Range - a degraded piece of public land that had been grazed by stock for the last 100 years - into a wetland with walking tracks, interpretive signage and a bird hide. Today it is home to more than 100 species of birds.
Communities are playing their part, and it’s critical to support their efforts. Local government has a role in developing policy solutions to address extinction while strengthening and decarbonising Bass Coast’s economy. For example, the strategic indicator to revegetate 1.5 per cent of the shire per year could be turned into a centrepiece of landscape-scale regeneration of nature and communities for a jobs-rich economic stimulus, as recommended by the Pew Charitable Trust.
Council elections are coming up in October. The most important action you can take on behalf of Nature is to vote for elected representatives across all levels of government who will prevent environmental destruction and address climate change.
Critical issues include working with all stakeholders to ensure conservation of the Holden Proving Ground bushlands, the Grantville grasstree forest and surrounding corridor, monitoring and enforcement of current planning frameworks, and working to ensure the Yallock-Bulluk Marine and Coastal Park will protect and enhance Bass Coast Shire’s unique beauty.
National Threatened Species Day on September 7 commemorates the anniversary of the death of the last known Tasmanian Tiger in 1936 and raises awareness of the plants and animals at risk of extinction.
- The Extinction Crisis in Australia’s Cities and Towns, Australian Conservation Foundation, 2020
- Biodiversity Biolinks Plan, Bass Coast Shire Council, 2018