Greening Australia

Greening Australia is an Australian environmental organisation, founded in 1982, the International Year of the Tree, to protect, restore and conserve Australia's native vegetation. Greening Australia was formed by the United Nations Association of Australia and the Nursery Industry Association of Australia.

In the 1980s tree cover decline was acknowledged as having a serious adverse impact on agricultural and pastoral productivity. Removal of tree cover was also linked with the development of salinity, soil degradation and erosion, and declining water quality. On World Environment Day in 1982, then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser announced the establishment of the National Tree Program, which aimed to reverse tree decline throughout Australia. Greening Australia provided the non-government arm of the National Tree Program. With representation in every state and territory and a national office in Canberra, Greening Australia became the primary focus for non-government tree projects.

Since its inception, Greening Australia has undergone a natural evolution over the years - from a tree planting-centric organisation to a landscape-focused one. The Gondwana Link and River Recovery projects reflect this change and the need to address the impacts of climate change.

Greening Australia has been involved in many large scale revegetation and restoration projects in Australia since its inception, including the National Tree Program, the One Billion Trees Project, Bushcare Support, National Corrdiors of Green, Florabank and Green Corps. The focus of its work lies in providing trees and tree planting services, technical advice and education, volunteer coordination and funding for restoration projects.

On World Environment Day 1998, Greening Australia's work was recognised with admission to the United Nations Environment Programme Global 500 Roll of Honour. This award recognises outstanding achievements in protection of the environment, and represents a significant achievement for Australia's role in world conservation.

Current projects

Gondwana Link

Gondwana Link is one of the largest and most ambitious conservation projects in Australia’s history. Designed to protect and restore land across and adjoining the nation’s only global renowned biodiversity hotspot, the completed link will be an arc of bushland stretching for 1000 kilometres, from the wet forests in Western Australia's far southwest to the edge of the Nullarbor Plain. Greening Australia is working alongside a host of partners on this project, including Bush Heritage Australia and The Nature Conservancy.

Living Flinders

The Living Flinders program covers 1.3 million hectares of internationally significant landscape in the Southern Flinders Ranges in South Australia. It is a national hotspot for native plants and animals including the endangered Yellow-Footed Rock-wallaby and supports critically endangered Peppermint Box and Grey Box Grassy Woodlands. The project aims to increase conservation efforts on privately held land as well as reduce invasion by feral species and reconnect existing reserve systems. It is a ten-year project that calls for a $30m investment. Living Flinders is also part of the SA Government's Naturelinks program as well as an important component of the Trans Australia Eco-link.

Hawkesbury-Nepean River Recovery

River Recovery is Greening Australia's initiative to rehabilitate key river reaches around Australia. The program's focus in the state of New South Wales is the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment. Greening Australia is committed to rehabilitating 2500 km of river, creek and stream banks by 2015 to ensure the future of the catchment’s water quality, biodiversity and recreational values. Current work is focussed on restoring tributaries on the urban fringes of Western Sydney.

Past Projects

Saltshaker

The Saltshaker Project is an initiative of Greening Australia, SE NSW, the Boorowa Regional Catchment Committee, and Boorowa Council, in association with the Boorowa Landcare Network, to tackle dryland salinity, reduced water quality, and biodiversity in Boorowa, New South Wales. It is funded by the Natural Heritage Trust, and involves nearly 70 landowners.

At the start of the project, David Freudenberger of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems conducted a bird survey. As of 2004, A$1.8 million had been spent, and over 9.3 square kilometres had been revegetated, with over 110,000 trees and shrubs planted and 900 kilometres of tree seeding done.

Publications

Greening Australia has published numerous books on native Australian vegetation, including several authored by South Australian ethnobotanist, Neville Bonney.

See also

• Salinity in Australia

References

• "Boorowa's Saltshaker". Natural Heritage - The Journal of the Natural Heritage Trust. Archived from the original on July 2, 2005. Retrieved 2005-06-16. 
• "Saltshaker wins National Landcare Award". Greening Australia. 2004-09-02. Archived from the original on July 10, 2005. 
• "Bush for the Birds: Biodiversity enhancement guidelines for the Saltshaker Project, Boorowa, NSW." (PDF). David Freudenberger, June 2001. Retrieved 2005-06-16. 
• "Saltshaker wins". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2004-09-02. Archived from the original on December 6, 2005. 

External links

• Greening Australia