The FATE Program aims to investigate the value of sustainably using native species in Australia's threatened ecosystems to enhance the long-term conservation of Australian biodiversity and through this process to increase the resilience and economic viability of rural and regional Australia. It seeks to encourage the development of commercial activities by rural communities that involve the sustainable use of wildlife, and to monitor the ecological, economic and social consequences of these activities.
The initial geographic focus of the Program will be the rangelands of Australia where past and present land-use has contributed to environmental damage. The commercial activities developed through the FATE Program will be evaluated to determine if they have the potential to partially replace existing rangeland enterprises. The time scale for the FATE Program is at least five years per location, but long-term monitoring is preferable.
FATE is the first Australian land management program - and one of very few in the world - that sets out to assess, through scientifically managed experiments, whether land management programs that include sustainable utilisation of indigenous species will enhance ecosystem function, regional biodiversity and the economy of rural and regional communities.
Other innovative features of the FATE Program include:
We continue to damage Australia's habitats and lose species at an alarming rate despite the best will in the world by many conservation-focused organisations. As a result, the biological, economic and social sustainability of many rural areas is under significant threat. The cost in terms of degradation of rural lands has been estimated at AU$2 - 5 billion per year and up to AU$70 billion to date. Before significant progress can be made, new strategies that are compatible with traditional conservation strategies are needed on private land.
It is anticipated that the FATE Program will result in increased positive attention being given to degrading natural environments. If land-holders see these environments as a sustainable source of value-added income, they should commit to their care or risk jeopardising that new income. Focus on sustainable use of specific natural resources should then lead to increased conservation of the 99% of species that are not the focus of commercial interest in the same natural habitats.
There is international (e.g. IUCN) as well as national support (e.g. the Ecological Society of Australia and the Australian Mammal Society) for the sustainable use of wildlife as an increasingly important and compatible way of conserving and rehabilitating ecosystems through commercial activities. Experiments in sustainable use were also supported by the 1998 Senate Inquiry into Commercial Utilisation of Australian Native Wildlife. There are sufficient examples of similar use initiatives developed on private lands in Australia and other countries that have resulted in conservation gains to encourage further trials of this kind in Australia.
There are four key interrelated research questions that are of critical importance to the overall outcomes of the Program. They are being investigated concurrently throughout the duration of the Program. These are:
Through sustainable use of native species, it is anticipated that land-holders and their communities will be able to progressively reduce their reliance on enterprises and practices that are detrimental to threatened ecosystems by obtaining direct economic benefit from the regeneration and conservation of natural ecosystems. As a consequence, it is expected that there will be:
As FATE approaches are implemented, there will be a number of supplementary outcomes:
There are already many enterprises focused on sustainably utilising Australian wildlife and natural landscapes. These include eco-tourism and industries based on kangaroos, edible plant products, wildflowers, native timber and pharmaceutical products derived from native species.
FATE is working with people in different areas to identify the most promising enterprises for their location, looking at factors such as the nature and abundance of the resource, as well as interest, expertise and infrastructure within the local community. The final choice of enterprise will also depend on factors such any existing industries and the market potential of the product/s or service/s.
While kangaroo harvesting is probably the wildlife enterprise currently most likely to deliver a significant return in the degrading rangelands of New South Wales, FATE is investigating the market potential for other native plant and animal products as well as tourism-linked activities.
FATE's intention is not to replace existing land-use enterprises but rather to explore ways in which fragile incomes derived from traditional enterprises can be supplemented and made more resilient by a progressive shift in focus toward sustainable enterprises based on native species. In degraded areas the provision of ecosystem services by land-holders through rehabilitation activities may also attract funding.
The FATE Program aims to be a large-scale rural experiment centered on a number of demonstration/ experimental sites on which alternative agricultural systems based on native species can be established. These sites will be adaptively managed and monitored, and will become the basis for a communication strategy. Current project sites include the Barrier Ranges of far Western NSW, Wellington in the NSW Central West and the western edge of the Blue Mountains.
A scientific model has been broadly outlined by the FATE team in collaboration with other researchers. The key features of the scientific model are:
A key element of assessment is that it must be regional in focus. We hope to find biodiversity gains from sustainable harvesting that are complementary to biodiversity protection elsewhere in the region. In this way, sustainable harvesting programs can become compatible parts of region-wide planning that also includes areas dedicated to conservation, agriculture, mixed use and other strategies which, operating together, will maximise benefits for society and the environment. Catchment action plans and other regional plans assist in this task and FATE is also exploring cross-property initiatives for achieving integrated conservation outcomes at the landscape scale.
The FATE Program is an important, timely, scientifically-based, collaborative land management initiative being trialed to achieve:
For more details on FATE's progress towards these goals, see the FATE in Detail and FATE News pages.
Last Updated 17 September 2007
