Project 2.2
Development of an Ecosystems Services Strategy for Australia

Proposed Way Forward

Using its status as a neutral, multi-disciplinary research based entity, Australia 21 is proposing to work with the key stakeholders to develop a strategy to accelerate essential changes in the way Australia values and protects ecosystem services. The strategy will address:

1. The additional work and resources required to characterise critical ecosystem services at the appropriate local, regional or national level;

2. The optimal methods of integrating ecological and economic approaches to valuation, distinguishing between areas where markets exist or can be created from services in the form of public goods;

3. The institutions and legal frameworks required to incorporate these services into decision-making and to reward good stewardship;

4. The appropriate roles and responsibilities in implementing the proposed approach, taking account of the nature of the bio-physical regions involved in delivering different services;

5. Options for implementing the preferred approaches, together with the resulting environmental, economic and social outcomes, timetables and estimated costs and benefits; and

6. Leading edge international thinking in relation to critical conceptual and practical issues.

Development of the draft strategy will be overseen by a Steering Committee comprising officials from the key Federal and State agencies and other major stakeholders and chaired by Australia 21.