Our Vision
Biolinking Australia is both a company and a vision. We have a 100 year plan to see all Australia’s significant natural assets connected through linkages – connecting private and public lands of environmental significance into a network of natural linkages.Australia's Natural Reserve System
More than 11 per cent of Australia's landmass is protected in the National Reserve system and is made up of over 9,000 protected areas. In all, the National Reserve System covers an area about five times the size of Tasmania.In the last decade, more than 28 million hectares have been added to the National Reserve System including:
- 20.2 million hectares from 24 Indigenous Protected Areas
- Almost 5.7 million hectares established with State and Territory Governments
- 2.3 million hectares with non-government organisations.
The extent of the National Reserve is shown on the Maps below, both nationally and for the State of Victoria.
Map 1 – National Reserve system extent - Australia
Impacts of Fragmentation
What is obvious is that although there are significant quantities of protected lands, there is a distinct lack of integration between most areas of protected remnant vegetation, as well as the major landscape features (major rivers, deserts and mountainous areas). While the national reserve system has established a significant basis for the protection of Australia’s ecosystems, there remains a serious threat from the fragmentation, especially in the face of climate change. Population isolation of both flora and fauna also increases the probability that environmental fluctuations will lead to increasing local extinction of certain species (the loss of a certain species in a particular area, not total extinction). Where once there was a landscape with contiguous native vegetation, now what remains are small pockets of highly modified and vulnerable native vegetation surrounded by a sea of open farmland.
Fragmentation affects different species in different ways. For the Wedge Tailed Eagle, fragmentation may result in a reduction in the availability of food sources necessitating covering vast areas to hunt amongst the small patches of forest. For the smaller Fairy Wren it means an enhanced risk when covering open ground, exposed to predators. For much of our fauna, the greatest threat is the loss of diversity in their genetic makeup. Unable to move through a larger landscape seeking unrelated mates becomes harder and harder as populations become restricted to small isolated areas of forest. This lack of genetic diversity will eventually lead to a population bottleneck and the risk of local extinction.
Added to this the real threat of climate change, and highlights the role connectivity can play in adaptation of fauna to a changed climate. The years 2007 and 2008 delivered reduced rainfall across much of South Eastern Australia, and 2011 and 2012 have produce much higher rainfall than usual.
In drier years many species of plants fail to produce seed which is a vital source of food for many birds and animals. This lack of spring rains is just one of the predictions likely to occur more frequently as the effects of climate change are felt around the country. Pre-settlement this would have resulted in relocation to areas with more available food, however fragmentation has reduced the availability of species to migrate, even at a local scale.
The Need for Linkages in the Landscape
Many peer- reviewed journal articles, proceedings and books have been produced by ecological and biological scientists recognising the need for landscape connectivity. The following quotes, taken from several publications demonstrate some of the science of corridor ecology.
The expansion of human land-use has resulted in widespread loss and fragmentation of natural habitat which could be progressively leading to the largest global extinction event in history. Corridors between islands of intact native vegetation offer routes that facilitate movement of organisms between habitat fragments are increasingly be adopted as a tool to maintain and restore biodiversity.
Throughout Australia extensive clearing has been carried out in the past for agriculture. There are however many substantial areas of remnant vegetation . Some of these in very good condition. Some, though are being grazed regularly and are in desperate need of protection. Maintenance and/or restoration of corridors that allow organisms and natural ecological processes such as fire to move across the landscape will be necessary to maintain biological diversity in the 21st century.
Linkages have a role in countering climate change by interconnecting existing reserves and protected areas in order to maximise the resilience of the present conservation network. Those linkages that maintain continuity of several reserves along an environmental gradient are likely to be most valuable in this regard.
The Australian federal Government, in its National biodiversity and climate change action plan identifies the need for landscape connectivity in adaptation to climate changes.
The 100 Year Plan - A Critical Need for a Large Scale Plan to Restore Connectivity
While much progress has been made toward the protection of native vegetation over the past 100 years – there has been a distinct lack of the development of a coordinated large scale plant to connect all significant areas of natural vegetation across the continent. Assessing and identifying the major environmental assets, integrating the connectivity of these with smaller - but significant - assets, and linking large structural assets with these ‘islands’ of smaller native vegetation through a series of networked linkages is an ambitious but important goal.Biolinking Australia is an initiative of Greenhouse Balanced, a company focused on the establishment and maintenance of native vegetation for carbon sequestration and other environmental services in Australia. Greenhouse Balanced recognises the key role carbon sinks can play in realising a host of additional environmental priorities – and has undertaken the task of identifying and linking the significant remnants though the Biolinking Australia 100 year plan to connect all major natural assets on the Continent of Australia.
Incorporating Adaptation and Migration
The opportunity to link significant environmental assets delivers a host of environmental benefits, and also two tools in the response to Climate Change.
Mitigation
Carbon sequestered in the vegetation established through this program will form a permanent conservation sink. Organisations including the UNFCCC, the UNEP, the Department of Climate Change and the Stern review have recognised the critical role vegetation sinks play in the mitigation of climate change. The recent publication ‘Green Carbon’ published by the Australian National University (ANU) Press identified that Australian native forests can store as much as 1200t of Carbon per hectare (over 4000 tonnes of CO2e) – available online at http://epress.anu.edu.au While most ecosystems are considerably below this level, land which can sequester ever 300 tonnes of CO2e per hectare can have a valuable role to play in the mitigation of climate change.
Adaptation
While mitigation refers to a reduction in the level of CO2 in the atmosphere, adaptation involves the ability of systems (man-made and natural) to withstand the changes brought about by climate changes. Increasing the functional connectivity of native vegetation within landscapes (both from higher to lower elevation, and from higher to lower rainfall) is a critical adaptation responsibility. This critical task of assisting Australian ecosystems in adaptation to climate change is an important component of the Biolinking Australia vision.
Carbon Sequestration
Mitigation of climate change through the sequestration of carbon dioxide in native vegetation has been recognised as a key ‘no-regrets’ strategy in reponse to climate change. In the ANU published book, Green Carbon – the role of Natural Forests in Carbon Storage, it was estimated that the stock of carbon for intact natural forests in south eastern Australia was about 640t C/ha of bioimass, with an average net primary productivity of 12t C/ha/yr. Actual carbon sequestration yield will be determined by both species and site characteristics, and the calculation of carbon benefits, with appropriate certification will be undertaken through the UNFCCC approved Carbon Fix (CFS) standard.
