National Landcare Program Phase Two

Information and Consultation Sessions9-16 October 2017

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The Department of the Environment and Energy and the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources acknowledge the traditional owners of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures and to their elders both past and present.

Acknowledgement of Country

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• In the 2017 Budget, the Government committed $1.1 billion

o This includes the $100 million for landcare announced in the 2016-17 mid-year economic and fiscal outlook

• The findings from the 2016 Review of the National Landcare Program were released in June 2017

• The Government has announced further details of the program on 27 and 28 September

• A consultation paper, webcasts, Q&A’s, investment priorities loaded on www.nrm.gov.au on 28 September 2017

Overview

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1) 2016 Review of the National Landcare Program

2) Elements of the next phase of the National Landcare Program

3) Regional Land Partnerships Program

4) Smart Farms Program

5) Questions & Answers

6) Next steps

What we will discuss today

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• Fairness and transparency throughout a tender process

• All tenderers have access to the same information

• Cannot discuss any aspects of the Regional Land Partnerships tender that are not already publicly available to ensure no advantage is given

• Any information we provide in additional to what is available publicly will be shared on the www.nrm.gov.au website

Probity and fairness: it’s important

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• Purpose was to examine efficiency and effectiveness of current and previous iterations

• Input from many sources, including over 900 online submissions

• Released in June 2017 on the www.nrm.gov.au website

• Has informed design and implementation of next phase of the program

1. 2016 National Landcare Program Review

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2016 National Landcare Program Review: Key findings

• Strategic objectives have been met

• Opportunities to build on key strengths:

o National coverage

o Connection and engagement with community

o Regional planning

o Integrated agricultural and environment outcomes

• Regional scale natural resource management should continue

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2016 National Landcare Program Review: Key Findings

• Opportunities for improved effectiveness and efficiency

• Maximise leveraging and partnerships

o Connect with new organisations

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Protected and Productive environments

To protect, conserve and provide for the productive use of Australia’s water, soil, plants, animals and ecosystems, in partnership with governments, industry and communities

2. Next phase of the National Landcare Program

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1. Increase the protection, rehabilitation and restoration of environmental assets.

2. Increase in the NRM community delivering biodiversity and natural resources practices.

3. Increased awareness and adoption of land management practices that improve and protect the condition of soil, biodiversity and vegetation.

4. Support the eradication of Red Imported Fire Ants and establishment of a Centre for Invasive Species Solutions research institute.

5. Agriculture systems have a capacity to adapt to significant changes in climate, weather and markets.

Next phase: Proposed outcomes

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• National priorities are delivered regionally and locally

• Outcomes have public benefits

• Projects meet International obligations and/or national priorities

• Communities are effectively involved

• Indigenous people are able to participate in the planning and delivery of projects

• Partnerships will be formed

• Innovation will be encouraged

• Outcomes will be measured

• Leveraging of other funds and gaining efficiencies will be encouraged

Next phase: Proposed principles

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New program announcements

• Regional Land Partnerships ($450 m) (jointly Dept Env/Ag)

• Smart Farms ($134 m) (Dept Ag)

• Environment Small Grants ($5 m) (Dept Env)

• Funding for additional Indigenous Protected Areas ($15 m) as well as continuing current proposed and declared Indigenous Protected Areas ( Dept Prime Minister and Cabinet & Dept Env)

• World Heritage Management ($47.4 m) ( Dept Env)

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New program announcements (cont.)

Support for other Agricultural programs

• Red Imported Fire Ants program ($49 m) (Dept Ag)

• Centre for Invasive Species Solutions ($16 m) (Dept Ag)

Support for other Environmental programs

• Great Barrier Reef 2050 Plan

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• Completion of the 20 Million Trees program

• Continuing existing contracts under the Environmental Stewardship program

• Threatened Species Recovery Fund

Investments additional to previously announced Environment programs:

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Additional $100 million for program

Announced in 2016/17 mid-year economic and fiscal

outlook and allocated to:

• Indigenous Protected Areas ($15 m)

• Smart Farms Program ($80 m)

• Environment Small Grants ($5 m)

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• $450 m over five years from 2018-19

• Builds on strengths of the current program:

o National coverage

o Connect and involve communities

o Regional planning

o Integrated agricultural and environment outcomes

3. Regional Land Partnerships Program

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• The Australian Government is considering delivering the Regional Land Partnerships program by selecting and engaging service providers through an open and competitive process

• Existing geographic boundaries for current natural resource management regions maintained (Management Units)

• Engage service providers to deliver Regional Land Partnerships outcomes through core services and projects at the regional level

A proposed new approach: Open and competitive tenders

Regional Land Partnerships

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1. By 2023, the ecological character of Ramsar sites is

maintained or improved

2. By 2023, the trajectory of Threatened Species

Strategy priority species is improved

Six Regional Land Partnerships Proposed OutcomesA proposed new approach:

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3. By 2023, the outstanding universal values of natural and

mixed World Heritage Areas are maintained or

enhanced by a reduction in invasive species threats

4. By 2023, the condition of nationally threatened

ecological communities on private land is improved

A proposed new approach:Six Regional Land Partnerships Proposed Outcomes

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5. By 2023, there is an increase in the awareness and adoption of land management practices that improve and protect the condition of soil, biodiversity and vegetation

6. By 2023, agriculture systems have a capacity to adapt to significant changes in climate, weather and markets

A proposed new approach:Six Regional Land Partnerships Proposed Outcomes

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• National environment and agriculture investment priorities identified

• Most priorities have been identified for each Management Unit

• Biodiversity and vegetation, and adapting agricultural systems to significant change are based on requirements and not location

Regional Land Partnerships investment priorities

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• Soil acidification

• Soil carbon

• Hillslope erosion

• Wind erosion

Soil investment priorities

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Modelled ‘medium and high-risk areas’ for soil carbon

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Modelled priority threatened species

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• Monitoring Evaluation Reporting and Improvement (MERI) Framework outlines the MERI approach for Regional Land Partnerships

• Proposing to monitor long-term outcomes and short-medium term results on selected projects to determine the state and change of assets over time

• The Evaluation Plan is currently in development

MERI Framework

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• One organisation or a group of organisations (consortium) can submit a tender

o One lead organisation needed

• Single service provider (including a consortium) per Management Unit

• Option to tender for more than one Management Unit

• Address each Management Unit separately

Proposed Regional Land Partnerships Delivery: what tenderers need to do

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• Ensure community engagement, participation and support

o Work with Indigenous community, landholders, landcare and farmer groups and Industry groups

• 20 per cent of project budget to small, on-ground projects delivered by or directly engaging local landcare community

• Indigenous Procurement Policy

Proposed Regional Land Partnerships Delivery: what tenderers need to do

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Tender responses to include:

• How core services will be delivered and

• A portfolio of proposed NRM projects to deliver on the Regional Land Partnerships outcomes, which will likely need to address:

o both environment and agriculture outcomes

o some 1 year projects and some 5 year projects

Proposed Regional Land Partnerships Delivery: what tenderers need to do

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• Strategic natural resource management planning and reporting

• Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator services

• Community engagement

• Strong governance frameworks

Proposed Regional Land Partnerships Delivery: maintain capabilities to deliver core services

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Indicative split for core services and projectsCategory of services Indicative split (%)

Core services 20

Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator Services 8

Threatened Species Services 30

Ramsar Services 10

Threatened Ecological Communities Services 10

World Heritage Services 5

Soil, Biodiversity and Vegetation Services 12

Supporting Agriculture Systems to Adapt to Change Services 5

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Early December 2017 or mid January 2018:• Tenders open

Before July 2018:

• Deed of Standing Offer

• Core services contracted for full five years

• On-ground projects contracted for at least one year

Before December 2018:• Remaining on-ground projects contracted out to 2023

Proposed Regional Land Partnerships Delivery: next steps

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• Value for money

• Demonstrated experience providing similar services

• Capacity to deliver both core services and projects

• Alignment with national priorities and outcomes: see interactive map of priorities on www.nrm.gov.au

• Confidence and ability to work with community to deliver outcomes

• Pricing, financial viability, risk

Proposed Regional Land Partnerships Delivery: evaluation criteria

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• Consultation paper available on www.nrm.gov.au

• Overview of Proposed Tender Requirements attached to consultation paper

• Consultation closes 23 October 2017

• Provide your feedback through the online consultation survey

• Enquiries should be addressed to the National Landcare Program email address: nationallandcare@environment.gov.au

Next steps Regional Land Partnerships: consultation

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• Over six years from 2017-18 to 2022-23

• Three elements:

o Smart Farming Partnerships ($60m)

o Smart Farms Small Grants ($50m)

o Building Landcare Community and Capacity ($24m)

4. Smart Farms Program

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• Guidelines and call for applications open soon

• Open competitive grant opportunity to support longer term projects (up to four to five years)

• Grants range in value from $250,000 to $4 million

• Two rounds of funding (2017-18 and late 2018-19)

• Applicants required to form partnerships to deliver outcomes with a nominated lead

• Open to a wide range of individuals and organisations working together in partnership

Smart Farms: Smart Farming Partnerships

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• Guidelines and call for applications open soon

• Open competitive grants program to support shorter on-ground projects (up to two years)

• Grants range from $5,000 to $100,000, considered under two tiers

• Tier 1 ($5,000 to $50,000)

• Tier 2 ($50,001 to $100,000)

• Six annual rounds of funding (2017-18 to 2022-23)

• Open to a range of individuals and organisations

Smart Farms: Smart Farms Small Grants

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• Targeted funding will help support, build and motivate the individuals and groups delivering improved natural resource management outcomes

• Activities include (but not limited to):

o Award and leadership

o Conferences, communication, and promotion activities

o Delivery of on-ground improvements in land management

Smart Farms: Building Landcare Community and Capacity

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• Smart Farms grants programs will be published on GrantConnect

o You can register on www.grants.gov.au for notification of grants release

• See also www.nrm.gov.au

Next steps: Smart Farms

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5. Questions and Answers

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• Consultation closes 23 October 2017

• See www.nrm.gov.au website

• Consultation Paper includes an online survey

• Enquiries should be addressed to the National Landcare Program email address: nationallandcare@environment.gov.au

6. Next steps: a reminder

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Thank you for your participation in today’s information session