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Biodiversity
credits
Some State Governments and regional shires
have established schemes that include payments to farmers for
the provision of biodiversity services.
The Victorian Government is trialling a scheme called ‘BushTender’:
"BushTender is a new approach offering landholders the
opportunity to receive payment for entering into agreements
to provide management services that improve the quality or extent
of native vegetation on their land. BushTender is unique. It
enables landholders to establish their own price for the management
services they are prepared to offer to improve their native
vegetation. This price forms the basis for their bid, which
is compared with the bids from all other landholders participating
in the trial. The successful bids will be those that offer the
best value for money."
Go
to the Bushtender website
Assessing the value of the contribution made by a specific forest
is the most difficult aspect of marketing environmental services
like biodiversity. The bush tender approach provides an opportunity
for farmers to compete for limited funds. Where landowners are
able to capture or value other benefits—such as shelter
or land protection—they might be willing to accept a small
contribution for the biodiversity values their forests offer
their region. Additional research will improve society’s
understanding about the attributes of suitable habitats and
the contribution made by small forests and wildlife corridors
towards supporting regional plant and animal populations. This
extra knowledge will help farmers, and the purchasers of biodiversity
services, to better design and implement programs that have
a real effect on improving biodiversity.
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