4.3.1 Recommendation 6: Collaborative Approaches to Supporting Best Practice Grazing Land Management
In the longer term, the LDC project should seek to influence the development of a stable and continuously improving system of catchment scale support for extension, training, farm planning support and regulatory compliance management for rangeland grazing in the GBR. This system should be:
a. Catchment based; b. Involve ongoing R & D; c. Coordinate extension approaches; d. Ensure integrated and co-managed approaches to implementation of the new Reef
Protection regulations; and e. Enable effective prioritization of ongoing extension effort and reporting of improved practice uptake.
A focused and collaborative approach to the design of such a system should be considered during the balance of the MIP. In doing so, over the life of the LDC project, the LDC and NQ Dry Tropics should engage with key institutions( industry, government, regional NRM) to collaboratively influence the longer-term arrangements.
Long-term incentive arrangements( from improved grazing practices to major gully remediation) will need long term institutional arrangements to deliver effective outcomes and to achieve the targets envisaged under the Reef 2050 Plan, including systems to support catchment-scale planning and management, property-scale planning and BMP systems and engagement with nonagricultural land managers. These longer-term arrangements should include:
� Engaging with emerging opportunities for additional incentives, such as Reef Credits, BMP accredited Beef and NAB‘ green accounting’ loans;
� Identifying and supporting complementary incentives that could be adopted by government agencies e. g. tax concessions for gully fencing( ATO), council rate rebates for good land stewardship( Local Government), and the potentially perverse outcomes from some incentives such as agistment assistance;
� Ensuring that local voices can contribute to policy dialogue about long-term institutional arrangements that affect land management and environmental outcomes;
� Seeking to co-design and negotiate the best long-term regional system of grazier support for practice improvement, integrating the efforts of industry BMP, implementation of regulations, research coordination and regional NRM programs within the catchment, as well as developing pathways for graziers to engage with catchment repair; and
� Seeking closer engagement with government to understand and proactively manage regulatory barriers to improved practices( i. e. seeking better ways to integrate activities under the Vegetation Management Act and other legislation to deliver better landscape outcomes and improve profitability and practices).
Landholders driving change: Exploring new incentives | 49