Executive summary
The Landholders Driving Change( LDC) project is working closely with graziers in the Bowen, Broken, Bogie( BBB) catchments from 2018 through to 2021 to tackle erosion and improve land management, productivity and water quality in this important Reef region. The LDC project is one of two Major Integrated Projects( MIPs) funded by the Queensland Government. The MIPs have been designed to work collaboratively with landholders to pilot a range of innovative methods to improve water quality entering the Reef lagoon.
This report has been commissioned by the NQ Dry Tropics to support the trial and evaluation of new incentive approaches as part of the LDC project in the BBB. The project has:
� Reviewed relevant land management practices with a focus on grazing and gully remediation and analysed the public and private benefits of practice change;
� Collated and assessed potential incentives to facilitate adoption of desirable land management practices; � Reviewed and summarised learnings from previous incentive programs; and � Summarised incentive programs currently available to BBB landholders.
The BBB contributes 25 % of the fine sediment discharged to the Great Barrier Reef, primarily from grazing lands. Four types of erosion generate sediment; hillslope erosion, streambank erosion, hillslope gullies and alluvial gullies. Gully erosion is the dominant source of sediment in the BBB. Practices to reduce sediment loss have been identified, and include managing stocking rates and ground cover, fencing to land type and the provision of watering points, the management of linear features such as roads, gully remediation through erosion stabilisation, revegetation and / or earth works, bank and bed stabilisation.
There are 63 grazing enterprises in the BBB. From the literature and workshops held with graziers in the design phase of the LDC project, factors that influence adoption of new practices were identified to include motivations( intrinsic, lifestyle, financial etc.), attitudes to risk, farm debt and others. Operational and financial constraints can also be a significant influence. Importantly, graziers and grazing enterprises are diverse, with different landholders holding different motivations and facing different barriers, using different practices and engaging with different practice change programs. Some of the most significant water quality gains might be realised by working with the“ least engaged” graziers with limited adoption of improved practices. However, this is likely to be challenging to achieve. Innovation and peer-peer learning are led by highly engaged graziers with a high level of adoption of improved practices. Ideally, the LDC project will:
� Engage graziers not previously engaged in extension or water quality programs; � Accelerate adoption of good practices across the full spectrum of graziers( motivations, practice levels etc.); and � Develop and test new practices( innovation) by working with graziers who are already using good practices.
vi | Landholders driving change: Exploring new incentives