The Annual Report 2004/05, which details the Reef Plan's implementation in the period July 2004 to June 2005, provides a summary of the most up-to-date information about water quality entering the Reef since the release of the Reef Plan. Its main aim is to report on the progress made against the four focus areas outlined in the Reef Plan:
- improved decision-making in land use planning
- adoption of sustainable production systems
- rehabilitation of damaged wetlands and riparian areas
- conservation of existing wetland and riparian areas.
This annual report includes analysis of the highlights, actions on track or completed, actions of concern, overall progress and key strategic issues in relation to:
Highlights
- Implementation of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's integrated Reef Marine Monitoring Program. During 2004-05 $2 million was spent benchmarking the main environmental and ecosystem variables and establishing the monitoring program to measure changing trends in water quality and ecosystem health of the Reef.
- Accreditation of regional NRM plans and regional investment strategies within the catchments opposite the Great Barrier Reef. These plans identify targets for the regions' NRM and detail catchment-wide activity in land and water management, biodiversity and agricultural practices.
- Approval of funding under the Australian Government Coastal Catchments Initiative for the development and implementation of water quality improvement plans in the following catchments:
- Tully and Barron (Far North Queensland NRM Board)
- Burdekin (Burdekin Dry Tropics Board)
- Proserpine, O'Connell, Pioneer and Plane (MWNRM)
- Burnett (Burnett Mary Regional NRM Group).
- Investment of $1.3 million in the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAPSWQ) State-wide Investment Program. This program is lead by the Department of Natural Resources and Water and supports the development of tools and information products to assist the management of salinity and water quality in NAPSWQ regions through five key areas: agriculture, salinity, capacity building, water quality, and social and economic roll-out of Farm Management Systems (non-government site) by the Queensland Farmers' Federation. The Farm Management Systems concept is a voluntary, property and business level management process producers use to identify and manage risks, particularly environmental risk, that may occur as a result of their farming operation.
- Development of the AgForward program by AgForce. The Queensland Government has provided AgForce with $8 million to deliver AgForward, which will assist land holders within the broadacre industries of cattle, grain, sheep and wool to improve their land management practices.
- Continued support from the Australian Government for the Fertcare program. During 2004-05, a trial training program was conducted within the catchments of the Reef, which provided participants with a detailed and complex knowledge of environmental issues, product stewardship and food safety issues. It also assessed the competency of the adviser in providing nutrient recommendations.
- Roll-out of the Queensland Wetlands Programme, including funding for the following projects:
- developing a wetland prioritisation decision support system
- investigating the adoption of programs and incentives relevant to wetlands conservation
- mapping and classifying Queensland's wetlands and providing a wetland inventory database o preparing wetland management profiles
- establishing the Understanding Queensland Wetlands: An Information Review and Gap Analysis project.
- Funding by the Australian Government for a consortium lead by the Conservation Volunteers Australia (non-government site) to deliver a pilot program for on-ground delivery of wetland conservation using a number of mechanisms, such as voluntary conservation agreements and incentive packages.
Last reviewed 15 December 2006
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