An alliance of Australian conservation, land management and science groups is calling on the Australian government to increase its spending on nature to 1% of the federal budget, which would require about an additional $6bn a year.
Research conducted by the sustainability advisory firm Cyan Ventures, published in the report Nature Economics, has found that government spending on biodiversity over the past decade fell far short of this target, averaging about $476m a year, or less than 0.1% of the budget. This increased to $762m in 2023-24.
The research was commissioned by the 30 by 30 alliance, which calls for government investment to protect 30% of Australia’s land and sea by 2030. The report says increasing spending on nature would provide economic, social and cultural impacts that would be felt immediately and into the future.
The Australian government agreed to adopt 30 by 30 as a national target in 2022. However, without adequate funding, it will be difficult to meet this target in a meaningful way, says Jason Lyddieth, the national protected areas campaign manager at The Pew Charitable Trusts, one of 30 by 30’s member organisations.
“We have the scientists, we have huge overwhelming support in the public for protecting nature, and so the real barrier is a lack of funding,” Lyddieth says.
There’s a risk that on-paper protection will not translate into tangible action on the ground, he says. “A lack of dedicated funding may mean we’re not protecting areas equally; in Australia we have 89 different bio-regions and we need to ensure they’re all represented in the areas that are protected. We need to look beyond just the hectares listed as protected to see the quality of what we’re protecting, and assess them under the best-case scientific principles of being comprehensive, adequate and representative.”
Previous analysis by the 30 by 30 alliance shows that while federal spending on biodiversity is increasing, over the past decade it has averaged only 30% of OECD levels, and less than 8% of the estimated annual need. The latest research found that some countries – including the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland – spend up to 219 times more on biodiversity per square kilometre than Australia.
Quantifying nature’s value
Lakefield pastoral station, 140kms south of Katherine NT, has won Landcare and conservation awards for sound environmental management by the Riggs family, Gary and Michelle. Photo credit: David Hancock.
To arrive at a targeted funding figure of 1% of the federal budget, analysts first sought to understand the value of nature to Australia in economic terms. “It’s intuitively obvious that nature produces so much for the Australian economy, but we needed to take a deep dive and really quantify just how much it does contribute,” Lyddieth says.
The answer: nature-dependent industry sectors such as food production and tourism directly contribute more than $138bn to the Australian economy each year, the report says. Tens of billions more are collected each year in environmental taxes and taxes from nature-based industries (in 2021-22, this was estimated to be $58bn). Add factors that are intrinsically but indirectly tied to nature – such as climate regulation, water purification and flood protection – and nature’s value to the economy rises to more than $511bn annually.
In light of these findings, the Nature Economics report argues that increasing spending to protect nature is not only critical for environmental reasons, but makes sound economic sense.
The way forward
Lyndal Scobell, of Cape York Natural Resource Management Ltd, and Laura Land and Sea Ranger, Roderick Doughboy, discuss land management issues at the Split Rock Escarpment overlooking the Kennedy Valley near Laura in Outback Queensland. Photo credit: Kerry Trapnell.
As well as proposing funding targets, the report outlines nine policy pillars to support the strategic implementation of nature spending. These include establishing clear outcomes to target the biggest threats to nature; strengthening coordination between federal, state and local governments; leveraging private-public collaboration in nature investment; and engaging First Nations people in decision-making and implementation.
The nine pillars are interconnected, fundamental and underpinned by a focus on people, Lyddieth says. “Ensuring that we’re engaging with communities is critical; we need to bring people along this journey. And part of that is the incredible First Nations knowledge that we have in Australia. We have tens of thousands of years of successful management of Australia, and we need to learn from that.”
An urgent call
Lyddieth says Australians intuitively understand the value of nature but underestimate the severity of the current crisis. Over the past 200 years, Australia has experienced the greatest biodiversity decline of any continent, with at least 17 ecosystems showing signs of collapse or near collapse, the report says.
“While the overwhelming majority of Australians want to see more nature protection, most don’t realise there’s a nature crisis because we have such abundant nature and you don’t need to go far out of the cities to see it,” Lyddieth says. “It’s only when you look at the science and the statistics that you understand that Australia’s nature is really under strain and that the need for increased funding becomes apparent.”