The Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority (PPWCMA) says its priority environmental programs, designed to improve the condition of the Melbourne environment will achieve significant results in the 2008 financial year.
The PPWCMA funds priority projects through the federal government’s Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) which focuses on areas of environmental concern to deliver on-ground programs to improve degraded land or water quality, improve biodiversity, capacity building and monitoring and evaluation of the environment’s condition.
The PPWCMA delivers these on-ground projects in line with the goals of the Regional Catchment Strategy and the PPWCMA’s role is as much about leading partnerships and integrating projects as it is about administrating and promoting on-ground work.
PPWCMA Investment Manager David Thomas explains.
“There are a number of significant projects throughout the region that we manage such as our environmental landscape change programs (Major Projects), Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting of our environment, landcare coordination, local government engagement relating to the environment and actions around native vegetation and biodiversity.
“We also work very closely with other organisations to deliver environmental outcomes for our region. This includes coordination of projects with Melbourne Water, Departments of Sustainability and Environment and Primary Industries and work with organisations such as Trust For Nature, local councils and Landcare networks,” Mr Thomas explained.
For the PPWCMA, delivering successful outcomes against the Regional Catchment Strategy involves significant coordination.
“Our role is to ensure that all of our funded projects make a tangible difference to the health of our local environment and that both the external projects and PPWCMA run projects are delivering successful outcomes.
“There are some very visible successes including our Major Projects (Grow West, Living Links and Yarra4Life) and the Melbourne Environment Report (released December 2007) which monitored the effectiveness of the work that agencies and individuals undertake for the environment.”
The Federal Government will rename the current Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) funding program on1 July 2008 to Caring for Our Country. At this stage the PPWCMA is unsure how the newly branded funding scheme will unfold but it is positive its current programs will continue to meet both state and federal environmental priorities.
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