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To all members of
Birds Australia
The followings statement outlines for the next decade
2008-2017 priority directions to guide Birds Australia. It is an aspirational
Statement that sets an agenda for Birds Australia to invest its energy
and effort over this period. However, it is also a working document
that the Birds Australia Council has endorsed for circulation to commence
an ongoing dialogue with our membership.
We are keen to engage with you
in future direction-setting for Birds Australia and we welcome and
encourage your reaction to the Statement. Your comments about what you
regard as important future directions and priorities for Birds Australia
will greatly enhance the organisation's operation and assist the Council
to reflect more closely our membership's views.
One of the main purposes in developing Directions
for the Decade is to provide a clear framework for developing the Birds
Australia Strategic Plan which sets out specific actions to implement
the broad priority directions of the organisation.
Recognising that neither the Statement nor the Strategic
Plan can be static, both will be subject to regular review to reflect
changing circumstances that will inevitably occur over the decade. Views
from our membership will greatly assist Council in the ongoing review
of our future efforts.
Both Graeme and I would welcome any views you have
on the Statement and look forward to your participation in establishing
future priorities for Birds Australia.
Alison Russell-French President
Graeme Hamilton Chief Executive
Officer
Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union
Directions for the
Decade.
As Australia's national ornithological organisation,
Birds Australia through its Members will work hard over the next decade
to draw attention more directly to the threats facing our birds and
their habitats, nationally and internationally.
We will be doing so in
an environment of increasing challenge and pressure. Climate change
and global warming are clearly major threats environmentally, socially
and economically. Habitat loss and fragmentation are impacting adversely
on national and global biodiversity. Increasing competition for use
of natural resources such as water, food and space, impacts from invasive
species, and pollution - all are sounding a loud warning to us about
the capacity of species to adjust and adapt effectively to these rapidly
changing conditions. All of these will pose significant threats to Australia's
birds.
Birds Australia needs to respond to the challenges
in the emerging frontiers ahead on behalf of our birds. We need to focus
broad attention on the critical importance of conserving Australia's
biodiversity generally and our birds more specifically. The objective
of Birds Australia is the conservation of birds and their habitats in
Australia. To work towards this vision, we have identified five priorities
for 2008 to 2017.
These five priorities reflect an aspirational guide
for Birds Australia to pursue over the next decade. They will also guide
our three year Strategic Plan 2008 - 2010 and be reviewed together with
the Strategic Plan in 2010 to assess progress and take into account
new or changing circumstances that we may need to address.
Advocacy
We need to speak on behalf of our birds with an authoritative
and effective voice to highlight the importance of their conservation
nationally and internationally.
We need a more effective communication strategy and
a major element of this will be the enhanced Birds Australia website.
Our website will reach out to a wide audience to reflect the work Birds
Australia is doing and will provide a valuable information source to
highlight the threats and the conservation actions that are needed to
address those threats. Similarly, our membership magazine Wingspan and
its supplements, particularly the State of Australia's Birds reports,
have a role to play in advocacy.
One of Birds Australia's great strengths is the network
of people we have who are concerned with the protection of our birds.
Our Regional Groups, the hard working volunteers who manage Gluepot
Reserve and the Observatories at Broome and Eyre, the thousands of Atlassers
out in the field, and all the other volunteers who help Birds Australia
in so many different ways will play an even more vital advocacy role
to secure greater awareness about the conservation effort needed for
our birds and their habitats.
Birds Australia aims to expand and support the coalface
advocacy work of its Regional Groups. We will take advantage of our
role as the national ornithological body to advocate for better conservation
of birds and their habitats by working with decision-makers. This will
include working with local, state and federal governments, the regional
bodies established under the Australian Government's NRM process, and
the corporate sector. Birds Australia will seek out and respond to partnership
opportunities where the interests of Birds Australia and prospective
partners coincide to actively promote conservation of birds and their
habitat.
Birds Australia will continue the work we are doing
in the international arena where our well recognised scientific and
research work will assist in pursuing this goal. We will support and
build on the effective work conducted by the Australasian Wader Studies
Group in international efforts to protect migratory shorebirds. Working
with Birdlife International and Wetlands International, Birds Australia
will continue to advocate conservation for the migratory shorebird species
we share with other countries in the East Asian Australasian region
and the habitats they rely on. We will also continue to pursue other
international conservation outcomes working in partnership with appropriate
organisations.
We see value in engaging special Ambassadors at Large
to work with us and influence decision-makers by raising the profile
of our birds and their habitats and promoting the need for their protection.
Education
We need to reach out to raise awareness and understanding
in the broader community about our birds. We will increase our efforts
to promote information and knowledge about birds and their habitat to
the community, corporate sector and governments. Our magazine Wingspan
will continue to be one of our major forums for education and promotion
of our goals.
The establishment of the Birds Australia Discovery
Centre in Sydney is a new way for us to highlight the need for conservation
of Australia's birds and their habitats. The Discovery Centre will provide
opportunities to engage the community, the corporate sector, governments
and schools about the importance of bird conservation and methods required
to achieve this conservation. The Discovery Centre will provide a valuable
national focus on birds that currently is lacking and will play a pivotal
role in Birds Australia's ability to reach a broad audience. The Threatened
Bird Network will continue to link volunteers with research and conservation
projects and the Atlas to harness their bird-watching skills for nationwide
monitoring.
Birds Australia recognises the important role communities
can play in achieving effective outcomes for conservation of birds and
their habitat. The accessibility of birds, combined with their capacity
as bio-indicators, makes them the perfect tool for sustainability education
in the community. Further, Birds Australia's mix of both professional
and amateur ornithologists provides a rich foundation on which to build
education programs that are relevant to all sectors of the community:
Birds Australia will capitalise on these assets through
increasing focus on education, awareness raising aid community capacity
building programs such as Birds on Farms and Birds in Backyards. As
a part of the Important Bird Area (IBA) program, Birds Australia aims
to assist involved communities to prepare for and learn how to manage
'their IBA'.
Recognising and valuing the enormous contribution
made by Regional Groups and with the aim of strengthening and expanding
its network of these groups, Birds Australia will actively develop the
capacity of these groups to support and increase their effectiveness.
Information
Birds Australia will explore new ways to turn our
peerless information resources into knowledge to be shared
for conservation. We will become a major information
and expertise provider. HANZAB, as a comprehensive information source
on the region's birds, stands as one of Birds Australia's outstanding
achievements in the information field. Equallv, the Atlas of Australian
Birds is another valuable information source on our birds. By disseminating
reliable information from such sources, Birds Australia aims to empower
individuals, communities and governments to make decisions and take
actions that will conserve our birds and their habitats, and in this
way benefit biodiversity conservation more broadly.
Birds Australia has a unique opportunity to take
the lead role in engaging at the scientific level on ornithological
research. We will work with academia and other relevant institutions
to influence priority research gaps identified in conservation and ornithological
areas. We will focus on those species and habitats that we consider
to be most in need of study and conservation.
Theough its information and research expertise, Birds
Australia can very effectively assist and influence national, regional
and local decision-making to achieve good conservation outcomes for
birds and thier habitats
Birds Australia will seek to play a stronger role
in providing information/data to all levels of government. We will engage
with the Australian Government on matters that relate to the Environment
Protection and Biodiversitv
Conservation Act 1999 as well as with NRM Regional bodies to achieve
more effective regional on-ground outcomes for conservation of birds
and their habitat. We will work with local and State governments in
recognition of the major role that they play in local planning and land
use decision-making.
Research
We will build on our strong research platform to
find solutions to the challenges confronting bird conservation. Birds
Australia's research agenda, clearly aligned with priority conservation
needs identified for Australia's birds over the decade, will actively
promote solutions to problems threatening our birds and their habitats.
In particular, we will mentor young scientists and
conservationists and foster their career paths in research work on the
conservation of birds and their habitats. We will continue to fund,
encourage and support student research on birds.
Birds Australia will build on the success it has
enjoyed to date within scientific, government and community circles
in attracting project funding for its research agenda. We will continue
to seek opportunities to work with the Australian, State and local governments
on priority funded activities.
Birds Australia recognises the importance of promoting
its research and scientific expertise on birds. The research projects
sought will reflect the priority conservation agenda we have identified
for the decade and our efforts will be directed to providing applicable
outputs of this research. Such outputs will be widely available and
will particularly aim to influence government and legislative decision-making.
In view of the valuable information they generate, maintenance and enhancement
of the Atlas and continuation of the State of Australia's Birds will
be priority- ongoing research activities.
Strengthening
Birds Australia will continue to build a robust and
flexible organisation that can anticipate and meet the challenges of
a changing world. This will include increased efforts to build the membership
base in recognition of the great value that members play in supporting
the organisation and the active "supporter" element
that provides us with such valuable voluntary support. We will also
establish more effective ways to attract young members to Birds Australia
to maintain viability across generations.
HANZAB exemplifies a very successful venture that
drew in over S7 million for a long term project raised
largely from non-government sources. Funding for
administrative and priority work such as the maintenance of observatories
and reserves, our investment in shorebird work nationally and international
IN-, ongoing data gathering and database building for the Atlas and
the State of Australia's Birds are all major activities for which funding
will be sought.
One of our primary goals over the next 10 years will
be to build a solid capital base for Birds Australia. We will seek to
build our untied capital through bequests, donations, philanthropic
support and increase the opportunities for corporate sponsorship. This
will be on the basis of mutual interests being satisfied and agreed
between Birds Australia and appropriate corporate interests. The initiative
between Birds Australia and Rio Tinto to work with communities in developing
and nominating Important Bird Areas represents the value such corporate
sponsorship can provide to achieve conservation outcomes. We will maintain
a long term investment strategy, which balances long-term security with
investment earnings.
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