CEO Blog - An Update From the Office - NACC - Northern Agricultural Catchments Council

Since January 2020, Australia – and indeed the world – has endured rapid and unprecedented change.

We are very fortunate here at NACC NRM to have strong support from the community and our stakeholders and also strong internal commitment to our purpose and values which have allowed us to continue achieving our on-ground and community engagement outcomes.

Organisations across Australia have adapted throughout this period and in WA we are very lucky to now be looking towards economic recovery. I am very encouraged by the McGowan Government’s recent ‘Green Jobs Plan’ announcements which look to achieve outcomes both for our environment as well as the economy.

In May 2020 we shared a collective proposal signed by more than 70 conservation organisations from across Australia which has been submitted to the Australian Government. Decisions regarding federal stimulus measures are being made now – in the lead up to the Federal budget due in October. We urge anyone who supports further conservation and land management focused economic stimulus to use the template letter which can be found here, to contact your local member of federal parliament urgently to voice your support.

While we wait in anticipation for those announcements, NACC NRM has some exciting announcements of our own to share.

Since January, our Coastal team have been wearing out their pencils and keyboards writing funding applications. Recently we received the great news that two of these applications have been successful. We would like to thank Mid West Ports Authority and Coastwest for their contributions to these projects (Coronation Beach Clean-up event and; a series of webinars and forums which will engage the education sector and also facilitate engagement between small groups and local land managers respectively). Stay tuned into our networks for more information as these projects get underway.

We have also recently received approval to commence the series of activities which make up our Core Business Investment project which is supported by funding from the Western Australian Government’s State NRM Program. We are extremely grateful to the groups from across the NAR who contributed to our consultation process at short notice, to help develop the suite of activities which was very positively received by the State NRM program assessment team. Now we are very excited to be able to announce some of the activities which we will be delivering with this funding over the next two years.

Communications Network for NAR groups.
Values-Based Messaging training for NRM groups in WA as part of the NRM Skills Network collaboration with WA regional NRM groups.
Technical support for small groups – biodiversity and coastal.
Strategic Plan linkage training for small groups.
Facilitation support for ‘R’ Training.
Social impact evaluation templates for small groups.

Stay tuned for more detailed information on these activities over the coming weeks or contact phoebe.royce@nacc.com.au to register your interest in any of these activities specifically.

Hopefully last week you all caught the ABC News article about the Environment Restoration Fund project which NACC NRM is party to and will work to increase and enhance Carnaby Cockatoo habitat. This cross-regional project is being delivered in concert with other regional NRM groups in WA including Peel-Harvey Catchment Council, South West Catchments Council, South Coast NRM and Wheatbelt NRM all of whom will deliver their projects in partnership with Birdlife WA.

While it is great to see so many projects being approved and getting underway, we all know that there is still more to be done and you can have an impact. Though many of the issues facing our natural environment are BIG, there are lots of small changes you can make that will add up.

Conscious decisions – where you spend your money, what types of businesses/products you support, buying local (low food miles) produce wherever possible, minimising packaging, walking or riding a bike when you can.
Planting a diverse garden – consider natives and plants you can eat.
Composting and/or chickens – Some of you might remember that I shared our families journey in hatching some chickens in February of this year. After a few false starts (3 roosters to be exact) we welcomed two new hens in April, and this week, one of our girls laid her first egg. A very exciting day in our house.