The Western Australian Municipal Association (WAMA), representing the interests of the State’s 144 Councils, will receive $459,100 from the Federal Government’s Natural Heritage Trust 2000-2001.
The Federal Government has announced that the project is one of 315 to be funded in WA under the Trust’s fourth year of operation.
President of WAMA, Councillor Ian Mickel, said that the funding would enable participating Local Governments to improve the quality of local bushland areas in the Perth metropolitan region.
“The Perth Biodiversity Project is concerned with preserving locally significant bushland,” he said.
“In urban neighbourhoods, local bushland sites are highly valued because these natural areas have been diminishing in recent years.”
The Trust’s initial funding is just the first step in the process, generating an enormous amount of in kind support throughout communities.
Success of the Trust depends heavily on strong community involvement in identifying local environmental and natural resource management problems and developing local solutions.
However, there is a lack of appropriate data for defining and managing biodiversity at the Local Government level.
Councillor Mickel said that three Project Officers would assist Local Governments.
This will ensure a consistent approach to the development and implementation of local biodiversity plans and facilitate the implementation of strategic on ground works in locally significant bushland sites throughout the metropolitan region.
