Send a letter to support the National Reserve System

Help make a difference: urge the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Malcolm Turnbull MP to back more investment in parks and reserves.

With the unfolding crisis of climate change and prolonged drought, it's more urgent than ever that wildlife habitat be protected in national parks and nature reserves.

The Federal Government is right now deciding how much to invest over the next five years in the National Reserve System Programme, which funds new parks and reserves. Only about 60 cents a year for each taxpayer has been invested over the past decade. Expert reports indicate that this programme is one of the most cost effective ways to protect our natural heritage and funding should be raised closer to $4 per taxpayer per year, or about $50 million a year over the next five years.

With your help, we can convince the government to boost the investment in this vital programme for protecting Australia's unique biodiversity and wildlife habitat.

Write to the Minister using this sample letter. A personal letter is always appreciated more than form letters - remember to include your name and address and the date.

For more information

See our Building Nature's Safety Net report
Contact Dr Martin Taylor, Protected Areas Policy Manager at mtaylor@wwf.org.au or tel. 07 3839 4361

Sample text for your letter

Simply copy the text below into your word processor (e.g. Microsoft Word), replace the text "[[INSERT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS HERE]]" with your details, and then fax or post it using the details mentioned above.

If you can, please also send us a copy of the letter so that we can gauge how many letters have been sent.

Hon. Malcolm Turnbull MP
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Dear Minister

I am writing in support of the commitments made by all Australian governments to develop a system of national parks and nature reserves, which comprehensively protects Australia's unique biodiversity and threatened wildlife.

I urge you to support increased funding to put this commitment into action.

Living up to this commitment is urgent if we are to avoid losing more of our endangered wildlife, particularly with the unfolding crisis of climate change and prolonged drought in many areas.

Australia is home to 10 per cent of the Earth's biodiversity, but 50 per cent of all mammal extinctions in the last 200 years have been in Australia.

Creating parks and reserves in the right places is one of the most cost-effective ways of protecting biodiversity.

A recent WWF report Building Nature's Safety Net showed that the cost to the Federal Treasury of new parks and reserves purchased since 1996 under the National Reserve System Programme was only $10.61 per hectare acquired.

This represents remarkable value for money. This highly effective programme gives out grants to state and local governments, indigenous and non-government groups to create new national parks or nature reserves in high priority areas for protecting wildlife and biodiversity.

The Federal Government has invested about 60 cents a year for each taxpayer over the last decade in this programme. Expert reports have indicated that:

• this should be closer to $4 per taxpayer per year over the next five years to meet commitments already made, or at least $50 million a year over five years, and
• the programme should cover at least two thirds of the acquisition and establishment costs of new reserves, in light of the large annual management costs borne by the Parks Agencies.

I would appreciate hearing back from you as to whether you would support increasing the National Reserve System Programme investment to $50 million a year over the next five years.

Yours faithfully,

[[INSERT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS HERE]]

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Send a letter to support the National Reserve System

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Sample text for your letter

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