Two days, 270+ passionate, knowledgeable people and a lot of work to do… With growing concerns about the number of threatened species in our region – from cassowaries, golden-shouldered parrots and sawfish to Mabi rainforest and ant plants – it’s no surprise that the recent North Queensland Threatened Species Symposium was a sell-out.

Held in Cairns, the event brought together conservationists, scientists, traditional owners, natural resource management organisations and government representatives to share everything from learnings, challenges, project news and the latest research to cultural knowledge, monitoring methods and recovery team achievements.

The focus was also on funding needs, maximising funding opportunities and, most importantly, collaborative actions that’ll make an impact.

Long-term investment needed

Terrain NRM CEO Stewart Christie called for long-term investment in a nature repair economy: “The Australian Government has committed to a nine-year funding program for the Great Barrier Reef. State governments commit to 10-25 year road programs. We’d welcome similar thinking about investment in the environment and the many natural resources that sustain our regional economy – from tourism to construction – as well as our lifestyle and wellbeing. What we need is combined 20-25 year programs – long-term commitment and investment that is bi-partisan.”

The symposium was full of people who devote their lives to saving threatened species and ecological communities, in paid or volunteer capacities or in both. Because many people and groups focus on a specific threatened species, they often work in silos. So the level of networking at the event was high, and was great to see.

“People were announcing new opportunities or talking about challenges during presentations and later coming to us saying they’d had the chance to talk to Queensland and Australian Government representatives or had made useful recovery team contacts. And government representatives were able to gather a lot of feedback about things like bioregional planning and nature repair markets.”

Thank you supporters and sponsors

The North Queensland Threatened Species Symposium was hosted by the NQ NRM Alliance (Terrain NRM, Cape York NRM and Gulf Savannah NRM) in partnership with the Australian and Queensland governments. It was supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program and the Queensland Government, as well as sponsors: the Wet Tropics Management Authority, The Nature Conservancy, Bush Heritage, the World Wildlife Fund, Centre for Tropical and Environmental Sustainability Science, Queensland Water and Land Conservation, Biosphere Environmental Consultants, the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland, Up North and Skyrail Foundation.

Some of the good news included:

• New ‘Priority Place’ listing: The ‘Eastern Forests of Far North Queensland’ was recently listed by the Australian Government as one of 20 priority places for threatened species recovery under the Threatened Species Action Plan. At the Symposium, recovery teams and land use planners talked about sustainable solutions for both conservation and development.
• Mabi Forest: A new ‘Reforest’ initiative will revegetate an area near Wongabel State Forest that was logged. Reforest has launched an app, with the support of the tourism industry, so businesses and their customers can invest in local regenerative efforts that’ll  contribute to drawing down carbon.
• Cassowaries – Wet Tropics & Cape York: A Cassowary Recovery Plan will go out for public comment soon. The Wet Tropics cassowary population appears to be stabilising. The recovery team is cautiously optimistic: “We believe the numbers are now stable but we need to ensure they remain stable”. On the Cape, there is new knowledge about cassowary populations. After 40 years with no recorded sightings, cassowaries were detected in 2018 and sightings continue. Actions include the development of a cassowary management plan, traditional fire management, pig and cattle management in cassowary country and indigenous ranger training.
• Indigenous ranger program: This program is continuing to expand, building capacity in First Nation organisations.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. It also takes one to save our threatened species – that was one clear message from the recent North Queensland Threatened Species Symposium where research was shared on successes and failures in conservation efforts over the years.

The Threatened Species Recovery Hub’s Stephen Garnett told a crowd of 150 people that many extinctions had been prevented, and species taken off the ‘threatened’ list thanks to sustained conservation action.

Within an incredibly biodiverse North Queensland, there are currently 180 threatened species and four threatened ecological communities. They range from cassowaries, gliders, the northern bettong and golden-shouldered parrot to sawfish, marine turtles and Mabi and littoral forests.

Prof. Garnett has been working on threatened species recovery for more than 30 years. He said successes and failures revealed seven facets of successful recovery efforts:

1. Strategic recovery plans with well-considered actions.
2. Recovery teams that covered a wide range of skills and included government and non-government representatives.
3. Finding a ‘champion’ or champions who are there for the long haul and making sure there is succession planning.
4. Legislation and policy – taking it into account and taking advantage of reviews
5. Resources – looking “in all sorts of places” for both government and non-government options.
6. Research and monitoring so actions are strategic and well-supported.
   Telling the story to build awareness and sustain interest.

Prof. Garnett was one of 45 speakers and workshop leaders at the two-day event which brought together passionate advocates for threatened species from recovery groups and conservation groups to traditional owners, scientists, government representatives including Threatened Species Commissioner Sally Box, and natural resource management practitioners.

The first event of its kind in this region, the symposium was organised by the NQ NRM Alliance – Terrain, Northern Gulf and Cape York natural resource management organisations – in partnership with the National Environmental Science Program’s Threatened Species Recovery Hub.

Terrain NRM’s Jacqui Diggins said she saw that recovery teams were tackling similar issues independently during a networking event held several years ago.

“That was when the concept of a symposium came, but it didn’t become a reality until several years later when the National Threatened Species Recovery Hub accepted an invitation to visit North Queensland and partner with NQ NRM Alliance.”

She said the recent symposium was “like four pieces of the puzzle coming together” – recovery teams, traditional owners, scientists and government.

“Recovery planning and actions need to be informed by science, but recovery teams’ ability to successfully implement the plan is heavily influenced by government policy and funding. Bringing together scientists, government representatives, traditional owners, recovery team members and other groups working on threatened species recovery – the listening, talking and sharing is a big step in the right direction.”

There were two obvious outcomes from the symposium:

• Traditional owners need to be more involved in threatened species recovery efforts from the concept stage through to planning and rolling out projects.
• A new working group has been formed to protect the magnificent broodfrog, listed as ‘vulnerable’ and only found in parts of the Atherton Tablelands and Paluma.