Program Area
Environment & Conservation
Finding ways for Australian communities to live sustainably and preserve biodiversity in the context of a challenging future due to factors such as land degradation, Australia's limited water resources and climate change is the Foundation's overarching commitment in this program area. The Foundation supports both field and impact research and developmental projects which monitor or trial innovative solutions to environmental problems.
The Foundation's first major commitment to the environment was The Potter Farmland Plan, an initiative of the Foundation which has had lasting significance. Undertaken from 1984 to 1988, its aim was to demonstrate that both ecologically and economically sustainable agriculture could be achieved. In line with the Foundation's commitment to advancing knowledge, this project is currently being evaluated by RMIT using a 'before' and 'after' impact assessment.
In addition to major initiatives, the Foundation continues to support smaller projects around Australia that combine elements of biodiversity and ecology preservation, volunteerism, and community education. In addition, conserving valued parts of the built environment for future generations is an important contribution that the Foundation makes to Australia's cultural wellbeing.
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Funding
Objectives
- to develop partnerships with communities, government and the private sector to help prevent irreversible damage to the environment and to encourage the maintenance of biodiversity
- to support programs and policies which are committed to the economic and ecologically sustainable development of land, and the preservation of species
- to foster a broad public awareness of the environmental challenges facing urban and rural Australia
- to assist communities which are threatened with serious economic hardship due to the degradation of land and water resources, to develop policies to manage the social, economic and cultural changes needed for survival
- to assist projects designed to preserve the built environment which has cultural significance
CLOSING DATE
The 2009 Closing Date for Environment & Conservation is Monday 1 June 2009
Applications must be received by 5.00 pm on the Closing Date.
Grants submitted within this area may also be considered for an Alec Prentice Sewell Gift
Case Study
Royal Zoological Society of SA Inc.
$100,000 in 2007
$100,000 in 2008
Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby Recovery Program
Image: releasing a Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby back into the bush.
The Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby is the only species of rock wallaby found in South-Eastern Australia and it was once common along the east coast from Western Victoria through to Southern Queensland. It is considered extinct in the Australian Capital Territory and the species has been all but lost from most of the central and southern sections of its distribution.
Recognising the fragile state of the population in the mid 1990s, a group of experts came together to form the Victorian Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby Recovery Team. The combined cutting edge science and leadership within the program was enough to convince The Ian Potter Foundation to contribute $100,000 in early 2007. Over the past two years, that funding, with additional support from private donors and philanthropic foundations, has contributed to the remarkable recovery of the species. The success of this cutting edge science trial to boost the wallaby numbers led to a further $100,000 grant from the Foundation in 2008.
At the forefront of this science is a cross-fostering program which sees the young of Brush-tailed Rock Wallabies transferred into the pouch of other wallaby species. The cross-fostering allows the Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby to be reared until independence by the foster mother and frees the endangered Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby females to produce another young. This process is a world first in endangered species recovery.
The Recovery Program continues to excite all those involved with it. In November 2008 ten rock-wallabies (plus one pouch young) were released at three locations in the Grampians in an attempt to establish a second wild population in Victoria so there is every chance the Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby will continue its remarkable recovery.
Previous
Grant Summaries
Dolphin Research Institute Ltd., VIC
$25,000 in 2008 to the response to multiple deaths and disease of Victorian coastal Bottlenose Dolphins in the Gippsland Lakes.
Nine dolphins have died in Victoria’s Gippsland Lakes since November 2006, some heavily covered with fist-sized fungal skin lesions that had penetrated deep into the dolphins’ blubber layer.
Initial monitoring by the Dolphin Research Institute (DRI) in December 2007 revealed that up to one-third of the dolphins in some groups were significantly affected by the skin lesions.
Funding from The Ian Potter Foundation is helping DRI, their volunteers and university partners to gain a clearer understanding of the current population dynamics and the nature and cause of the disease among the Gippsland Lakes dolphins. The research will go some way to highlighting issues affecting the health and wellbeing of not only Victoria’s dolphin population but also the marine environment.
Marine Care – Ricketts Point Inc., VIC
$10,000 in 2007 to develop a pictorial book revealing Victoria’s natural marine world
Marine Care – Ricketts Point with the support of the Foundation is currently embarking on the creation of a pictorial book that will provide greater insight and interpretation on Victoria’s natural marine beauty. The book will be particularly useful for snorkellers, recreational beachgoers, local communities and marine enthusiasts. It is hoped that once completed the book will encourage people to use the easy-to-master skill of snorkelling to learn more about their local marine environment. Special underwater photography will highlight selected marine sanctuaries, national parks, marine life and vegetation of interest.
The book will also provide information and guidance on how to access and enjoy protected marine areas, allowed recreational activities, and details on how to care for and protect these environments. The book will complement the already successful outreach work undertaken by volunteers at Marine Care – Ricketts Point.
University of the Sunshine Coast, QLD
$24,220 in 2008 to the Fraser Island Young Explorer project
Socio-economically disadvantaged Year 7 school students will have the opportunity to participate in ‘real’ environmental science on Fraser Island, Queensland.
While being supported by scientists at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), students will have the chance to monitor and report scientific findings for their own school-based projects and as part of a long-term global research project on the challenges of environmental stability.
Students will stay at USC accommodation on the island for five days, working with and learning from university researchers. Funding from the Foundation will heavily subsidise the camp, ensuring that there are no financial barriers to student participation in the project.