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

Kimberley Foundation Australia, WA

Kimberley Wandjina Doublehead - images reproduced courtesy of Susan Bradley, North Kimberley and the Kimberley Foundation Australia.

To the Kimberley Region Human and Environmental Program
$500,000 - 2007

The remote Kimberley region of northwest Australia is one of the world's last remaining great wilderness areas. Rugged, beautiful and isolated, the region may also hold the key to Australia's pre-history, being home to hundreds of thousands of rock art paintings and drawings known as Bradshaw (Gwion Gwion) and Wandjina rock art. These mysterious and beautiful paintings are hidden in outback bush galleries on the huge terracotta rock surfaces and escarpments of the north Kimberley. How we protect, conserve and research the region and its rock art will say much about us as nation.

The Kimberley Foundation Australia (KFA) was established in 1995 to study the past and protect the future of the Kimberley region.

Very little is known of Australia's pre-history or of the continent's ancient history prior to European settlement. The KFA hopes to do something to rectify this omission in Australia's rich past history.

The Ian Potter Foundation grant of $500,000 enables KFA to fund a program to study the Kimberley’s ancient past. Eminent scientists have accepted KFA’s invitation to guide this study, and have joined the Scientific Advisory Council to shape the Foundation’s long-term research program. Outstanding researchers from all relevant disciplines will be attracted by the opportunity to contribute to unravelling the by-ways of human development in the ancient environments of the Kimberley.

Catholic Education South Australia Environmental Trust, SA
$50,000 - 2006
To the Marine Discovery Centre Extension

The Marine Discovery Centre in South Australia received funding to expand the Centre and its education programs over the next two years. Regarded as South Australia’s leading marine education network, the Centre currently caters for nearly 150 schools and is regularly booked out two years in advance. The grant from The Ian Potter Foundation will contribute to supporting the building of an auditorium and providing water saving toilets and a low energy cooling system. Once completed the Centre will have the facilities to cater for double the number of students and classroom groups, and will continue to provide education that encourages an appreciation and understanding of marine life with a view to promoting conservation and the sustainable use of our natural environment. received funding to expand the Centre and its education programs over the next two years.

University of Tasmania, TAS
School of Zoology, Dr Menna Jones
$15,000 - 2006
To Immunology, Ecology and Management of the Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour Disease

Tasmanian devils are suffering dramatic and ongoing population decline from a new and unusual disease, Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease (DFTD). This infectious cancer, first seen in 1996, is thought to be spread through biting. Once a common species, devils are now listed as vulnerable to extinction on state and national threatened species lists. The Ian Potter Foundation grant will help researchers at the University of Tasmania examine opportunities for improving conservation management of the devil population by investigating causal factors for changes in genetic populations. The project is being delivered in partnership with the Tasmanian Government Devil Disease Project.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, VIC
$5 million - over four years, 2007-2010
To the Australian Garden Project
(Stage 2)

The Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) ‘AustralianGarden’ is a project of outstanding national and international significance. Set within the 363 hectare RBG Cranbourne site, the nine-hectare garden opened its doors to visitors for the first time in May 2006. The Australian Garden displays over 100,000 native plants set within 15 different striking landscapes that showcase the diversity of the Australian environment. The Ian Potter Foundation is contributing $5 million towards stage two of the project, which will see the creation of a woodland family recreation area, an extension of the visitor centre and a further ten hectares of garden displays and landscapes.