Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Partnering for a sustainable environment
An invitation to partner to sustain Australia’s unique environment
Front cover photos:
Aerial view of the floodplain of the Kununurra Wetlands (Credit: Angus MacGregor)
Fish, coral, Stevens Reef, Great Barrier Reef (World Heritage Listed site) © copyright Commonwealth of Australia (GBRMPA)
Hands holding some Quandongs picked from a tree near Banjal Bay on the Anjo Peninsula (Credit: Dragi Markovic)
Tourists at Kakadu National Park (World Heritage Listed site) (Credit: Sally Greenaway)
Antarctica (Credit: Alison McMorrow)
Photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of an Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) building in South Melbourne (Credit: Michelle McAulay)
Spectacular sunrise over Yellow Water Lagoon in Kakadu National Park (World Heritage Listed site) (Credit: Sally Greenaway)
Central Station Rainforest on Fraser Island (World Heritage Listed site)
Sooty tern, Lord Howe Island Group (World Heritage Listed site) (Credit: Ian Hutton) © copyright Ian Hutton and the Department of the Environment and Energy
Planting project (Credit: Tony McDonough)
Close up of a Black-footed rock wallaby, Ningaloo Marine Area - Commonwealth Waters (World Heritage Listed site) (Credit: Tony Howard) © copyright Tony Howard and the Department of the Environment and Energy
Published by the Department of the Environment and Energy, February 2019.
© Commonwealth of Australia, 2019.
Partnering for a sustainable environment is licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia for use under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence with the exception of the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, the logo of the agency responsible for publishing the report, content supplied by third parties, and any images depicting people. For licence conditions see: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/au/
This report should be attributed as ‘Partnering for a sustainable environment, Commonwealth of Australia 2019’.
The Commonwealth of Australia has made all reasonable efforts to identify content supplied by third parties using the following format ‘© Copyright, [name of third party] ’.
Please be aware this book may contain images and names of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have passed away.
Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government, the Minister for the Environment, or the Minister for Energy.
To find out more, visit: environment.gov.au/Partnerships
Partnering for a sustainable environment ii
Acknowledgment of Country
As this is a national level document we acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures and to their elders both past, present and emerging.
We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are vital partners in managing land and sea to improve environmental outcomes.
Acknowledgement of co-design participants and multi-stakeholder group
This statement is the result of a co-design process which involved more than 100 organisations across business, non-government organisations, philanthropy, Indigenous organisations, academia and government. Participants provided great insight into the opportunities for multi-stakeholder partnering. We acknowledge and thank everyone who generously contributed their time, expertise and enthusiasm.
The co-design process was instigated by the Department of the Environment and Energy to increase multi-stakeholder environmental partnering to achieve more sustainable outcomes. The Department was assisted in this process with advice and guidance provided by a multi-stakeholder co-design group.
About the scope of the co-design process
The co-design process that led to this statement focussed on partnering to bring the efforts of multiple stakeholders together to better manage natural capital. The environment and energy Sustainable Development Goals were an important framework in this process. While ‘energy’ was not a specific focus of the process, the Department of the Environment and Energy is seeking to facilitate multi-stakeholder partnering across the scope of environment and energy issues, including where effective partnering can help achieve greater impact in areas like reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving energy affordability.
Contents
The importance of partnering 2
A vision to achieve better outcomes by working together 3
We face complex environmental challenges 5
Working together we can have a greater impact 6
Sectors bring unique value to partnering 7
Partnering delivers added value 9
There are some key success factors for partnering across sectors 12
How you can get involved 13
1
The importance of partnering
“ Partnering is becoming essential, not only so that management agencies have the best information on which to base their decisions, but also so that scientists, including citizen scientists, can see their individual results having greater impact.”
Professor Nic Bax, University of Tasmania, CSIRO and the National Environmental Science Program Marine Biodiversity Hub
“ Tackling complex public policy challenges requires governments at all levels to look beyond themselves, to collaborate more and leverage the activities of others. By working together we amplify the positive impact of our actions to improve the health of our environment.”
Matt Cahill, Deputy Secretary, Department of the Environment and Energy
“ To address the environmental challenges of the 21st century, including climate change and species extinction, strong partnerships between government, private business and the community are essential to ensure that nature and people can thrive. The challenges are enormous and the requisite goals necessarily ambitious. Success will depend upon the concerted effort of partners to work collaboratively.”
Brendan Foran, CEO, Greening Australia
Photo: Kings Park and Botanic Gardens, Melbourne (Credit: Mark Mohell)
“ Aboriginal people leading the way and working in partnership with scientists, NGOs, the Government and Business, when done well, can have great benefits for our country and people.”
Robbie Dalton, Chair Indigenous Advisory Committee to the Minister for the Environment
“ Philanthropy brings an independent voice to partnership, with leveraging capacity, agility and strong networks to catalyse new ideas and support solutions to achieve outcomes that really matter for our environment.”
Jill Reichstein (Chair) Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network
“ Our core brand message is Relationships Creating Success. Customers are at the heart of everything we do. It’s our partnerships that enable us to deliver shared success and to work together to create and sustain the modern environment.”
Grant Fenn, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Downer
“ As Australia and the world faces unprecedented economic, social and environmental challenges, our power to make a positive difference is more important than ever. Working collaboratively with the Australian Government and other organisations to share our successes, challenges and lessons learned we can achieve so much more – and put the world on a sustainable path to 2030.”
Christine Holgate, Group CEO & Managing Director, Australia Post
2Partnering for a sustainable environment
A vision to achieve better outcomes by working together
All sectors, including government, continue to have core roles and responsibilities, and multi-stakeholder partnering allows us to complement these efforts, innovate and boost the scale of our collective impact.
Multi-stakeholder partnering arrangements already successfully achieve improved environment and energy outcomes – some are showcased in this document – and we want to build on these examples.
The goals of this statement are therefore to:
9 call on all sectors to participate
9highlight the shared benefits and value-add of partnering
9 set a vision for growing partnering to achieve greater impact
9 catalyse and enable new partnering arrangements.
This statement is an important step in a strategy to grow multi-stakeholder partnering to improve environmental, including heritage protection, outcomes. As we collaborate to create more partnering we can learn from experience, build on our successes, evolve our approach and look for more targeted approaches to partner with each other over time. This is a long-term ambition. By encouraging and incubating new approaches and opportunities now we will be on our way to guiding future efforts.
This is about being creative and collaborating with new and diverse partners to find new and better solutions to shared challenges.
You are invited to bring forward your ideas for partnering – to maximise our collective impact in addressing Australia’s environmental challenges and to be active stewards of a healthy and productive environment for now and the future.
Visit environment.gov.au/Partnerships to find out how.
3
Photo: Aerial view of Lady Musgrave Island and Lady Musgrave Reef in the Coral Sea
Partnering for a sustainable environment 4
Partnering and collaboration are central to giving effect to the Sustainable Development Goals. The environment and energy Goals, together with the State of the Environment 2016, which describes the environmental pressures we face in Australia, provide an important common framework for this statement. Using this framework we can focus our collective efforts and move towards shared goals.
There is growing recognition that Australia faces increasingly complex environmental issues. These have impacts across jurisdictions, sectors, ecosystems and communities, and issues like waste, climate change and declining biodiversity are not able to be solved by government acting alone.
We face complex environmental challenges
“ Providing for a sustainable environment both now and in the future is a national issue requiring leadership and action across all levels of government, business and the community.”
Australia State of the Environment 2016, independent report to the former Australian Government
Minister for the Environment and Energy
5
Responsibility for sustainable development and environmental stewardship for current and future generations is shared across the community. Governments, businesses, Indigenous organisations, philanthropists, research and not-for-profit organisations and communities all have a role. By bringing together our diverse skills, resources, knowledge and experience, and aligning public and private efforts, we can achieve a level of impact that we can’t achieve individually.
Organisations, of all sizes and capabilities, will have diverse contributions to make to partnering arrangements, and these may evolve over time. Some organisations are ready to do more partnering and are looking for new opportunities, whereas others will be more focused on building their partnering capability. Those more experienced in partnering could assist, contributing to the overall growth and sophistication of environmental partnering in Australia.
Working together we can have a greater impact
What do we mean by ‘partnering’?
Multi-stakeholder partnering is about mobilising the unique strengths and value of different partners. It brings these together to achieve shared outcomes and have a greater impact than each partner could by acting alone.
Partnering allows us to co-create better and more integrated solutions, leading to more sustained benefits for the environment.
Partnering can take the form of simple low commitment information-sharing relationships. In its most sophisticated form, resources, benefits and risks are shared and partnering is transformational.
Photo: Aerial view of an irrigated farming area in the Kimberley Rangelands (Credit: Dragi Markovic)
Partnering for a sustainable environment 6
Each sector brings unique value to solving complex problems. The impact of the particular strengths and expertise of each sector can be amplified when they are complemented with those of others through partnering arrangements. Here are just some of the strengths different sectors bring.
Sectors bring unique value to partnering
Researchers and academia bring international and national networks; data, information and knowledge; analytical expertise;
cross-disciplinary experts and trusted voices; and capability to
test and re�ne new ideas.
Business brings data and data insights; market and purchasing power; supply chain relation-ships; communication expertise; research and development capability; marketing expertise; and risk management.
Not-for-pro�t organisations bring relationships and broad networks; people power; community trust, credibility and local knowledge; partnering and on-ground delivery knowledge and experience.
Governments bring networks across industries and regions;
communication channels; information, data, research
capability and analytical expertise; facilitation and convening power;
strategic planning, policy and program resources; regulatory
power; credibility and strong governance.
Philanthropy brings networks; trust, credibility and
longevity; risk appetite; innovation and agility; diversity;
and capacity to leverage investment and impact.
Indigenous organisations and communities bring deep connection to and knowledge of Country; Indigenous ecological knowledge; community networks; partnering strengths; and on-ground delivery and access to land.
7
“ Government, the business sector and civil society partnerships are vital to making progress on the 2030 Agenda, offering innovative and responsive solutions to complex challenges.”
Australia’s Voluntary National Review on the Sustainable Development Goals 2018,
Australian Government.
Photo: Hand holding seedling (Credit: Tony McDonough)
Partnering for a sustainable environment 8
Partnering delivers added value
Partnering has benefits for the partners individually, as well as collectively.
Opportunities to educate and apply research can stem from partnering, with the potential for more innovation and discovery.
For business contributing to environmental outcomes can help build brand credentials, reduce operational costs, better manage risks, and attract and engage staff.
Management of land and sea and the knowledge, experiences, perspectives and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are integral to improving environmental outcomes and partnering can generate broader benefits for Indigenous communities. Through their connection to and care for Country, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are vital partners in sustaining our environment. Partnering that involves Indigenous Australians offers unique opportunities to respectfully combine the strengths of traditional and other knowledge and practice, and to find avenues for achieving broader economic, health, social and cultural benefits.
Partnering brings extra expertise and resources to help governments solve complex problems, maximise value from public investment and complement core government roles in setting policy, regulating and delivering programs.
Partnering can help draw in more experience, expertise and volunteers to increase the scale of the important on-ground work done by not-for-profit organisations.
For philanthropy, partnering can help share networks, scale up solutions and bring donors together to achieve a larger impact.
Organisations working together can also achieve benefits for their sector collectively, like setting environmental standards and benchmarks, building capability in managing natural capital to improve industries’ overall environmental performance, and progressing whole-of-industry environment and energy initiatives.
Photo: Port Arthur Historic Site (Credit: Dragi Markovic)
9
Case Study
The Carbon Neutral Initiative partners with Australian organisations across all sectors to drive effective voluntary emissions reduction.
Through the initiative the Department of the Environment and Energy provides carbon neutral certification to organisations that have reduced the net emissions for their business operations, products and services, buildings, events or precincts to zero. Collectively, partners have offset 11 million tonnes of CO2 since 2010 – the equivalent of taking all of Sydney’s cars off the road for one year.
Partnering organisations are given the opportunity to showcase their achievements, network with other carbon neutral leaders, and work with the Australian Government to promote and shape the strategic direction of voluntary climate action in Australia.
Case Study
Bush Blitz is a nature discovery program that builds and shares knowledge of Australia’s unique biodiversity. It is funded by the Australian Government and BHP and jointly delivered by Parks Australia and Earthwatch Australia. Over the past 10 years Bush Blitz has involved hundreds of scientists in expeditions that have led to the discovery of more than 1600 new species.
Through community engagement, outreach and social media, Bush Blitz also builds the capacity and motivation of Australians to understand and protect biodiversity. BHP employees, teachers, students, Indigenous rangers, traditional owners, park rangers and other land managers have shared knowledge, expertise and community networks with scientists and government officers.
This extensive cross-sector partnership has created a legacy that will help policy makers, scientists and land managers to conserve Australia’s biodiversity for generations to come.
Photos: (from top) Jumping spider (Jotus fortiniae) discovered during the Quinkan Region Bush Blitz in Queensland. Copyright R. WhyteBHP employees helping collect seed at the Central Highlands Bush Blitz, Tasmania. (Credit C Nichols) Copyright Earthwatch.
Photo: Night time view over the Yarra River to the Melbourne Central Business District (Credit: Michelle McAulay)
Partnering for a sustainable environment 10
Case Study
The Australian Seed Bank Partnership is a national collaboration that supports policy-makers, researchers and the conservation and restoration sectors to work collaboratively to help safeguard Australia’s plant populations and ecological communities.
The partners share knowledge and expertise and strategically manage resources to coordinate the collection and storage of seeds as long term insurance against loss of plant diversity.
Funding support for coordination of the partnership is provided by the Director of National Parks. This coordination role includes building networks and securing funding from government, industry and the international philanthropic community to support Australian seed collecting and research.
Case Study
Launched in 2018, the Antarctic Science Foundation is working with the Australian Antarctic Division to build public-private partnerships which will drive greater opportunities to advance scientific research and strengthen global understanding of the Antarctic region and its impact on the planet.
The Foundation is an independent environmental charity which works to attract private funds to increase the number and value of science projects undertaken with the Australian Antarctic Division and its national and international collaborators.
Australians have the opportunity to directly contribute to this partnership through the Foundation’s purpose of supporting world-class scientific research, including new and iconic scientific research endeavours that enhance the understanding and protection of the Antarctic, Southern Ocean, and subantarctic natural environments.
Photos: (from top) Allophylus cobbee seed (Credit: Caroline Chong, ANBG) Collecting Hakea arborescens, Kakadu National Park (Credit: Jenny Owens, ANBG)
Photos: (from top) Emperor Penguins at Auster Rookery (Credit: Peter Layt)Ecosystems Modeller, Dr Jessica Melbourne-Thomas obtaining an ice core for sampling during the Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment (SIPEXII) (Credit: Christina Schallenberg)
The Foundation’s activities will support public education and frontier research about Antarctic and global climate, ecosystems and wildlife in the Antarctic, subantarctic and Southern Ocean region, and polar technologies that support this science.
These goals align closely with those of the Australian Antarctic Division which leads, coordinates and delivers the Australian Antarctic Program.
11
These are core principles that we adhere to under this statement to maximise the value of multi-stakeholder partnering.
9 Partnering adds value to what the partners do.
9 There is a clear shared vision and agreed joint objectives for the partnering arrangement, and these align with the individual objectives of the partners.
9Solutions are co-created to address environmental challenges.
9 Partnering arrangements value and respect Indigenous heritage and cultural knowledge and there are roles for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in designing and implementing projects on their Country.
9 Partners have clear roles and responsibilities, are accountable, and behave ethically.
9 There is mutual respect in, and mutual benefits from, the partnering arrangement, irrespective of the partners’ size, power or influence.
There are some key success factors for partnering across sectors
“ The SDGs provide points of focus around which we can innovate and collaborate in the search for solutions to critical global and local sustainability challenges, while at the same time positioning competitively for the future.”
Australian CEO Statement of Support for the Sustainable Development Goals, Global Compact Network Australia
9 There is transparency through a fair voice for all partners, open communication, early consultation and appropriate information sharing.
9 There is strong governance and clear and agreed operating principles and practices for the partnering arrangement.
9 Partners’ contributions are complementary and the partnering arrangement effectively uses and builds on each partner’s strengths.
9 There is authentic leadership and others are inspired to follow.
9 Information and experience is shared between partners and outside of the partnering arrangement whenever possible.
Photo: Indigenous rock art near the Truscott Air Field on the Anjo Peninsula (Credit: Dragi Markovic)
Partnering for a sustainable environment 12
The Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy is taking an active role in facilitating more multi-stakeholder partnering. The Department continues to design and implement policy to protect and conserve the environment, water and heritage, promote climate action, and provide adequate, reliable and affordable energy. In doing so, the Department recognises the importance of a multidisciplinary, coordinated approach that brings together government, the community and business to develop effective solutions to environmental and energy challenges.
The Department’s Partnerships Team provides a contact point to help connect you with the right people in the Department, and potentially external organisations where requested, to explore your partnering ideas.
Bring forward your partnering ideas to address Australia’s environmental challenges in ways that also create social, cultural and economic value.
How you can get involved
Visit environment.gov.au/Partnerships to explore the potential benefits of partnering for the environment. Hear from leaders, view inspiring case studies and find out how to put forward a partnering idea to the Department for consideration.
You can also contact the Department’s Partnerships Team: [email protected]
Photo: Panoramic view of the Kakadu National Park (World Heritage Listed site) (Credit: Ian Oswald-Jacobs) © copyright Ian Oswald-Jacobs and the Department of the Environment and Energy
13
