South Gippsland has the opportunity to be a leader in developing its own knowledge and capacity in local native biodiversity management. This will take the form of establishing partnerships with experts, actively identifying and addressing data gaps, improving the skills and knowledge of regional staff and the local community and sharing knowledge with others.
Objectives, actions and measures
The table below sets out each objective in this Strategic Direction, the actions that will help achieve it and the measures of success after 10 years, as published in the plan.
| Objective | Action | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| Build knowledge of native biodiversity to inform decision-making | Establish a register of data gaps and ensure regular discussions are held to identify methods of addressing them. | Data gaps register established and promoted. Ideas from the register result in at least five research projects. |
| Establish partnerships with research organisations and experts to advise on options for research and monitoring. | Partnerships with experts established (possibly forming a Technical Reference Group) and these partners actively engaged on a variety of projects. | |
| Partner with conservation and research organisations to undertake local biodiversity-related citizen science projects. | At least three new citizen-science projects established and ongoing. | |
| Share knowledge on native biodiversity to increase innovation and improve management approaches | Promote the results of any research projects to the local community, key stakeholders and more widely, e.g. via field days and/or at seminars. | For each research project, at least two local promotional pieces and one wider promotional episode have been shared. Results promoted to key stakeholders in South Gippsland and beyond. |
| Seek knowledge on new ideas and innovative methods for biodiversity management | Actively seek new information and ideas to improve innovation in biodiversity management in the region. | Staff and/or committee members from key stakeholder organisations in South Gippsland have attended seminars, courses or exchanges resulting in at least five new innovations applied locally. |
| Ensure a budget is in place to finance organisational capacity in developing and trialling innovative ideas. | Key stakeholder organisations have annual budget for innovation in biodiversity and this is expended annually. |