To have a far-reaching impact on wildlife conservation, the Nature Conservation Trust (NCT) is engaged in partnerships that address species loss on a State-wide and national scale.
The NCT is one of six lead partners in the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative (GERI), which aims to connect and conserve ecosystems that run the entire length of eastern Australia. Focusing on the 1,200-kilometre NSW section of the Great Eastern Ranges, the GERI is drawing together community, industry, government and non-government conservation groups on an unprecedented scale.
Why are the Great Eastern Ranges important?
The ecosystems of the Great Eastern Ranges – World Heritage Areas, national parks, forests, woodlands and rainforests – are a refuge for species diversity. They contain 66 per cent of NSW’s threatened plant and animal species. However, this is a fragmented collection of protected areas.
The GERI mission
The GERI aims to connect these ecosystems in a more integrated way to create one of Australia’s largest conservation land corridors. This will help to strengthen the resilience of the ecosystems and species they support, to equip them to cope with climate change and other ecological threats, particularly habitat loss and human population growth.
As well as the NCT, the GERI partners include Bush Heritage Australia, Greening Australia, the National Parks Association of NSW, the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, and OzGreen.
Of the five GERI pilot programs underway, the NCT is directly involved in two – the Slopes to Summit and Border Ranges programs.
Strength in numbers
The Great Eastern Ranges corridor will have a range of benefits, including:
- maintaining the health of ecosystems within these mountainous catchments;
- addressing impacts and threats posed by climate change, development activities, population growth, and invasion by introduced pests and weeds;
- raising awareness of connectivity conservation across all land tenures;
- the sharing of knowledge, tools, science, planning and funding;
- helping to protect the water supplies that 93 per cent of eastern Australia’s people depend on; and
- helping to protect nature-based tourism assets.
