Information Exchange

Current issues
Research library
Suggested reading
Useful links

Current issues

Climate change impacts on Western Port
Port of Hastings planning
Ecology of Western Port
Biodiversity Green Paper

Issue: Impacts of climate change in the Western Port region

People, Property and Place: Impacts of Climate Change on Human Settlements in the Western Port Region: an Integrated Assessment, June 2008 (initiated by the Western Port Greenhouse Alliance, and conducted by CSIRO and socio-economic modellers Marsden Jacob Associates)

Victorian Climate Change Program (Victorian Government)

Department of Climate Change (Australian Government)

Issue: Port of Hastings planning

Victorian Ports Strategic Framework, Victorian Department of Transport

Port of Hastings Corporation (see Land Use and Transport Strategy for the Port of Hastings Corporation’s response to the Victorian Ports Strategic Framework)

Community groups with views on this issue:

Parliament of Victoria Hansard: Official record of parliamentary debates (search for Port of Hastings)

Issue: Human impacts on the ecology of Western Port

Central Coastal Board

Western Port Research Coordination Project

Dolphin Research Institute

Melbourne Water

Phillip Island Nature Park

Port Phillip Westernport Catchment Management Authority

Western Port Seagrass Partnership

Victorian Coastal Council

Victorian Coastal Strategy 2008

Issue: "Land and biodiversity at a time of climate change" Green Paper

The Land and Biodiversity at a Time of Climate Change Green Paper is a precursor to the final White Paper, which is due for release in mid-2009. The White Paper will:

Set the direction for Victorian Government policy and investment priorities in natural resource management, land health and biodiversity for the next 20-50 years.
Consider how environment and natural resource management activity at the regional, catchment, local and farm scale, and on public land, is contributing to Victoria’s overall environmental health.
Aim to ensure that Victorian Government policy and investment is responsive to new threats and opportunities.

The Green Paper provided the public with the opportunity to have input into the development of the White Paper. Submissions closed on 30 June 2008. See the Biosphere Foundation's submission (PDF 135 KB).

The Biosphere Reserve Foundation held a forum on the Green Paper on 3 June 2008. The forum focussed on climate change and its impacts on the already highly stressed flora and fauna of the Mornington Peninsula and Melbourne’s south-eastern fringe, in order to encourage and inform submissions on the Green Paper. Presentations from the forum are available online.

Further information on the Green Paper is avaliable at:

Department of Sustainability and Environment
Environment Defenders Office (independent analysis of submissions on the Green Paper PDF 496KB)
Victoria Naturally

Research library

Bibliographies

Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve Foundation Ltd (2008). Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve References.

Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. Database of References on the Ecology and Natural Resources of Greater Melbourne. This database includes references from:

McDonnell, M.J., Williams, N.S.G., Hahs, A.K. (1999). A reference guide to the ecology and natural resources of the Melbourne region : A bibliography of the biodiversity literature for scientists, teachers, policy makers, planners and natural resource managers. Melbourne: Royal Botanic Gardens. (PDF 920 KB)

Papers

O'Bryan, C. (2007). Fostering environmental behaviour change: Uncovering the motives and barriers to pro-environmental behaviour in Frankston (summary report). Conducted for the Biosphere Foundation and Frankston City Council under supervision by Dr S. Pfueller, School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University. (PDF 416 KB)

Hanley, M. (2003). Implications of the MAB Program for sustainable tourism practice: A case study of Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve. Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Environmental Science with Honours, supervised by Dr S. Pfueller, School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University. (PDF 680 KB)

Kraska, T. (2009). Identifying sustainability indicators for a regional sustainability strategy within the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere. (PDF 266 KB).

Appendices (sustainability indicator sets and comparison spreadsheets). MS Excel 2007 or MS Excel 2003

Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve Foundation Ltd (2008). Recovery of the Southern Brown Bandicoot in the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve and surrounding districts: A report on the public meeting, 14 November 2006 Hastings: Author. (PDF 7.5 MB)

Pfueller, S. (2008). Role of bioregionalism in Bookmark Biosphere Reserve, Australia. Environmental Conservation 35(2), 173–186. (PDF 399)

Suggested reading

Biosphere reserves

UNESCO web site. The Seville Strategy (PDF 1.08 MB) and the Madrid Action Plan set out the agenda for action of the MAB Program and its biosphere reserves for the period 2008-2013.

Australian Biosphere Reserves (Australian Department of the Environment and Water Resources)

Victorian Biosphere Reserves (Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment)

MPWP Biosphere Reserve

MPWP Biosphere Reserve Stage 1 Nomination to UNESCO (2002) (PDF 4 MB)

Institutional context of the MPWP Biosphere Reserve Foundation Ltd: Explanation of the institutional and statutory obligations, expectations and commitments within which the foundation conducts its business, from UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Program through federal, state and local government policies to the foundation's charter and constitution.

Sustainability

United Nations Division for Sustainable Development. Includes
Agenda 21, an action blueprint on specific issues relating to sustainable development that emerged from the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janerio in 1992. Agenda 21 explained that population, consumption and technology were the primary driving forces of environmental change and for the first time, at an international level, explicitly linked the need for development and poverty eradication with progress towards sustainable development.

Millenium Ecosystem Assessment: The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was called for by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000 to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. From 2001 to 2005, the MA involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings provide a state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide, as well as the scientific basis for action to conserve and use them sustainably.

United Nations Global Compact: An international initiative to encourage the private sector to embrace a set of core values, the ten universal principles, in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment, and anti-corruption.

Ecologically Sustainable Development (Australian Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts)

Sustainability Victoria: An organisation charged with showing the way to using our resources more efficiently and reducing our everyday environmental impacts.

Ecological Footprint (Environment Protection Authority Victoria). The Ecological Footprint measures resource consumption of human activities across the whole lifecycle of a product or service and converts this to the amount of land needed to supply the resources consumed and assimilate the waste generated. This concept has a major role to play in measuring how close we are to a sustainable society.

Useful references (PDF 12KB)