Communication, Education, and Public Awareness to Promote Wise Use of Australia's Wetlands
National Action Plan 2001-2005
The Next Step (November 2002)
Environment Australia, 2002
PDF file
About National Action Plan
This is the first update of The Wetland CEPA National Action Plan 2001-2005, the First Step. The aim of the Plan is to promote wetland CEPA by forging strong partnerships and links, facilitating information exchange, between and among groups involved.
CEPA activities are already being undertaken throughout the nation and this should continue. This CEPA Plan acknowledges previous efforts and will create a framework to enhance successes, cultivate synergies, forge links and build upon current activities, developments and research.
The role of this Plan is to provide a framework for the effective and collaborative delivery of wetland CEPA activities across Australia. The Plan will enable mechanisms for sharing knowledge, suggest methods for building capacity, present goals, provide links between and among people doing similar work and build links between national and international networks.
Its principal aim is to coordinate a collaborative approach to wetland CEPA across Australia. All people who are involved in wetland management and research have a role to play in communication and education for the conservation of wetlands in Australia. To this end, the Plan outlines actions to promote coordinated communication and education between all levels of government, statutory authorities, community groups, non-government and business organisations involved in wetland and wetland-related management throughout Australia.
The Plan will advance aspects of the Wetlands Policy of the Commonwealth Government of Australia (1997), which has as its goal: 'to conserve, repair and manage wetlands wisely'. A number of States and Territories have also adopted wetland policies consistent with this goal.
The Wetlands Policy recognises that its successful implementation reliant upon the development of a cooperative partnership between all spheres of government, community groups, landholders, the business sector and other Australian people. Effective communication networks and community education are fundamental to achieve this goal.
Communication and education will provide the basis for continued responsiveness to major wetland and wetland-related issues, monitoring and evaluation of actions, and coordination and efficiency of effort. In this regard, the CEPA Plan is a starting point.
The Plan will ensure that the actions of all groups (government and non-government) involved in wetland CEPA are consistent with Australia's commitment to the Ramsar Convention's Outreach Program 1999-2002 which aims 'to increase the knowledge and understanding of wetland values and benefits and so develop action towards the conservation and sustainable management of wetland resources'.
It is intended that this framework of action will facilitate the implementation of the Ramsar Convention's Outreach Program 1999-2002 at national, state and local levels in Australia over the next five years. It will encourage coordinated actions, generate strength in unity, avoid duplication of effort and maximise benefits of actions.
By providing direction for Wetland CEPA activities, the Plan contributes to the efforts made by government and non-government organisations to support the broad aims of the Ramsar Convention to halt worldwide loss of wetlands and to conserve, through wise use and management, those that remain.
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