Question Without Notice No. 614 asked in the Legislative Council on 13 September 2017 by Hon Diane Evers
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
PHYTOPHTHORA DIEBACK MANAGEMENT 614. Hon DIANE EVERS to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to Project Dieback's 2016 ''Guide to the Western Australian Phytophthora Dieback Priority Protection Areas''.
(1) Is the government intending to develop an innovative, multidisciplinary system for the adaptive management of the priority protection areas?
(2) If yes to (1) —
(a) when is the government expecting the development of a new adaptive management plan to be completed;
(b) how is the government intending to develop the plan; and
(c) who will be involved in the development of the plan?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)–(2) The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions has an active adaptive management approach to detect, diagnose and map the occurrence of dieback on department-managed lands consistent with DBCA's dieback management policy. There is no current plan to develop a new adaptive management plan. However, DBCA is in the process of finalising an updated Phytophthora dieback management planning process due in October 2017 that will be used to assess and mitigate the risks of spreading dieback. Priority protection areas arose from Project Dieback, a project undertaken between 2012 and 2015. This project was funded by the state NRM program, managed by South Coast Natural Resource Management Inc, in which DBCA was a partner. The project identified PPAs, which are representative of biodiverse ecosystems and communities that are vulnerable to Phytophthora dieback. The project resulted in mapping and tools to develop area-specific plans to mitigate the spread of Phytophthora dieback at a landscape scale.