The Federal Government has announced the release of the National Wildlife Corridors Plan, an initiative aimed at ' reconnecting the Australian landscape through a network of wildlife corridors across Australia.'

 

Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, said the Corridors Plan would boost the resilience for the environment by connecting the protected areas.

 

"You can look at a map of reserved areas and sometimes it looks like someone has dipped a toothbrush in paint and splattered different unconnected dots across the land," Mr Burke said.

 

"Corridors are about connecting those dots; it's a way of improving resilience and ensuring that we are protecting nature in a way that preserves it for generations to come.

 

"The Plan unveiled today outlines a process for communities to identify and nominate areas they believe will contribute to a national network of wildlife corridors.

 

"An area that meets the criteria and is declared as a National Wildlife Corridor may be eligible for priority funding under a range of Australian Government funding programs."

 

"The Corridors Plan identifies a number of ways communities can become involved in wildlife corridor initiatives, contributing to biodiversity conservation at the landscape scale and improving the sustainability of their local and regional areas.

 

"Under the Corridors Plan, communities will be able to nominate wildlife corridors for recognition and declaration as National Wildlife Corridors. Over time, a network of wildlife corridors will be established across Australia, benefiting our biodiversity, and our agricultural and built environments."

 

Mr Burke said the plan would help guide future government investment across a range of initiatives, such as Caring for our Country and the Biodiversity Fund. The Clean Energy Future Plan's Land Sector Carbon and Biodiversity Board will provide advice to the Environment Minister on wildlife corridors within the landscape.