Over the last two decades, governments and the private sector have installed increasing amounts of green infrastructure such as Gross Pollutant Traps, wetlands and raingardens, to meet environmental objectives. Yet billions of dollars worth of more investment is needed if we are to fully transition to water sensitive cities. The How Green was my Valley? Pursuing Green Infrastructure and Natural Asset Management seminar will examine how we need to start acknowledging green infrastructure within our asset management systems and to plan for its construction and maintenance. This not only includes new green infrastucture but existing natural assets such as creeks, wetlands and bushland reserves.
After just over two years of very intensive activity, the Hawkesbury-Nepean River Recovery Program (HNRRP) is coming to an end, having successfully delivered its intended outcomes on time and under budget. The final edition of HNRRP e-news reflects on some of the major achievements from the seven HNRRP projects and celebrates the great work that has been done to improve the health of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment. The Hawkesbury-Nepean river system frames the western edge of the Sydney Basin and is one of New South Wales’ most important natural assets.
The last edition of HNRRP e-news discussed how the Hawkesbury-Nepean River Recovery Program is meeting one of its key objectives – the prevention of an estimated 48.2 tonnes of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) entering the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system each year. In the June 2011 edition of HNRRP e-news we look at our other key objective – securing 7.24 gigalitres (billion litres) per year for additional environmental flows in the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system. You can also read about the HNRRP projects and how they are progressing as the program nears completion.
The CCS seminar: The Social Life of Pesticides: the Future of Urban Agriculture and Biodiversity in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River addresses the ‘social life’ of pesticides in the Hawkesbury region at Sydney’s western fringe, where land use is dominated by small-scale horticulture. The seminar will report on a cross-disciplinary effort, involving researchers working in toxicology, environmental science, social science, design and applied sustainability research, to come to grips with the state of knowledge of the condition of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River and the social causes of its chemicalisation. All interested parties are invited to join in discussing possible avenues for reform such that the ecological resilience of the Sydney basin can be enhanced and the contribution of peri-urban farming communities to our way of life can be appropriately recognised and supported.
Australian Documentaries and the Institute for Sustainable Futures, at University of Technology Sydney have partnered for Water Stories, the frst online collaborative documentary making process in the world. The Water Stories documentary will voice water issues that are most concerning or ideas that are most inspiring to Western Sydney-siders.
“Source to Sea” is an ABC Landline story about balancing urban sprawl with food production in some of the nation’s most fertile farming areas. Much of the debate in the Sydney basin focuses on the demand for new residential developments. But if agriculture, fishing and horticulture are to survive on the fringe of Australia’s biggest city, the health of the Hawkesbury-Nepean river catchment will be of equal importance.
Spreading urbanisation and population growth are putting pressure on agricultural lands on the fringes of Sydney. The NSW Parliamentary Library Research Service e-brief Agriculture in the Sydney Region: historical and current perspectives presents an overview of the history of policies relating to agriculture in the Sydney region, placing this in the context of the current policy debate. It starts with a commentary on the extent of Sydney’s agriculture.
The Cumberland Plain in western Sydney is Australia ‘s fastest growing and most populous region. Many of its unique natural attributes need special effort to maintain their values and ensure their protection. Just 13% of western Sydney ‘s native vegetation remains in highly fragmented patches of varying size and condition. The Cumberland Plain Recovery Plan has been designed to provide for the long-term survival and protection of the threatened biodiversity of the Cumberland Plain as the area develops. It constitutes the formal New South Wales recovery plan for 20 threatened species, populations and ecological communities that reside there.