Australia

To celebrate the International Day for Biological Diversity, Australia’s leading private land conservation organization,Trust for Nature, has launched a new vision for biodiversity conservation. Trust for Nature aims to protect Victoria’s one million hectares of uncleared bush on private land by the year 2020, they said in a press release issued on 22 May 2007.

Trust for Nature's Executive Director, Mike Gooey said, “This year the United Nations’ Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity acknowledges the impact of climate change on biodiversity,” he said. “The Secretariat has clearly stated that climate change has already forced flora and fauna to adapt due to changing or shifting habitat. In Victoria this means we will see species move across the state seeking new habitat as their old habitat disappears or significantly changes.”

Mr Gooey said Trust for Nature intended to continue to work closely with the community, state and federal governments, conservation agencies and other stakeholders to fulfil its vision of protecting one million hectares of bush by 2020.