Linking Landscapes Summit 2009
The 1st national Linking Landscapes Summit was held 6–8 October 2009 at Kingscliff in northern New South Wales. The Summit brought together over 120 leaders from across the spectrum of land management in Australia, with the aim of commencing a national dialogue to turning the vision of an interconnected natural landscape across Australia into a reality.
The Summit was opened by the Hon Peter Garrett AM MP, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts.
Following the Summit The Kingscliff Communiqué was finalised to convey to Australia’s governments the urgency of action. The communiqué calls on Australian governments at all levels to undertake a Natural Defence Strategy for Australia. This strategy would require the development of an innovative national network of landscape-scale conservation corridors.
The Summit was the first step in developing a coordinated response to the conservation of Australia’s ecosystems in the face of climate change.
The communiqué, sponsored by the Hon Bob Debus MP, Member for Macquarie, will be presented to Minister Garrett by a small delegation of summit participants.
'I am convinced the concept of working with private and public land managers to make links between national parks and other reserved lands across the Australian landscape is fundamental to the security of our iconic natural and cultural environment,' said Mr Debus. 'We also need to work together with Indigenous people, private landholders and the business sector at a continental scale to make this happen.'
Presentations made at the Summit can be accessed via the Linking Landscapes Summit 2009 Proceedings.
Harvey Locke, Vice President for Conservation Strategy, The WILD Foundation, provided a keynote address at the Summit. Locke is globally known for his work on wilderness, National Parks and large landscape conservation, from Yellowstone to Yukon and beyond. Named by Time as one of Canada's leaders for the 21st century, his resume is filled with premier publications, keynote speaking engagements and leadership and advisory roles for some of the best known organisations in the conservation field.
Locke conducted media interviews and held meetings with executives of government and non-government conservation organisations in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
