General Information

We're All About Connectivity

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Vision

After over 200 years of development the landscape of eastern Australia has changed significantly. Fences, roads, dams, industrial and agricultural lands, powerlines, towns and cities dissect the country, causing natural areas to become 'islands' on which plants and animals are isolated and from which they are sometimes unable to spread or move. As a result:

  • many interconnected ecosystems have been fragmented and degraded
  • the landscape's capacity to maintain unique plants, animals and Aboriginal cultural heritage has been reduced
  • it is harder for ecosystems to filter and clean air, produce unpolluted fresh water and maintain soil health.

Climate change will have a compounding adverse effect on many species and ecosysytems.

'Connectivity Conservation' is a relatively new approach to maintaining and improving the linking of landscapes and habitats, to help reduce the effects of fragmentation and climate change on plants and animals, however for more than a decade it has been the focus of considerable effort by scientists around the world. Connectivity conservation' is the focus of the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative. It is a socially-inclusive approach, recognising the importance of maintaining, reconnecting and restoring habitats and ecosystems to help:

  • reduce the rapid rate of decline in environmental health and species extinction
  • increase the resilience of ecosystems so Australia's unique native plants and animals are more able to deal with a range of threats.

Illustration of several linking landscapes or connectivity conservation concepts. Diagram: Andrew Bennet 2003.Connectivity can be described as the connections of habitats in the landscape, facilitating the movement of species across the landscape and between habitats. Habitat connectivity is an important outcome of conservation. It allows species and communities to progressively adjust their ranges in response to threats such as climate change. Native species and communities may find it difficult to adapt to climate change in highly modified and fragmented agricultural landscapes. Science has comprehensively demonstrated habitat fragmentation results in the decline and loss of species all over the world, and is a key reason for Australia’s high extinction rate.

The Great Eastern Ranges Initiative is similar to a number of projects established in other countries over the last 10 years, such as:

Other linking landscape initiatives in Australia include:

  • Gondwana Link in Western Australia
  • Habitat 141, straddling the South Australian and Victorian borders, and extending into the New South Wales rangelands.

Further Information