Dr. Sharman Stone MP, parliamentary secretary to the minister for environment and heritage, today announced A$7.9 million (US$4.5 million) in funding for conservation activities in Australia's World Heritage areas where many of the remaining endangered species live. The funding is drawn from the Natural Heritage Trust. (All amounts are in Australian dollars.)

"In consultation with local community advisory groups, the funding is being ploughed into improving visitor facilities, protecting our unique native species, rehabilitating degraded areas and increasing community participation in management activities," Stone said.

"In the Queensland Wet Tropics, the federal government is providing A$58,000 for the Wet Tropics Good Neighbours Program which is helping the local community to live with and protect cassowaries."

Cassowaries are large flightless birds. Conservative estimates place their numbers at 1,500 to 3,000 individual birds, though some sources claim up to 10,000. In these tropical rainforests, cassowaries live near stream banks and clearings.

"To date more than 3,000 landholders living adjacent to the World Heritage area are involved in designing traffic controls, pet management projects, establishing cassowary food corridors, constructing fencing to avoid roadkill and DNA trials."

Much of their rainforest habitat has now been cleared, and the cassowaries that remain are vulnerable to dogs, shooting, traffic, starvation and disease, nest predation and competition from feral pigs. Habitat clearance for agriculture has virtually ceased but clearing for residential and tourist development continues.

The Commonwealth provides funding of more than A$50 million each year for the management of Australia's World Heritage Properties, including funding sourced from the Natural Heritage Trust.

Australia has 13 sites included on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their outstanding natural and cultural values, more World Heritage properties than any other nation in the world.

"Ensuring the long-term health of Australia's World Heritage sites is protected and that our magnificent biodiversity continues to thrive, is part of our commitment to future generations," Stone said.

"As well, it offers an environmentally friendly experience to the many hundreds of thousands of local and international visitors who come to see our rainforests, deserts, islands and remote wilderness each year."

To protect the largest population of dugongs in Australia, emergency measures are under way. A system of 16 dugong sanctuaries has been established to protect key dugong populations and habitat in the southern Great Barrier Reef and Hervey Bay regions.

Known as sea cows because they graze on sea grasses, these cousins to the U.S. and Caribbean manatees now represent about 90 percent of all dugongs in the world. The total Australian population has been estimated to be in excess of 85,000 animals. Dugong numbers in the southern Great Barrier Reef have fallen by between 50 to 80 percent since the early 1980s.

Permits to hunt dugongs are no longer being issued by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority for the southern Great Barrier Reef. The indigenous communities in the area have agreed to a moratorium on the hunting of dugongs. There is a ban on mesh fishing nets and a speed limit for boats in dugong sanctuaries.

Dr. Stone said that engaging the community in conservation and management activities in World Heritage Properties was a key focus of the federal government funding this year.

Over the past four years more than A$61 million in funding has been provided to the states for more than 300 projects. Error: Unable to read footer file.