NESP and threatened species
Sun, 22 Oct 2017The TSR Hub is a serious investment by the Australian Government in the science of saving threatened species, but it’s not where the NESP investment ends.
The TSR Hub is one of six National Environmental Science Programme hubs and each is making its own important contribution to the national effort to
recover our threatened species. The TSR Hub is always keen to acknowledge our many collaborators across our broad suite of projects, however, with
this editorial I’d like to look beyond our own hub and highlight the good work being done on threatened species by our sister hubs.
The Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub is focusing on the sustainability
and liveability of urban environments. Biodiversity conservation (including threatened species management) lies at the centre of many of its projects
and TSR and CAUL are collaborating on several projects including studies of urban populations of frogs and flying foxes. Other research of the CAUL
Hub includes understanding urban residents’ interactions with nature and developing protocols for reintroducing species into cities.
The Tropical Water Quality Hub works to build Great Barrier Reef resilience through research projects that improve water quality and reducing other pressures on these ecosystems. Many projects focus on improving prospects for the coastal, seagrass and reef habitats that sustain threatened species such as turtles and dugongs.
Which raises a key insight we all should keep in mind; the key to the successful recovery of Australia’s threatened species does not lie in only one research centre or network. Rather, it depends upon multiple approaches engaging a variety of different skills and insights.
Australia has an enormous challenge ahead in recovering its many threatened species. NESP science in all its forms and places give us a much better chance of meeting that challenge.
Professor Brendan Wintle
Top image: Sawfish, Photo: Peter Kyne, Marine Biodiversity Hub
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