What is Australia Doing...
Between 2008 - 2013 the Australian Government has provided more than $2 BILLION to help protect wildlife, plants and communities in and around Australia. To give you an idea of what the Australian Government is doing to help, here are a few of there projects:
Conserving Dugongs and Marine Turtles.It was tradition in the past for local Torres Strait Islander communities to hunt Dugongs and Marine Turtles for survival. Today, Torres Strait Islander Communities still hunt these animals for food but 15 Torres Strait Islander Communities have come together to create rules and restrictions which their people need to follow when hunting these animals. These rules are to help stop hunting too many dugongs or turtles, allowing them a chance to breed and their population to grow but also giving the Torres Strait Islander Communities a chance to hunt the animals according to their customs and traditions. The Australian Government has donated $1.33 million for this project.
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A Treat for Trees.Volunteers from Trees for the Evelyn and Atherton Tablelands (TREAT) have been using grant money to help restore trees in an area of Queensland's Crater Lakes National Park. Due to trees being cut down for human use, this particular area has not been able to grow trees naturally and return to the same rainforest state that it used to be and surrounding areas. Due to the loss of trees, native australian rainforest plants and animals have declined in numbers. The TREAT volunteers have spent their own time growing new trees in a nursery to hopefully replant back into Crater Lakes National Park. Since 2009-2010 TREAT volunteers have so far grown over 50,000 native tree seedlings preparing them to be planted. This project has been helped with an $11500 grant.
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The Mice of MerThe Island Mer, which is located in the Torres Strait, has become over populated with exotic rodents (rats, mice etc.). These rodents are destroying the native habitats and surrounding environments, and due to them taking other animals food sources, the native animal numbers on Mer have decreased. To help protect and conserve their Island, the local community has come together to help remove these exotic rodents. By using their Indigenous knowledge on these rodents and the other local animals they have created traps to capture these rodents and remove them from the island. To help them with their mission to conserve and protect their Island the Government has given $294900 for their project.
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If you want to see these 3 projects in more detail and other Goverment projects that are helping Endangered Species and Australia's environment, click -> HERE.