The Delbessie Agreement – a framework for sustainable land management Robert Hassett*, Prue Peart*, Greg Coonan* *Department of Environment and Resource Management, Brisbane, Qld 4001.
The Delbessie Agreement (or State Rural Leasehold Land Strategy) is a framework for the sustainable management of state rural leasehold land. Developed and implemented by Queensland’s Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM), the Agreement represents a groundbreaking partnership between the Queensland Government, AgForce, and the Australian Rainforest Conservation Society.
It is a contemporary plan for sustainable use, protection and rehabilitation of rural leasehold land that takes aspirations of leaseholders, conservation and Indigenous groups, government agencies and rural industry into account. The Agreement uses a mix of incentives and regulatory approaches to support profitable and productive primary industry, while meeting natural resource management challenges. It applies to approximately 1800 rural leasehold land leases issued for grazing and agricultural purposes covering about 86.6M ha (or about 50% of Queensland’s land area). The Agreement links the maintenance of land condition; the protection of conservation values (such as through the establishment of nature refuges) and Indigenous access; to extended lease terms.
A suite of practical measures and guidelines have been developed to support the implementation of the Delbessie Agreement. These include the Guidelines for determining lease land condition – designed around the eight elements of the Land Act 1994 ‘duty of care’ and defined elements of land degradation; and a Land Management Agreement – negotiated between the leaseholder and DERM that clearly outlines leaseholders’ natural resource management obligations for the ongoing sustainable management of lease land. The framework is further supported by practical policies, leading remote sensing and modelling tools, and purpose-built IT applications. Developing partnerships, capacity building and enhancing the knowledge of the stewards of rural leasehold land condition is critical to meeting the Agreements’ social, environmental and economic objectives – improving the profitability, productivity and sustainability of rural leasehold land to assure the ongoing economic viability of rural communities.
Mr Robert Hassett – Department of Environment and Resource Management
Mr Prue Peart Principal Advisor (Resource Condition) Department of Environment and Resource Management
Mr Greg Coonan Director, State Land Asset Management Department of Environment and Resource Management
“Taking Care of Business: Sustainable Transformation” The Conference 15th & 16th September – Radisson Resort, Gold Coast, Australia
