Victorians, both individuals and organisations, need accurate, timely and accessible information about biodiversity if they are to make informed choices and thereby help conserve our living wealth. Our information base is improving but we have a way to go. Community groups and governments at state and local levels can assist in ensuring information is readily available in practical ways.

Building up our picture of biodiversity
While there are substantial gaps in our knowledge of biodiversity, we do already know a lot about the distribution of Victoria’s terrestrial and freshwater vascular flora and vertebrate fauna. Many areas of significance are well described and mapped. Better equipped with maps and survey information, individuals and organisations will more easily be able to recognise our natural wealth. They can then more easily avoid damaging it, or design positive actions to sustain it, as they plan their activities.

Monitoring trends and issues
To ensure that we are conserving biodiversity in the most effective way, we must continually seek out, and make use of, new information. Monitoring is an integral part of conserving biodiversity. Good monitoring of trends can assist in checking and reviewing earlier management decisions.

Monitoring should be approached in a number of ways. For individual species management, indicators identified in Action Statements under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act are an important set of base data. Much of Victoria’s data in this area is excellent. In addition, there is a need for better indicators of community/ecosystem biodiversity, and genetic biodiversity. This is beginning to be tackled by monitoring the processes which pose potential risks to natural systems.

An important aim is for Victorian and local government agencies, in conjunction with scientists, to ensure that indicators in these areas are consistently and robustly framed, and regularly updated and made available to the whole community. This will be an ongoing process.

Incorporating information about biodiversity into decision making
Decision makers such as industry managers, farmers and local government managers can make more sustainable investment decisions if they can use relevant biodiversity information, such as indicators of local ecosystem health. An example of this is the development of Regional Vegetation Plans by Catchment Management Authorities in partnership with the community to link biodiversity with productivity and land protection. This provides a basis for vegetation management into the future. Programs such as Frogwatch and Streamwatch have generated a huge amount of community involvement in collecting information and providing it to decision-makers. State and local governments can reinforce this by recording and using the results, and providing feedback and encouragement to participants. Sometimes, formal environmental modelling can help in carefully evaluating the risks associated with development proposals, and thus contribute to more balanced decisions about the type of development that should be undertaken or the conditions under which it should operate.

Using information technology and multimedia
In recent years, as our collection of essential information about biodiversity has expanded, information technology has also exploded. We can now link data on water quality and farming environments, for example, and make such data easily accessible — it can be placed directly in the hands of users wherever they are. This too can assist decision-making. Because of its commitment to information technology and the communication of information, Victoria is well-placed to reap the benefit of these continuing advances.