Pest animals and plants not only cause significant damage to Australia’s natural environment, they also reduce agricultural productivity and impact natural resources.
Invasive weeds displace native species and contribute to land degradation, and are among the most serious threats to Australia's unique biodiversity. The cost of weeds to agricultural industries is estimated at about $4 billion a year, and while it’s difficult to estimate, the cost of weeds to our environment is likely to be even greater.
The economic impact of pest animals on the Australian economy from production losses due to predation on livestock, degradation of the landscape and control costs is estimated to range from $48 million to $60 million annually.
Everyone plays a role to tackle this problem, including farmers, environment stewards, industry, local communities and governments.
The National Landcare Program has and continues to support a range of initiatives, from wild dog management, tackling the invasive weeds Mimosa (Mimosa pigra) right through to prioritising investment guided by the national strategic approaches to weed and pest animal management.
Revised Australian Weeds Strategy and Australian Pest Animal Strategy: 2017-2027
The Australian Weeds Strategy and the Australian Pest Animal Strategy provide national frameworks for addressing weeds and pest animals and have a role in ensuring the profitability and sustainability of Australia’s primary industries and reducing the impact of weeds and pest animals on the environment. These strategies were initially developed in 2007 with support from the National Landcare Program.
Both strategies aim to guide coordination of effort between affected stakeholders and to inform plans and actions taken by state, territory and local governments, regional natural resource management agencies, as well as actions taken by industry, landholders and the wider community. The strategies will support delivery of weed and pest animal management activities under the National Landcare Program. Implementation of each strategy is supported by the Environment and Invasives Committee that has representation from all states, territories and the Commonwealth.