Connecting Nature: The Potential of Australian Dairy Initiatives in Collaborative Biodiversity Governance
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- Traditional command-and-control approaches that compel farmers by force of law under legislative prescription, such as those applied by standard anti-pollution regulations and anti-clearing laws (e.g., [5,6]). These are reactive to the extent that they punish damaging behaviours that have already occurred, and proactive to the extent that they act as a deterrent to aberrant behaviour;
- Publicly funded incentive and subsidy programs;
- Persuasion and education programs;
- Voluntary action (e.g., [9]) and participation in voluntary stewardship programs, such as the dairy industry’s DairySAT program, discussed in more detail below;
- Responding to market pressures, which can include both consumer preferences and market access. Consumer preference may be facilitated by labelling and certification programs. Market access is already a driver, for example with biofuels (e.g., the EU imposes standards on producers importing into the EU) [10] and domestic sugar (Australia’s dominant supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths, require Bonsucro certification for their private labels) [11,12]. The EU is now considering a ban on importing some types of produce if deforestation occurred in its production [13].
2. Collaborative Governance
3. Opportunities and Challenges for the Australian Dairy Sector
4. International Initiatives
4.1. The Dairy Declaration
“The Australian dairy industry is committed to finding innovative solutions and building capacity to develop the sustainable food systems and resilient agricultural practices envisaged by the goals”[53]
4.2. The Dairy Sustainability Framework
- “Undertaking a prioritization of sustainability issues at a more local level (the prioritization process will support your key areas of focus locally);
- Implementing initiatives to address the priorities;
- Delivery of the Plan, Do, Check and Adjust actions on existing programs to ensure they are continually evolving and addressing the key areas of interest; and
- Provision of annual reporting and updating of shared initiatives with the DSF” [54].
5. National Initiatives
5.1. The Australian Dairy Industry Council Sustainability Framework
“…has been developed to provide overarching goals and alignment of the sector’s actions globally on the path to sustainability. The DSF will enable the dairy sector to take a holistic approach to sustainability through a common language, alignment of international sustainability activity and through this generate a common sustainability commitment that can be expressed at a global level, but also regional, national and organizational levels”[56]
5.2. DairySAT—The Dairy Self-Assessment Tool
6. Issues That Shape the Effectiveness, Efficiency and Fairness of the Governance Arrangements of the SDGs in the Dairy Industry
- The requirement for accurate and honest objective reporting regarding progress against targets audited by a third party (as opposed to self-reporting);
- Government/industry incentives as opposed to penalties for practice changes;
- Compliance required under regulatory instruments as opposed to voluntary codes;
- Increased collaboration and connection between key stakeholders throughout the entire dairy value chain at a regional, national, and international scale, in order to address SDG.
7. Discussion
“is likely to be unevenly distributed across sectors and regions. The agricultural sector is particularly vulnerable to the physical effects of climate change, the resources sector is particularly vulnerable to the transition effects, and the financial sector is vulnerable to both”[67]
What Broad Conclusions Can We Draw about the Capacities, Opportunities and Challenges for the Australian Dairy Industry to Address Environmental Impacts?
“a water stewardship system could add value for both the catchment manager in balancing competing demands and the dairy industry in dealing with its compliance costs and stakeholder relations”[72]
8. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Conflicts of Interest
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Cosby, A.; Lawson, A.; Gudde, J.; Fogarty, E.S. Connecting Nature: The Potential of Australian Dairy Initiatives in Collaborative Biodiversity Governance. Agronomy 2022, 12, 366. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12020366
Cosby A, Lawson A, Gudde J, Fogarty ES. Connecting Nature: The Potential of Australian Dairy Initiatives in Collaborative Biodiversity Governance. Agronomy. 2022; 12(2):366. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12020366
Chicago/Turabian StyleCosby, Amy, Andrew Lawson, Jane Gudde, and Eloise S. Fogarty. 2022. "Connecting Nature: The Potential of Australian Dairy Initiatives in Collaborative Biodiversity Governance" Agronomy 12, no. 2: 366. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12020366