Utilisation of voluntary conservation agreements in Australia : a perspective on Queensland

Biodiversity continues its unrelenting demise on vast areas of privately held land within Australia, particularly Queensland. One means towards solving this problem is by voluntary conservation agreements between the agricultural community and government. To date such agreements are yet to be fully utilised, despite their potential to play an increasing essential role in natural resource management. Varieties of voluntary agreements are currently being tested, for example, the vegetation incentives program in Queensland. The aim of this paper is to explore particular aspects of the Utilisation of voluntary conservation agreements in Queensland. There are important lessons to learn from the initial implementation stages that may be usefully employed by interested stakeholders.