Stuart Cowell Manager

'Properly looking after Country'

Conservation professionals from across the world made their way to the small town of Poatina, Tasmania to take part in the latest Healthy Country Planning and Open Standards Workshop.

Watch attendees reactions to the value of this workshop to them, their countries and communities.

"Doing a course (on Healthy Country Planning) gives me a better understanding of how to go forward in implementing a plan that suits us, in order to incorporate cultural knowledge with western science. Going forward in how we properly look after country." Warren Barunga, Dambimangari Aboriginal Corp, WA.

Conservation practitioners can often feel overwhelmed by the complexity of work required in creating healthier landscapes.

Healthy Country Planning (HCP) workshops, facilitated by Conservation Management (in partnership with the Protected Areas Learning and Research Collaboration), are providing skills and sharing knowledge to enable practitioners to unpack complex problems, prioritise strategies, and implement sustainable actions, all the while expanding the global conservation community.

Workshop participants converted talk into action by developing new ways to improve the social, economic and cultural health of the landscape at their feet, the important Tasmanian Midlands (case study), a global biodiversity hotspot for rare native grasslands.

Healthy Country Planning training is based on the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation, an internationally recognized tool for planning, implementing and monitoring conservation efforts. This is supported by a global network of practitioners and coaches, the Conservation Coaches Network.

HCP simplifies the Open Standards language, making it more accessible.

We would like to thank all the participants, the Tasmania Land Conservancy, Andrew Cameron, James Walch, and the staff at Poatina Village.