Australia Third National Report 1

• 
  community level (through the Australian Government Envirofund);
  
• 
  regional level; and
  
• 
  National/State level.
  

30. 
    ◊ On Article 20(1), has your country provided financial support and incentives to those national activities that are intended to achieve the objectives of the Convention?
    

30. 
    ◊ On Article 20(2), has your country provided new and additional financial resources to enable developing country Parties to meet the agreed incremental costs to them of implementing measures, which fulfill the obligations of the Convention?
    

30. 
    ◊ On Article 20(2), has your country received new and additional financial resources to enable it to meet the agreed full incremental costs of implementing measures, which fulfill the obligations of the Convention?
    

30. 
    ◊ Has your country established a process to monitor financial support to biodiversity, including support provided by the private sector? (Decision V/11)
    

30. 
    ◊ Has your country considered any measures like tax exemptions in national taxation systems to encourage financial support to biodiversity? (Decision V/11)
    

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30. 
    Has your country reviewed national budgets and monetary policies, including the effectiveness of official development assistance allocated to biodiversity, with particular attention paid to positive incentives and their performance as well as perverse incentives and ways and means for their removal or mitigation? (Decision VI/16)
    

1. 
   No
   

2. 
   No, but review is under way
   

3. 
   Yes (please provide results of review below)
   

30. 
    Is your country taking concrete actions to review and further integrate biodiversity considerations in the development and implementation of major international development initiatives, as well as in national sustainable development plans and relevant sectoral policies and plans? (Decisions VI/16 and VII/21)
    

1. 
   No
   

2. 
   No, but review is under way
   

3. 
   Yes, in some initiatives and plans (please provide details below)
   

4. 
   Yes, in major initiatives and plans (please provide details below)
   

Australia agrees with integration, where relevant, of biodiversity and environment concerns into elaboration of major international initiatives, such as IMO and WTO agreements. The importance of recognizing that non-trade concerns, such as the protection of human, animal or plant life or health, figure prominently in the WTO Agreements vis GATT Article XX, and the SPS and TBT Agreements.

The policy of the Australian Government is to integrate environmental considerations into all aspects of development cooperation. Australia’s main agency for delivery of development assistance to developing countries is AusAID .
The aim of policy integration is not simply to avoid 'doing harm' to the environment but to recognize that because poor people, in particular, are highly dependent on their natural resource base, that effective environmental management is a key to long-term poverty reduction.
These principles underline the Environmental Management Guide for Australia's

Aid Program 2003. In the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors, sustainable resource management is particularly critical where it intersects with rural livelihoods and particularly fragile or special places for biodiversity. Australia’s development assistance policy recognizes and works with these complexities.

30. 
    Is your country enhancing the integration of biological diversity into the sectoral development and assistance programmes? (Decision VII/21)
    

1. 
   No
   

2. 
   No, but relevant programmes are under development
   

3. 
   Yes, into some sectoral development and assistance programmes (please provide details below)
   

4. 
   Yes, into major sectoral development and assistance programmes (please provide details below)