Terrain Natural Resource Management has secured Reef Rescue funding for the Wet Tropics for the next two years. The Australian Government has approved Terrain's $15,686,000 bid for Reef Rescue funds for 2011-2013. This is the second last year of Reef Rescue's $200 million, five year funding program through the Australian Government's Caring for Our Country initiative.

A significant and important component of the Reef Rescue program is the water quality incentive grants. Recognising the severe impact of Cyclone Yasi, Terrain proposed that in specific cases, the co-contribution required from applicants for water quality incentive grants be reduced from 50 to 25%. This proposal was approved by Minister for Agriculture, Senator Joe Ludwig, Environment Minister, Tony Burke, and Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Dr Mike Kelly, which is great news for affected farmers.

The reduced co-contribution will be appreciated by landholders who have suffered due to severe climatic conditions over the past year. To qualify, applicants must have been in the very destructive wind zone or have experienced a 40% or more loss of production.

All projects will be assessed on merit. For successful projects, eligibility for a reduced co-contribution will be assessed on a case by case basis and require Australian Government approval.

Applicants will be advised by 28th September if their project was successful in receiving a grant. For those projects with reduced co-contribution, negotiation on final budgets can then occur.

An important condition of the changed funding arrangements will be to take the opportunity to better understand how industries in the Wet Tropics can increase resilience in the face of natural disasters.

For more information or clarification, contact, John Reghenzani on 0439 670 893