Australia’s environmental biosecurity system is being enhanced through a range of projects, as part of the Environmental Biosecurity Project Fund (EBPF).
Launched in 2018, the EBPF has an annual fund of $825,000 administered by Environmental Biosecurity Office. More than 48 projects have been funded through the EBPF, reducing the risk of invasive species before the border, at the border and post-border.
Recent work with the Atlas of Living Australia, through the fund, has created a biosecurity alerts system that sends notifications to biosecurity agencies when an invasive species is reported in the environment. The system supports citizen science participation in sighting and reporting exotic invasive species, which allows for rapid and effective control of the invasive species.
Other EBPF projects include:
- Expanding surveillance capability to help detect bird flu.
- Molecular detection capability at the border and in the environment for several high-risk invasive species
- Developing video and teaching materials in consultation with First Nations groups for environmental biosecurity training of Indigenous Rangers.
- Trialling approaches to create and train citizen science and general-public cohorts to participate in environmental invasive species surveillance and reporting.
- Creating a set of high-resolution images for publication of native ants to assist with the identification of exotic ant species.
To be eligible for funding, EBPF projects must address one or more of the following objectives:
- Raise awareness of environmental biosecurity and invasive species impacts.
- Build Australian preparedness to manage and respond to environmental biosecurity risks.
- Develop and expand Australia’s invasive species detection and surveillance capabilities.
- Support expertise and connectivity across biosecurity sectors and jurisdictions.
