Supporting next-generation standards for environmental restoration

At RPS, our environmental teams are always pushing the boundaries of possibility when it comes to ecological protection.

From the protection of threatened species and native vegetation to the remediation of modified landscapes, we’re committed to furthering Australia’s collective ecological knowledge and promoting best practice. That’s why RPS is a proud sponsor of the most recent updates made to The National Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration in Australia.

Edition 2.2 of the Standards are the work of the Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia (SERA)’s Principles and Standards Reference group, along with a variety of peak industry bodies and partners.

As a founding corporate member of SERA in Australasia, RPS has promoted and advocated for the implementation of the Standards with our clients and projects since they were first introduced in 2017.

“While Australia has robust environmental management and protection policies and mechanisms, how restoration work actually gets designed and delivered can vary significantly,” said John Halleen, Technical Director - Environment.

"The National Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration in Australia provide a practical framework that helps all industries go beyond best intent." 

"They support project owners at all scales to set specific, locally relevant goals for environmental restoration and benefits,” said John.

Freely available, the Standards and are designed to be adopted by industries, communities and governments alike. In writing the foreword, The Hon. Sussan Ley, Federal Minister for the Environment, highlighted the opportunity to take biodiversity management to new levels by combining First Nations’ land knowledge and practices, with the latest environmental science:

“Our $200 million investment in bushfire recovery for native species and habitat has demonstrated the complexity of restoring local environments and the importance of strong partnerships with different levels of government, land managers, Traditional Owners, local communities, and volunteers,” she said.

“To conserve Australia’s water, soils, plants, animals, and ecosystems, we are strengthening the partnership between western science and the knowledge of First Nations’ peoples.

“It is timely, as we enter the United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, that the Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia (SERA) has produced a revised edition of the National Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration in Australia.”

RPS representatives will be attending the launch of the Standards in Western Australia at the Biodiversity Conference 2021 on 15 September hosted by the University of Western Australia.

About the Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia

The Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia (SERA) is a neutral, independent, non-profit organisation that connects restoration industries across Australasia and through the peak international body for restoration (SER) globally. SERA promotes ecological restoration as a means of sustaining the diversity of life on Earth and re-establishing an ecologically healthy relationship between nature and culture.