Actions you can take to conserve biodiversity:

1. Make your garden or property wildlife friendly by leaving logs and rocks, and planting local native plants to provide food or shelter for birds, frogs, reptiles and other animals.

2. Reduce the impact of your cat or dog on native wildlife. Keep them enclosed at sun-up, sun-down and at night when many native animals do most of their feeding.

3. Consider alternatives to chemical pest control in your garden or use it sparingly. Birds, frogs and reptiles can become sick or die if they feed on insects sprayed with pesticides. Useful insects, like ladybirds and praying mantis, help control pests and are killed by pesticides.

4. Dispose of chemicals, paints, oils, detergents and plastics through your special local council services, not through the stormwater or sewerage system which will pollute your waterways.

5. Join or start a ‘friends of’ group to help landholders and councils to bring back the native grasses and woodlands to their properties, river frontages, roadsides, beachfronts and public areas. In Australia, call Landcare or your local environment centre or council for nearest contacts.

6. When shopping, choose the more environmentally friendly products and avoid excessive packaging. Wherever possible ‘reduce, re-use, recycle.’

7. Try to buy organic produce. It’s better for you and better for the environment because it does not use chemical pesticides.

8. Don’t dump weeds, prunings or grass clippings in the countryside or parks as they introduce new weeds and spread others.

9. Know your fish. That orange roughy you’re eating could well be 150 years old. Find out where your fish are caught and if the methods used are ecologically sustainable. If your fish vendor doesn’t know ask them to find out. In Australia you can get a guide to buying fish – call the VIC National Parks Association, Ph: (03) 9650 8296.

10. Report any new waste discharge to the sea or river. It may be an accidental spillage or a new discharge point that is not yet regulated. Councils and your EPA need to know what’s going on and will appreciate your eyes and ears.

11. Be conservative when you go fishing. Only take what you can eat yourself and don’t keep undersized fish. Some fish stocks are under greater threat from recreational fishers than from commercial fishing.

12. Switch to slow combustion or natural gas heaters. Firewood collection alters or removes the habitat of mammals and birds, and is contributing to decline or disappearance. After woodchipping, firewood harvesting, at 6.1 million tonnes per year, is Australia’s second largest timber extractor.

13. Keep the contents of your boat/ car/bag in your boat/car/bag… Don’t throw rubbish, waste, oil or chemicals into the sea or into urban creeks or rivers - even if you believe them to be biodegradable. Australia’s marine and riverine ecosystems have naturally low nutrient levels and can’t easily absorb human waste or rubbish.

14. Use plantation timber, not native forest and woodland timber, in home building, fencing or firewood. Demand for plantation timber by consumers will put effective pressure on the suppliers.

15. Support conservation of coastal and wetland habitats. Mangrove and coastal swamp systems provide breeding habitats for many fish, crabs and prawns and help maintain clean waterways.

16. Speak out about new dykes, weirs or sea walls. Most of Australia’s coastline relies on a natural flow of water up and down our sandy beaches. Any break in this flow disrupts and destroys local ecosystems.

17. Avoid walking on reefs. Many species are very delicate and will die when crushed under human weight. Swim around instead.

18. Find out what happens to your city’s effluent. Each year 10,000 tonnes of phosphorus and 100,000 tonnes of nitrogen are discharged into the seas from sewerage systems. This kills many marine ecosystems, reducing the ability of the oceans to sustain life. Domestic waste is the main culprit, so suggest to your state government representative that it be recycled back on land.

19. Contact your local elected representatives to get more areas protected for nature conservation. Ask them to address the bigger picture issues beyond your scope, such as broad scale clearing and destruction of native plants and animals, expansion of our national reserve system, and ensuring that flows on our regulated rivers allow for environmental needs.

20. Don’t leave your environmental ‘conscience’ at home when you go on holiday.

Source: Habitat, Australian Conservation Foundation, 340 Gore St., Fitzroy VIC 3065, Australia.