Section 9 - International landcare

Making landcare global

The idea of making landcare global was born in 1995, based on the inspiration of the Victorian-based Potter Farmland Plan.

A report on the Potter farms by Associate Professor John Cary showed that of the thousands who visited the farms, the majority of farmers took some ideas on board, and did something different on their own farms as a result.

Using Professor Cary’s report as the starting point, Victorian landcarer - and now Director of the Secretariat for International Landcare - Sue Marriott travelled to South Africa, Poland and the United Kingdom in 1995 on a Churchill Fellowship to look at other projects that had turned awareness into action.

South Africa had heard about landcare and Sue suggested that a small group from there visit Australia to see landcare projects first hand.

In 1997 a group of South African politicians and bureaucrats, and representatives from media, business, community groups, non-government organisations, philanthropists and farmers, took up the invitation.

In Australia, they met groups such as the Australian Landcare Council, Landcare Australia, Greening Australia, landcare farming groups and junior landcare.

Within two years landcare was on the national agenda in South Africa.

That first encounter with South Africa set a group comprising Victoria Mack, Mary Johnson, Stuart Hill, Julian Cribb, Chris Lever, Lyn Milne and Sue Marriott to thinking about how they might expand the concept of international landcare.

After discussions with numerous individuals, groups, government departments and politicians at state and federal level to win support for the idea, the Secretariat for International Landcare (SILC) started in Hamilton, Victoria, in 1998, with initial funding from philanthropy and the Victorian State Government.

The Secretariat’s purpose was to promote Australian landcare by encouraging people and groups from overseas to visit Australia to explore how to adapt landcare principles to their own countries.

SILC has since hosted visitors from nearly 30 different countries, and involved many landcare groups, federal and state organisations, businesses and farmers across Australia. The SILC Directors visit projects in other countries, speak at international conferences and put groups in touch with one another.

In the past couple of years, the original SILC landcare idea has taken root. Landcare International, based in Nairobi, represents individuals and organisations from more than a dozen countries committed to the principles of Landcare, and a new group, Australian Landcare International, has been formed.

Australian landcare - a home grown product - is now a proud international player.

Secretariat for International Landcare, www.silc.com.au

Building a feeling of self-worth

Project: The ACIAR–AusAID Philippines-Australia Landcare Project
Location: The Philippines
Started: 1999
Focus: Soil erosion, declining water quality, rural poverty

Farmers in the Philippines face some of the same issues that Australian landcarers are dealing with - extensive soil erosion, and declining water quality. Their problems are exacerbated by extreme poverty.

Although research agencies, including the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), had been doing work on sustainable farming techniques in the Philippines for many years, often the research findings were not being adopted. ACIAR decided to try the landcare approach.

‘Landcare in the Philippines evolved quite separately from landcare in Australia, but the ACIAR project has helped the movement grow, particularly on the southern island of Mindanao,’ said ACIAR director Peter Core.

‘More than 400 groups have been established on Mindanao, with up to 60 per cent of farmers in each of three project locations adopting some form of conservation farming.’

^{Australian Landcare Facilitator, John Muir, with the first three Philippines Landcare Facilitators at the start of the project in 1999. Aurora Laotoco, now Executive Director of the Landcare Foundation of the Philippines, is front right.}

John Muir, previously the landcare program coordinator at Barung Landcare in Queensland, was a landcare facilitator for the Philippines–Australia Landcare Project between 1999 and 2004. His role was to train local landcare facilitators.

‘In 1999, the time was right for the ACIAR project to support existing alliances between a coalition of farmers, local government and technical specialists from research and development agencies,’ he said.

‘After five years, over 8000 families were involved in more than 600 village-based landcare groups throughout the southern Philippines. The feeling of self-worth, involvement and confidence within the community as a whole was greatly enhanced - it was almost palpable.

‘Communities were strengthened and empowered. And importantly, rural livelihoods have been significantly enhanced through the diversified farming systems and community support networks that have evolved under landcare,’ he said.

‘Through the financial support of ACIAR and AusAID, the project partnership has taken the bold move from a research-focused technology transfer approach to a proven farmer-based extension approach - landcare.’

'It is a strong reminder that farmer-to-farmer extension is always the most efficient and productive - worldwide.'

The Philippines - Australia Landcare Project is funded by the Australian Government thorugh ACIAR and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).

It involves seven partner agencies - the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries; the University of Queensland; Landcare Foundation of the Philippines; World Agroforestry Centre - ICRAF; SEAMEO Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA); CRS-Philippines (Catholic Relief Services); and the University of the Philippines Los Banos UPLB - National Crop Protection Center.

From a Filipino landcarer

With landcare, ideas are heard, perspectives are respected and decisions are made. The farmers get to be the leaders, in the driver’s seat, and are not just mere beneficiaries of programs. We are partners with the landcare facilitators and with the World Agroforestry Centre and that is something we cherish.

Before landcare we were fairly contented with the way we did our farming. We ate a little, sold a little and that’s about it. But with landcare, I was able to dream bigger than before. It opened my eyes to a future that could be better and more stable. I know now that I have a legacy to give to my children that will not be stolen or burnt down. I feel more secure as a result. My grandchildren have something to look forward to and depend upon when they grow up. Landcare means sustainability in terms of food, income and natural endowments.

I want to see landcare become an integral part of everyone’s life, especially resource- poor farmers like me who rely on this most priceless possession, the land. I hope that landcare will be able to reach out to more people across the Philippines and to people beyond who live in similar conditions.

Love your farm, even if you have a small one. Be creative and imaginative on how you would want your life to become in the future. Last but not least, dream and hope for the better. I long to make Sitio Kibulay a place where trees flourish and farms are productive and protected from the elements, with people working together.

- Farmer Basilio Decano, Landcare in the Philippines.

A complete pdf of the book is available on the ACIAR website, www.aciar.gov.au/web.nsf/doc/ACIA-66CW4P

Sisters in landcare

Groups: Grayson Landcare and Tamar NRM
Location: Tasmania Australia and Virginia, USA
Started: 2006
Focus: Information exchange

Tamar NRM has signed Tasmania’s first international sister landcare partnership with a US landcare group.

The partnership with Grayson LandCare of Virginia will be built on an exchange of information that will allow two dynamic and community-focused groups to benefit from each other’s the experience and expertise.

The concept for the partnership arose from a chance meeting in 2006 between Grayson Landcare facilitator Jerry Moles, Tamar NRM president Ian Sauer and state landcare coordinator Don Defenderfer at the International Landcare Conference in Melbourne.

‘Sister landcare partnerships are nothing new for Tamar NRM, which formed its first national sister landcare partnership with the Woady Yaloak Landcare Group in Victoria in 2007 - a partnership that has already produced significant benefits,’ said Ian Sauer.

‘This is an exciting time. It puts a truly international flavour to landcare that will allow two diverse groups to learn from each other.’

The US landcare group is also enthusiastic about the partnership. ‘With landcare being new in the United States, it’s great we can learn from and exchange ideas with another dynamic and recognised group in a formal setting such as a sister landcare partnership,’ said Jerry Moles.

‘This is a forward-looking partnership that reflects the global nature of resource management. Both groups can learn a great deal from each other that will add value to the agriculture sector, in particular.’

An early adopter of landcare, Grayson LandCare is serving as a model for landcare in the United States. Virginia Technological University, a major agricultural and NRM institution, and some Virginia government agencies are actively assisting Grayson LandCare.

‘We’ve exchanged ideas and information with Tamar NRM that have revealed similarities in the issues both groups need to address,’ said Ian Sauer.

‘Exchanging information can save a lot of time, and therefore money. With the vegetation and climate challenges Australia faces, we’d be derelict in our duty not to pursue such partnerships and the benefits they promise.’

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