The Queensland Government is offering new grants of up to $1 million to those with innovative ideas to improve Queensland’s soil, vegetation and waterways and protect the iconic Great Barrier Reef.
Natural Resources Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said the grants were new to the State Government’s four-year, $61 million investment in natural resource management.
“We are looking for the state’s best and brightest to put their heads together and come up with local ideas to tackle soil, land and waterway degradation and deliver better environmental outcomes,” the Minister said.
“The government is ready to reward ideas that improve Queensland’s natural resource management practices with grants of up to $1 million to turn those ideas into reality.”
The grants aim to encourage the use of new technologies, tools or scientific methods to manage Queensland’s soil, vegetation and waterways more effectively.
The State Government wants people to pitch any ideas both big and small – whether it’s about improving the health of wetlands, or a new way in monitoring landscape change remotely by combining drones and fieldwork.
“Right in our backyard we have one of the wonders of the world – the Great Barrier Reef – and new ideas that will help protect it are welcome,” Dr Lynham announced.
“We believe these grants can help transform great ideas into tangible on-ground results,” he added.
Individuals, universities, Indigenous groups, local councils and not-for-profit groups are being encouraged to apply.
Submissions are now open, and applications are expected to close on 12 February 2019.