This project aims to increase the awareness and fire-preparedness of local residents of Alice Springs. Working with project partners involved in weed management and bushfire preparedness ALEC aims to increase community participation in these fields. The project involves bringing widespread media attention to the issues and concerns of weeds and fire.

AMRRIC has just undertaken community consultations in Mutitjulu and Uluru National Park, speaking with all associated agencies as a first step in the process of developing an Animal Management Strategy for Mutitjulu. Mutitjulu is located in a very auspicious location, centred in the park and adjacent to a major tourist attraction.

Funding will enable AMRRIC to deliver a dog population management program. This will involve a concentrated effort by a veterinary team supplemented by AMRRIC volunteers to desex and euthanize dogs and cats in the Kakadu outstations. AMRRIC’s Education Officer will be able to work concurrently to increase public awareness of the benefits to community and country of this program. The objectives of this program are to reduce the immediate invasive species threats of cats and dogs in the outstations of Kakadu National Park.

Youth Leading Australia (YLA) is building a movement of inspired young sustainability leaders across Australia. The initiative features regional leadership development camps; local mentoring and support; national facilitator and digital media training and culminates a 3 day youth environmental leadership congress (29 November– 1 December 2011) conducted annually in multiple locations simultaneously, connected by digital media.

This project will develop a model of greenhouse gas emissions in the Territory as a flexible framework to better understand sources of carbon pollution, iteratively test different scenarios for cost effective emissions abatement in the years ahead, examine the likely impacts of key policies (price on carbon, renewable energy target, potential energy efficiency target, achievement of NT Climate Change policy targets), and constructively engage key stakeholders.

This project builds on Earth Sanctuary’s success as the only carbon neutral venue in the Northern Territory offering education tours to the sustainable education market.

A series of upgrades for 2011 will enhance the organisations capacity to become a key destination in the sustainable education market and provide greater access to schools in the Territory. This project upgrade will directly improve efficiency, performance, sustainability and best practice industry standards.

This project will conduct facilitator training in Alice Springs to be delivered by a consultant from Living Smart.  Training opportunities are limited in Alice Springs so an invite to attend the facilitator training will be extended beyond the Climate Action Group and the Arid Lands Environment Centre to other local organisations including Northern Territory Government departments.  A fee-for-service will be requested and these funds can go back into the Living Smart budget to support future workshops.

A continuation of the successful and popular Lets Grow Project.  LDCG has received considerable community interest and support from local business and organisations in this current project and have the skills to deliver outcomes.  LDCG will deliver three ‘Bumblebee’ workshops and use their extensive mailing list in order to achieve a high attendance to all of the workshops. They will also build a nursery in order to cultivate principally local species that will provide habitats for local fauna thus increasing local biodiversity.

This grant allows the purchase and installation of a grid connected solar systems with the capacity to offset the power usage required to pump and filtrate the re-used water. It also provides a teaching and learning opportunity for CDU electro-technology students who willassist with the installation and learn installation methods for new technologies. It will become a teaching resource for this team and for the Centre for Renewable Energy due to the systems research potential.

Funding is provided to invite all non government, catholic and government schools in the Alice Springs and Tennant Creek region to participate in a sustainability summit.  It will support and encourage student leadership in sustainability, engage student action in the delivery of the NT Climate Change policy 2009 (ie energy management) and engage students and staff in practical discussion and activities which reflect the mandatory requirements for sustainability as stated in the national curriculum Essential Learning framework.