New grants program to help kick major environment goals

Council has approved a new Environment Grants program to support local conservation projects and the not-for-profit groups that deliver them.

“Previously, grants with an environmental focus were mixed in with our other community grants,” Mayor Tony Wellington said. “But we have now determined to separate the two grant streams, with environment grants to be funded from the Environment Levy.”

The program offers one-off project grants of up to $30,000 annually, plus organisational grants to help environment groups cover their operating costs.

In addition, new multi-year grants will support major projects that align with Council’s strategic environment goals.

“The addition of multi-year grants is a real game-changer,” Mayor Wellington said.

“Large-scale, strategic environmental projects may span a number of years. After all, achieving environmental wins is often painstaking, incremental work. In the past, our grants process hasn’t allowed for these longer projects, so we have recognised the problem and corrected it.

“Council has a proud history of supporting Noosa’s community groups and their many conservation activities. We aim to continue to support the efforts by our community to improve Noosa’s biodiversity and its natural resilience.”

All three Environment Grant categories are subject to eligibility criteria.

Council will accept applications for the first round of Environment Project Grants and Environment Alliance Grants from February 27, 2019. Guidelines and sample application forms are available online.

The Multi-year Collaborative Project Grants will be made available at a later date, following adoption of Council’s new Environment Strategy.

The Draft Environment Strategy is currently available for comment on Council's YourSay Noosa website until March 25, 2019.

22 February 2019