Noosa community to take charge of biosphere future

Noosa Council has endorsed a new way forward for its Biosphere Reserve project that it's confident will help to create a smarter, more sustainable economy in our beautiful environment.

The old, council owned and controlled model is on the way out.  The new Noosa Biosphere structure will still have council input and support, but the community itself will be in the driver's seat.

Deputy Mayor Bob Abbot ran Noosa Council when the UNESCO Biosphere status was awarded in 2007.   He said UNESCO's Biosphere ideals are all about encouraging us to build a strong, smart economy in harmony with our environment, and he believes the new management model will help to achieve that.

Mr Abbot said the agreed structure emerged from months of discussion with input from many of the hard-working volunteers involved and stakeholders across the community.  "It's a compromise" he said "that strengthens my belief in local democracy."

Mayor Noel Playford said he was confident most of Noosa will  support the community-controlled Biosphere framework that's been endorsed. 

Mr Playford said "The detail, the flesh we still have to put on the bones of this concept, will come after even more community consultation in the months ahead."

The council-owned Noosa Biosphere Limited company will wind up later this year.  It will be replaced by a Trust and an incorporated Association made up of the volunteers who take part in Biosphere projects.

The mayor says the Trust structure is the best custodian for the Noosa community, controlling the Biosphere's assets, planning and reporting.  While the council will initially appoint the five directors of the Trustee Company, vacancies will in future be filled by the board itself, except for one position that will be filled by council.

The Trust structure is seen as the best way to attract funding to the Biosphere Reserve from grants and donations, including support from the council.

At the co-ordination level, the new structure will be further removed from the council, with day-to-day operations run by a community-based Association.

Mayor Playford said there would be significant funding in the council budget to be delivered next month for clever initiatives and projects that fit in with the Biosphere's aims.

He said "In the end, what most people tell me they want is to see our ratepayers' dollars spent wisely on projects that help deliver the Biosphere vision, and that's a clever economy that sees Noosa prosper while protecting our very special environment and lifestyle."

29 May 2014