Protecting nature and combating climate change need not come at the expense of Australia’s prosperity, a global summit has been told.

Climate change, energy, environment and water department secretary David Fredericks says his department is committed to “an Australia that is prosperous because it is sustainable”.

“We wanted to explicitly reject the notion that action … comes at the cost of our future prosperity,” Mr Fredericks told the Global Nature Positive Summit in Sydney on Wednesday.

It will mean considering competing perspectives and problems and finding ways to achieve positive outcomes for nature and biodiversity, he said.

Landholders could receive tradeable biodiversity certificates for planting diverse native trees and vegetation specific to their region, thereby increasing wildlife habitat.

They could also combine those actions with projects to generate carbon credits on the same parcel of land.

But South Australia’s Young Australian of the Year Tiahni Adamson told the summit young people were anxious and despairing for what the future might hold.

“We’ve been designing our lives and our futures around the climate data,” she said.

“There’s massive existential dread … it’s a really serious thing for us.”

Former Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow said the sins of her generation and the damage caused to people and the planet had become an intergenerational fight, despite the good that was being done.

“Even as many of us have tried … we’ve also got to recognise that we have left a huge legacy of challenges for young people,” the 69-year-old said.

Ms Burrow, now a member of the Nature Finance Council which advises the Australian government, said young people would be the ones driving environmental change.

“Make sure the leadership we are handing to you … is not something you simply wait for, but you demand it,” she said.

UN Environment Program youth co-ordinator Zuhair Kowshik said young people should be considered partners in combating environmental destruction, not beneficiaries.

“There is huge momentum for youth engagement around the world at this moment,” he said.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek closed out the summit saying the environment needed to be factored in to economic decision-making, with a focus on nature-based solutions to achieve overlapping environment and climate goals.

“We need to understand, measure and report on our economic dependence on nature, our impacts on nature and the value of ecosystem services that our communities and our economies rely on,” she said.

Jack Gramenz
(Australian Associated Press)