Aussie state announces multi-billion-dollar conservation budget

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SYDNEY. KAZINFORM - As the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) announced its 2022-23 state budget on Tuesday, a spotlight has been cast on conservation and environmental protection, which has been allocated more than 2 billion Australian dollars (about 1.4 billion U.S. dollars), Xinhua reports.

The funding would help deliver a variety of environmental programs over the next decade including workers in National Parks, sustainable material funds, sustainable farming programs, flood and storm assistance, biodiversity offset credits, among a variety of investments into protected lands and eco-projects.

NSW Minister for Environment and Heritage James Griffin said the budget investment shows the government's commitment to protecting the environment and growing a clean economy.

«This massive new round of funding ensures we can continue this critical work right across New South Wales,» said Griffin on Tuesday.

The budget includes funding into a recently established Biodiversity Credits Supply Fund, which will pay landholders for environmentally positive action and require those that impact the environment to purchase offsets.

«By partnering with landholders through these new programs, we can continue enhancing existing biodiversity conservation, which is great news for the environment and future generations.»

Nearly 600 million Australian dollars (about 417 million U.S. dollars) will go towards the National Parks and Wildlife Service, to both employ new workers in the parks and train more firefighters to prepare for future bushfires.

Among the project's receiving funding was a 56-million-Australian dollar (about 39 million U.S. dollars) multi-day and rainforest walk that would stretch along NSW's mid-north coast in a bid to boost the state's eco-tourism.

NSW Minister for Tourism Stuart Ayres said the new Dorrigo Escarpment Great Walk would help put NSW on the global map for tourism and national parks.

«We're building a network of multi-day walks to bring people from all over the world to NSW, boosting local tourism businesses, jobs and regional economies,» said Ayres.


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