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Summary: Past and continuing fragmentation and modification of ecosystems, as well as other threatening processes, cause ongoing biodiversity losses and species extinctions in Australia. At the same time as biodiversity declines, government funding for conservation and restoration is diminishing, leading to reduced action and greater reliance on private investment and community groups. In order to maintain and restore biodiverse ecosystems and the essential services they provide, both conservation of existing vegetation and habitat reconstruction are required. In this paper, we summarise the available data on planting area and cost from the Australian Government's 20 Million Trees programme (2014–2020), the largest recent national‐scale revegetation incentives programme in Australia. We find that the current spatial scale of effort and investment in habitat reconstruction is insufficient to match the scale required to meet national conservation objectives. Furthermore, the funding rate ($/ha) and contracting arrangements are inadequate for the establishment of high‐quality self‐sustaining vegetation needed for the recovery of Australia's threatened species and ecological communities. We estimate that the minimum amount of funding required for habitat reconstruction is at least five times higher than is provided for current national flagship programmes such as 20 Million Trees. We provide recommendations, designed to assist future habitat reconstruction programmes achieve their long‐term biodiversity objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been an increasing investment of taxpayer dollars in revegetation in Australia over the past 20 years, at both federal and state levels. The largest of these, the Australian Government's Biodiversity Fund, will invest A$946 million to revegetate, rehabilitate and restore landscapes to store carbon, enhance biodiversity and build environmental resilience under climate change. The universal challenge for restoration practitioners working within these programmes is species selection for both current and future environmental conditions at a given site. For policy makers, the challenge is to provide guidelines and tools for this process. The first paper in this series of two papers looked at scientific methods that could provide underpinning knowledge to improve the assessment of species vulnerability to climatic and atmospheric change. In this paper, the publically accessible Atlas of Living Australia is used to demonstrate how revegetation project leaders can assess whether the species and provenances used in their revegetation projects are likely to be suitable for changing environmental conditions. While using the Atlas can assist current selections, ways in which more reliable selections for changing climatic conditions could be made are also outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments across Australia have long been investing in revegetation in an effort to restore biodiversity and, more recently, mitigate climate change. However, no readily available methods have been described to assist project leaders identify species and provenance material likely to be sustainable under the changing climatic conditions of coming decades. Focussing particularly on trees, as trees are important for biosequestration as well as for providing habitat for other native species, Paper 1 of this two part series briefly reviews species distribution models and growth simulation models that could provide the scientific underpinning to improve and refine selection processes. While these previous scientific studies provide useful insights into how trees may respond to climate change, it is concluded that a readily accessible and easy-to-use approach is required to consider the potential adaptability of the many trees, shrubs and ground cover species that may be needed for biodiverse plantings. In Part 2 of this paper, the Atlas of Living Australia is used to provide preliminary information to assist species selection by assessing the climatic range of individual species based on their current distributions and, where available, cultivated locations. While using the Atlas can assist current selections, ways are outlined in Part 2 in which more reliable selections for changing climatic conditions could be made, building on the methods described here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In subtropical Australia, regrowth forests in former rainforest landscapes are often dominated by the exotic tree, Camphor Laurel ( Cinnamomum camphora). In this paper, we report on research into the value of these regrowth stands for rainforest biota. Our initial surveys indicated that Camphor Laurel stands supported a similar number of rainforest animals as restoration plantings, and usually more than timber plantations. Subsequent surveys found that stands of Camphor Laurel supported a high diversity of fruit-eating birds and had recruited a diverse suite of rainforest plants. More recently, we surveyed stands of Camphor Laurel treated by restoration practitioners using ‘patch’ or ‘selective’ removal of exotic plants. We found that both treatment methods accelerated the recruitment of rainforest plants to Camphor Laurel stands, and that treatment was usually much cheaper than the cost of establishing restoration plantings. Recognition of the value of weedy regrowth for native plants and animals, and the potential utility of manipulating weedy regrowth to achieve cost-effective restoration, could increase the likelihood of achieving the large-scale increases in forest cover that will be needed to restore biodiversity and ecosystem services to extensively cleared regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]