2020-07-07 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                               7 JULY 2020


The Alliance & Funding Agreement states that the Project Implementation Plan will detail at a
minimum;
       a detailed risk assessment associated with the project.
       a Communications and media plan, outlining media protocols, opportunities and the role of
        TNC and Council.
       a Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Plan which identified ecological and social monitoring
        programs, how they will be reported on and how this will feed back into the project.
The Project Management Plan attached to this report, which contains the three components listed
above, fulfils the requirements of the Alliance and Funding Agreement. The Project Management
Plan expands on the project deliverables and provides clear outcomes for them, and provides a
transparent, structured summary of the NSC-TNC partnership.
Some of the deliverables are behind schedule due to delays in appointing a Project Manager for
the project. The Nature Conservancy undertook a global recruitment process for the role and
received many extremely qualified applicants, both locally and internationally. The successful
candidate was, at the time, working in Fiji and was unable to commence ‘on the ground’, in Noosa,
until February 2020.
Following this, COVID restrictions severely restricted the movement of the locally-based project
Manager, Craig Bohm, making the delivery of initial community engagement actions and design of
local oyster restoration logistics very challenging. Despite the challenges, the Project Manager has
managed to engage extensively with local stakeholders and the project has progressed on several
fronts.
In November 2019, several TNC representatives visited the Noosa area to start the groundwork
on some key project deliverables, including;
       Discussions around the development of the Project Implementation Plan, and other potential
        partnership activities, within the scope of the funding agreement.
       Carried out pilot site field assessments, involving TNC reef restoration experts, investigating
        potential sites for oyster ecosystem restoration and gathering data needed to support final
        decision making.
       Discussions with local restaurants around use of recycled oyster shell use in formulating a
        suitable oyster restoration substrate to be deployed at key sites in the estuary (TNC’s ‘Shuck
        Don’t Chuck’ program).
       Investigation of suitable local sites for curing used oyster shell, which meets state biosecurity
        standards.
Measurable Outcomes
The Alliance & Funding Agreement provides clear measureable outcomes for the project, with
payments from Council to The Nature Conservancy linked to the achievement of those outcomes.
The table below provides the current status of those milestones at this stage of the project.
    Measureable outcome             Expected             Current status                      Current
                                    completion                                               expected
                                    date (as per the                                         completion
                                    Alliance & Funding                                       date
                                    Agreement)
    1. Terms of reference for the   31/12/2019           A Terms of Reference for the        Completed
    Technical Advisory Group                             Technical Advisory Group has
    (TAG) developed, TAG is                              been developed and finalised, and
    established and at least one                         the group convened for its first
    meeting held.                                        meeting on 13 May 2020.



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