Submission on Draft Royal Park Master Plan
Submission on Draft Royal Park Master Plan (Master Plan)
From Entomological Society of Victoria
The Entomological Society of Victoria has a membership of more than 300 entomology enthusiasts, professional and amateur. One of our objectives is “the protection and preservation of the insects of Australia”.
In furtherance of that objective, we make this submission about the Master Plan.
The Royal Park Master Plan Biodiversity and Ecology Report (Ecology Report), commissioned to inform the development of the Master Plan states:
“Royal Park has significant existing biodiversity values and many opportunities to further increase and improve habitat to increase flora and fauna diversity.”
We draw attention also to the following pertinent statements in the Ecology Report:
“Consequently, it is a park with high ecological and landscape value. These qualities are valued by visitors and local residents, many of whom have a strong environmental ethos, and are highly educated and politically connected. “
“Now, in addition to sport, the park is increasingly used for nature-based recreational activities, such as walking and bird watching, as well community-based ecological restoration activities (i.e. by friends groups). Its improving ecological values are increasingly being recognized by the City and the public and therefore also need to be balanced against other, potentially detrimental uses.”
“Increasing biodiversity, through species reintroductions, would contribute to the restoration of ecosystems severely affected by the European settlement of Melbourne.”
“Continuously working to improve biodiversity in Royal Park and undertaking innovative urban ecology projects will reinforce the City of Melbourne’s global reputation and leadership in this area.”
In our view, the Master Plan is deficient in that it does not sufficiently align with these sentiments enunciated in the Ecology Report.
Many of the changes to Royal Park proposed by the Master Plan will adversely impact the ecosystems and biodiversity of Royal Park, of which the native invertebrates are a key element.
The loss of habitat which will result from the implementation of the Master Plan will accelerate the decline in insect populations and put at risk their diverse contributions to the functioning of Royal Park ecosystems.
Royal Park provides uniquely valuable and irreplaceable habitat for many species of invertebrate. Just ask Roch Desmier de Chenon, member of our Society, renowned entomologist, native bee expert, Parkville resident and longtime observer and researcher of natural history in Royal Park. He has a mass of high-quality observations and data on the insects of Royal Park.
He has, for example, significant data about the approximately 90 species of native bees which he has observed in Royal Park.
In 2013, he made a submission in relation to the impact on Royal Park of the proposed East West Link, in which he stated: “The number of different species of insects in the Park is estimated to be more than one thousand. Most of them are limited in number, each species linked to a special food plant and living larvae conditions, often very specific. Many are very dependent on particular plant species. Disturbance of the ecosystems in the Park could be fatal for some of them.”
He listed as examples some species which he considered as “iconic due to their beauty, rarity or the influence which they have in maintaining a special natural biocontrol balance, avoiding pest outbreaks. Many are also essential for the pollination of the plants inside the Park.”
Sadly, in the decade or so since he commenced his observations, he has witnessed a marked decline in Royal Park in the number of insect species and their individual abundance.
One example of a species which was a spectacular “icon” a decade ago and which was then present in summer in large numbers, but which has since then virtually disappeared from Royal Park, is Scutiphora pedicellata (Kirby), Heteroptera Scutelleridae Metallic Shield Bug,
A recent study[1] by prominent Australian entomologists estimates that, since colonisation in 1788, approximately 9000 species (known and unknown) of non-marine invertebrates have become extinct in Australia and that such extinctions are continuing at an estimated rate of between 40 and 150 species per annum (1 to 3 species per week).
We hear reports, from all around the world, of the apparent significant decline of insect numbers (both of individual species and biomass). This worrying phenomenon has been called the “Insect Apocalypse”[2].
Many reasons have been advanced, which could no doubt be summarised as “disturbance of insects and their habitat”; which makes it vital that we prioritise the avoidance of further “disturbance” where we can.
In our view the Master Plan does not advance that objective.
The Master Plan includes proposals which will in our view unnecessarily continue the “death by a thousand cuts” of the natural habitat of Royal Park and its insects, including:
1 Creating more sporting facilities, ovals, courts, pavilions and infrastructure at the expense of natural parkland.
2 More constructed pathways.
3 More artificial lighting in Royal Park. The adverse impact of light pollution on our insects and other native species is widely recognised. For example, Zoos Victoria Fighting Extinction campaign advocates “Lights off for the Bogong Moths”.
We support the concerns jointly expressed by the four community groups, all with a deep local interest in Royal Park, namely Parkville Association, Friends of Royal Park, Royal Park Protection Group and Protectors of Public Lands Victoria. They summarise their concerns about the Master Plan as that it proposes an inappropriate “intensification and expansion of active sporting use to the detriment of informal, passive recreational use and the Park’s environmental values and amenity.” We agree entirely.
For these important reasons, the Entomological Society of Victoria requests that there be a reconsideration of the Master Plan.
Yours Sincerely
Gordon Ley
President
24 January 2025
[1] This is the way the world ends; not with a bang but a whimper: Estimating the number and ongoing rate of extinctions of Australian non-marine invertebrates Cambridge University Press: 09 December 2024 John C.Z. Woinarski, Michael F. Braby, Heloise Gibb, Mark S. Harvey, Sarah M. Legge, Jessica R. Marsh, Melinda L. Moir, Tim R. New, Michael G. Rix, Brett P. Murphy
[2] The insect apocalypse, and why it matters Goulson, Dave, Current Biology, Volume 29, Issue 19
