A healthy and intact environment is the key to a sustainable economy. A healthy environment supports healthy and safe communities and ensures future generations can experience the natural beauty and wonder the Territory has to offer. The Northern Territory environment underpins our economy, from tourism to primary industry to our art and creative industries and our resources sector.

There is a range of environmental service providers in the Northern Territory that seek to generate wealth from managing the sustainability of our natural resources. These service providers include environmental consultants, ecologists, natural resource managers, scientists, remediation experts, agronomists, Aboriginal rangers, and researchers across a range of areas.

These specialists have expertise in tropical, arid and coastal environments which are replicated elsewhere in Australia and in some of our near neighbours. There is a good opportunity to use this expertise to better manage and further develop our natural resources, as well as to earn export income from selling these services to our near neighbours.

Science, research and robust analysis play a central role in understanding the likely outcomes of different management and development decisions. Charles Darwin University (CDU) leads a number of national research collaborations across the natural, spatial, physical and social sciences and is internationally recognised for its world class environmental science research.

High level action	Measure	Lead / partners	Lever
Establish a Land Management and Conservation Fund to build the capacity of Aboriginal ranger programs and associated community-based land management enterprises	Land Management and Conservation Fund established Aboriginal ranger capacity increased	NT Govt (NTG) Aust Govt land councils Traditional Owners
Establish an Aboriginal Carbon Unit and identify new opportunities for carbon farming and abatement initiatives	Carbon farming and abatement opportunities developed	NTG Industry Land councils Traditional Owners
Facilitate forums for environmental services providers to share information and develop relationships within the sector and with other industries	Forums facilitated	Industry
Develop and implement an environmental offsets policy	Policy implemented	NTG
Explore the potential for an Environmental Services Centre of Excellence to examine environmental issues the Territory has to deal with	Undertake scoping and feasibility studies undertaken with industry	NTG CDU Industry
Establish an Aboriginal Water Unit to support economic development opportunities on Aboriginal land	Economic opportunities identified and realised	NTG
Finalise and implement the Coastal Marine Management Strategy	Strategy implemented	NTG Industry Traditional Owners