The Australian cotton industry has had in place since 1997 a voluntary environmental

management system – its Best Management Practice (BMP) Program – that has successfully

overcome the limitations of a purely regulatory approach to natural resource management. The

BMP Program focuses on the management of pesticides and petrochemicals, soil and water, and

native vegetation.

The industry is looking to build on the success of the BMP Program, and is in the process of

negotiating for it to provide an alternative means for cotton farmers to comply with any existing or

new regulations governing how land and water is managed in Queensland.

Reviews of the BMP Program and of its outcomes highlight that it has led to a decline in

pesticides used on cotton farms, a decline in pesticides found in riverine environments, improved

stormwater management, improved farm management and a reduction in the regulatory burden

on cotton farmers.

This paper will outline the structure of the cotton industry’s BMP Program, highlighting the factors

that have been critical to its success, including a detailed discussion on the rationale behind the

partnership approach, between the industry and regulators, seen as necessary to achieve onground

change. The paper will then touch on the benefits the Australian cotton industry sees in

working with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on its ‘Better Cotton’ initiative.