New Futures for Victorian Landcare

New Futures for Victorian Landcare is an exciting new project that aims to support the participation of the landcare community in emerging green finance markets. These markets are already large and growing and seeking high quality landscape scale projects.

New Futures for Victorian Landcare will pursue solutions to important challenges faced by landcare including the need to:

• Develop new pathways for investment beyond grant-based project funding;
• Initiate planning processes that mobilise local knowledge and enable effective on-ground action by volunteer community landcarers; and
• Establish systems for monitoring, evaluation and communication that demonstrate environmental impact and social change.

Delivery

The core of the project involves the development of investment-ready landscape plans, designed to attract significant investment from the green finance market to support the ongoing protection and restoration of key landscape values.

Planning will adapt the methodologies of the project partners under the Four Returns Planning Framework for Landscape Restoration (see below). This internationally recognised system is highly aligned to the integrated, community focused philosophies of landcare.

The landcare community will be invited to participate in the project through an EOI process, likely during April and May 2023. Funding support will be available for up to six landcare networks wishing to participate over the next three years.

Project Status

Funding for the project has been secured from the Ian Potter Foundation and the Natural Resources Conservation League. Discussion with other potential funding partners is underway and the opportunity remains for others to join as the project develops.

Project partners are presently (March 2023) developing the detailed project plan and schedules. Based on this, project staff will be recruited and an EOI process to decide on regional participation will be developed.

Innovation and Learning

Landcare Victoria and project partners recognise that New Futures for Victorian Landcare is experimental and that we are working with uncertainty. We will be learning as the Project develops and plan to ensure that our experience is shared across the landcare community and with other stakeholders.

Project Partners

Regen Farmers Mutual

Regen Farmers Mutual (RFM) helps farmers create value from their environmental assets. Our role is to assist our members through education and training, opportunity definition, negotiating with prospective buyers, simplifying transaction execution, and thereafter supporting the delivery of environmental outcomes.

Landscape Finance Lab

The Landscape Finance Lab supports practitioners and investors to structure, launch and finance deals at landscape scale. Landscape Finance Lab has a vision of co-creating 1000 sustainable landscapes for one billion people.

ANU Sustainable Farms

Sustainable Farms is a research and extension initiative based in the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University. Sustainable Farms has been undertaking long-term research studies on farms in the box-gum grassy woodlands of south-eastern Australia for over two decades, one of the largest long-term monitoring studies of its kind.

Natural Resources Conservation League

For over 75 years, the Natural Resources Conservation League (NRCL) has been actively promoting the sustainable management of Victoria’s natural resources. The NRCL has a long history of building the capacity of the Victorian community to actively participate in, and influence conservation and natural resource management issues. As well as contributing substantial funds to the project, NRCL is actively engaged in implementation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How will the planning process relate to the Regional Catchment Strategies?

We anticipate that the Regional Catchment Strategies (RCSs) will provide an important foundation for the proposed New Futures for Victorian Landcare Plans, identifying both values and priorities. We expect that our work will play a role in implementing the RCSs and we look forward to the participation of Catchment Management Authorities in regional engagement processes.

Is this a government planning process?

No. A large part of the point of New Futures for Victorian Landcare is that the plans are developed by the landcare community to meet the needs and interests of the communities. The plans will have no regulatory effect and will be owned by the organisations that develop them. However, project partners recognise that both the Victorian and Australian Governments are actively interested in supporting private investment into sustainable land and environmental management and there may be appropriate scope for their participation.

If our community does the planning work, is investment for implementation guaranteed?

No. The extent to which investment can be secured depends a lot on the products of the planning work and how attractive these are to green finance markets. We can be certain that in the absence of the plans, it will not be possible to secure private investment.

How does the Landcare Community become involved?

Funding is available to support development of up to six landscape plans. We will be developing criteria for an expression of interest process to enable participation in the process. Once selected, funding will be available for network-based project staff and other resources to ensure participation is not a drain on community resources.

Funding Partners

Landcare Victoria and project partners are grateful for the funding support for this project from:

The Ian Potter Foundation and the Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria.