Across Victoria, organisations and individuals are doing great work for Victoria’s biodiversity. However, we can achieve even more when we work together.
By building a network and sharing information, the people working for the future of biodiversity can determine priorities together, see where their efforts will get the best outcomes, and pool resources.
The name given to this process is Biodiversity Response Planning, but its focus is simple: it’s all about working together.
DELWP regions lead the process
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) is facilitating the process, and is helping to create the stakeholder networks needed to bring everyone together.
As each one of Victoria’s six regions has its own needs and unique communities, the engagement process looks a little different in each place. However, each process shares the key elements of:
- situation analysis (looking at what the current state of biodiversity and its threats are in each region),
- cataloguing what actions are currently taking place (a list of who’s doing what work where),
- gap analysis (looking for what’s missing and what else needs to be done),
- discussing options (everyone in the network will talk about possible actions to take), and
- determining priorities (what’s the most urgent thing to address).
This process is collaborative and voluntary: its focus is on building relationships and connections. Partners in the process can participate at any and all of the stages they are able to and would like to.
By combining scientific data with practical, place-based knowledge from stakeholders, Biodiversity Response Planning will help identify the best actions that give the greatest benefit to biodiversity.
If your organisation would like to be included on a regional BRP stakeholder list please send an email to biodiversity.plan@delwp.vic.gov.au
A place-based plan for biodiversity
The maps and fact sheets from these collaborative processes will guide where biodiversity actions should occur, whether this is through voluntary efforts or as a result of future investment by the Government or other sources. For example, in 2018 the priority actions developed through Biodiversity Response Planning resulted in 85 new projects for on-ground biodiversity action worth $33.67 million, and four new projects for Marine Environment Targeted Action worth $1.1 million that were funded by the Victorian Government.
This information will also inform other relevant processes that are considering biodiversity such as Regional Catchment Strategy development or forest management planning.
Biodiversity Response Planning is how we’re implementing Victoria’s plan for Biodiversity, Protecting Victoria’s Environment - Biodiversity 2037, in different places. This is just the beginning of the process though: BRP will continue to be shaped by the participants and will be regularly reviewed. It will also grow over time, allowing for more people to join in, to better recognise the tireless efforts made by everyone working in this field, and to better understand the impact they have.
Though the 2019-20 bushfires have created extra challenges for protecting biodiversity, by working together we are well placed to overcome them. This is just what BRP was designed for and is a key pathway for Victoria’s biodiversity to be healthy, valued, and actively cared for.
Focus landscapes and fact sheets from Biodiversity Response Planning 2020
Throughout 2020, DELWP regional staff worked with stakeholders on actions to conserve biodiversity in specific landscapes. We have used the best available science and local knowledge to identify actions where on-ground activities get the best result for biodiversity.
DELWP staff also worked with stakeholders to identify Focus Landscapes across Victoria. The identification and prioritisation of these areas was guided by stakeholder input during workshops and discussions throughout 2020.
Each Focus Landscape has a Fact Sheet to describe it. These provide information about each area’s key values and the most cost-effective actions to protect their biodiversity, based on information available in 2020. The Fact Sheets provide useful biodiversity information for the community, non-government and government organisations during project planning and development.
The unforeseen circumstances of 2020 meant that the extent of stakeholder engagement was less than initially planned. We acknowledge there are many stakeholders working to conserve our biodiversity, and we look forward to involving you in the future.
Focus Landscapes interactive map
The map below shows Focus Landscapes and will take you to the fact sheets. Use the map to find and click on the Focus Landscape you are interested in, and download the Fact Sheet from the popup. The full list of Fact Sheets is provided below.
List of Fact Sheets
Documents in the interactive map above and listed in the table below are saved in a .docx format to support improved accessibility for all interested community members. To save a document to your computer, right click on the relevant link and choose the option to “Save link as”. Then save the document as normal in a folder of your choosing for future access.
Page last updated: 26/02/21