New Futures for Victorian Landcare

New Futures for Victorian Landcare combines project partner capabilities to develop and pilot an innovative landscape planning approach, building on the work of not-for-profit Landcare Networks in the state of Victoria, where Australia's Landcare movement began in the 1980s.

In 2022, Landcare Victoria, Victoria’s peak Landcare body, brought together a range of partners to develop the New Futures for Victorian Landcare (NFVL) project.

Landscape Finance Lab joined Landcare Victoria and other partner organisations Regen Farmers Mutual and Australian National University Sustainable Farms Initiative, to secure $1.3M philanthropic funding from the Ian Potter Foundation and Natural Resources Conservation Trust to finance the project.

In 2023, the project partners (together with stakeholders, organisations, pilot landholders and investors) came together to develop a pilot landscape action planning methodology. Based on the 4 Returns Framework, Regen Farmers Mutual's Landscape Impact Program and Landcare’s self-organising community and grassroots leadership approach, the NFVL developed Landscape Action Plans for four pilots in the state of Victoria, Australia:

Buloke and Northern Grampians Landcare Network - “Windharp Horizons”
Hughes Creek Catchment Collaborative in conjunction with Strathbogie Ranges Conservation Management Network, Longwood Plains Conservation Management Network and Euroa Arboretum - “Granite to Goulburn”
Kiewa Catchment Landcare Groups and Wodonga Urban Landcare Network - “New Futures Kiewa-Wodonga”
Heytesbury District Landcare Network - “Craters to Coast”

Stakeholder workshop ©Landcare Victoria

Windharp Horizons Working Group site visit – BNGLN

The Lab provided strategic guidance to the landscapes early on, in helping to set up their landscape incubation process, and supported implementing partners to deliver a series of stakeholder landscape planning workshops and field trips. These were designed to help the pilot landscapes develop their Landscape Partnerships and Shared Understanding of the landscapes (Elements 1 and 2). Alongside this work, Regen Farmers Mutual led the landscapes through a Landscape Impact Program, to identify landholder opportunities in emerging environmental markets, with a view of developing a landscape scale transaction.

In August 2024, landscape partners met with investors to discuss their plans for their future and the co-benefits of sustainable agriculture, carbon farming and biodiversity.

It was great to hear the enthusiasm from the pilot Landcare networks and the investors alike for their landscape projects. They also gained information on how Landcare networks can target an investment strategy that aligns with their landscape restoration and biodiversity goals.

Claire Hetzel

Landcare Victoria CEO

An young laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) perched on a tree in the Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria ©Adobe Stock

Buloke Tree - Allocasuarina luehmannii - known colloquially as the Wimmera Windharp, is the inspiration for Windharp Horizons. Very slow growing and listed as Endangered, they were once widespread in south eastern Australia. © Windharp Horizons

The project culminated in the development of the Landscape Action Plan Handbook, which presents the key principles and steps that landscapes can undertake to develop a Landscape Action Plan for their area.

Landscape Action Plan Handbook

The Handbook draws on partners' methodologies and frameworks, expert knowledge and learnings from the pilot projects, to present a best practice approach to support leadership, partnership development, and tailor local landscape outputs.

Download the Handbook