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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.
Based on the 4 Returns Framework, the NFVL approach brings together stakeholders, organisations, pilot landholders and investors to develop a Landscape Investment and Action Plan.
The first two pilot landscapes in northern Victoria launched in February 2024:
- Buloke and Northern Grampians Landcare Network (BNGLN) – Windharp Horizons project
- Granite2Goulburn Group (G2G) lead by Hughes Creek Catchment Collaborative
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 has been leading 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.
CH
Claire Hetzel
Landcare Victoria CEO
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
Total Area
Ecosystem Type
Commodity Production Landscapes
activity types
Sustainable agriculture
Agroforestry
Carbon storage and/or sequestration
Green jobs
Regenerative agriculture
Sustainable supply chain
Small farms
Landscape Approaches
Sustainable production landscape
Climate smart agricultural landscapes
commodities
Grains
Livestock
funding Source
Public
Philanthropic
Funding Secured to Date
1.3 Million (AUS $)
Incubation stage
1
Discover
2
Structure
3
Develop
4
Fund
Sustainable Development Goals
implementing organizations