Nature Conservation Strategy

The Nature Conservation Strategy 2021-2031 sets out how Parks Victoria aims to conserve and protect nature on Victoria’s parks estate.

It provides direction to Parks Victoria staff, our key partners and all stakeholders on that path forward for a ten-year period.

 

Download the Nature Conservation Strategy (PDF)

(Available soon) Download the Nature Conservation Strategy (MS Word Accessible) 

 

 

Context for the Nature Conservation Strategy

Parks Victoria acknowledges and respect the rights and deep connection to Country of Victoria’s Traditional Owners. The Nature Conservation Strategy 2021-2031 is presented as a starting point for shared conversations and actions with Victoria’s First Peoples and aims to better align with the expectations, aspirations, strategies and plans of Traditional Owner Nations for managing Country.

Parks contain the best of Victoria’s natural riches and a dazzling array of animal and plant species, habitats, ecosystems, landscapes and seascapes. They are central to the cultures of Victoria’s Traditional Owner Nations, our State’s identity, our environmental systems, our leisure, our health and wellbeing, and our economy.

However, we are facing unprecedented times and threats. Climate change is with us and its impacts are intensifying. The changing climate will not only bring its own threats – it will make many existing threats worse.

Our challenge is to minimise the losses and damage as far as possible by maximising the health and resilience of species and ecosystems, by responding rapidly with protection and restoration action when impacts do occur, and by giving nature its greatest capacity to survive, adapt and even thrive in unknown future states.

The Nature Conservation Strategy is one key component of Parks Victoria’s strategic directions for managing the parks estate, set by the Land Management Strategy (LMS). The other key components are the Managing Country Together Framework, Healthy Parks Healthy People Framework.

 

Approach to nature conservation

The Nature Conservation Strategy 2021-2031 sets the following goal:

Conserve nature in Victoria’s parks in the face of unprecedented threats – through intensified action with partners, new techniques and increased community collaboration.

 

In order to achieve this goal, the Nature Conservation Strategy 2021-2031 identifies the threats to Victorian nature on the parks estate and establishes six strategic approaches to guide Parks Victoria’s conservation actions:

• Intensified action to combat rising threats
• New interventions to respond to major ecological change
• Conservation flagships
• A connected and actively involved public
• Capability to match the challenge
• Ensuring park use is sustainable

 

The Nature Conservation Strategy 2021-2031 will be delivered by Parks Victoria from 2021 onward, through existing and new partnerships, and resources to support all strategic actions. It will be reviewed every three years to ensure the strategies continue to align with the threats.