Lists the 53 biodiversity sites we currently manage, which covers over 60 hectares.
Boroondara has many important habitats that native plants and wildlife call home. That's why we've developed our new Urban Biodiversity Strategy.
The draft strategy was shared with our community in mid-2024. Thank you to everyone who took the time to learn more about the initiatives and provided feedback.
Councillors adopted the strategy at the Services Delegated Committee meeting on Monday 9 September 2024.
You can read the final, accessible plan on our Protecting our biodiversity page.
About the strategy
The strategy is our 10-year plan to:
- continue to maintain, restore, and enhance nature in Boroondara.
- build on and expand our efforts to protect our native plants and wildlife
- increase our community's knowledge of biodiversity and encourage their efforts to preserve it
- ensure that nature is preserved for future generations to enjoy.
This strategy is supported by a series of Action Plans, which explain what actions we will deliver every 2 years.
Targets
Our targets are to:
1. increase the area of land managed for biodiversity by one hectare every year
2. support residents and schools to plant 5,000 new native plants every year.
Key objectives
The 4 key objectives, which describe how we plan to bring this vision to life, are as follows:
We want to make sure that the plants and animals in our parks and reserves are protected and looked after.
We will do this by:
- improving the condition of vegetation and biodiversity areas
- planting more vegetation to connect biodiversity sites and create corridors
- continuing to work together with other land managers, including Melbourne Water and Parks Victoria
- tackling threats including climate change, pests, weeds, lighting, and pets.
Protecting our native species requires the combined effort of everyone in Boroondara. We want to encourage our community to learn about and care for the plants and animals around us.
We will do this by:
- encouraging and offering incentives for people who plant native plants in their gardens, including nature strips
- running education workshops for our community to learn about biodiversity conservation
- collaborating with the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation to offer education and engagement opportunities focused on indigenous culture.
Building and construction can be essential, but it can affect our biodiversity. We want to find ways to reduce this impact and protect nature.
We will do this by:
- encouraging private landowners with large natural areas, such as golf clubs, to protect and take care of the native plants and animals on their land
- protecting biodiversity in the Boroondara Planning Scheme where possible
- investigating buying, dividing, or selling land by rivers to improve access to and management of biodiversity. If the land benefits the region, we'll advocate for the State Government to purchase it.
The strategy will guide Council in making informed decisions that prioritise the conservation and promotion of biodiversity in Boroondara and beyond.
We will do this by:
- supporting the biodiversity knowledge of staff, contractors, and volunteers
- adding biodiversity considerations to key Council documents when needed
- sharing data with state and national biodiversity inventories.
Biodiversity Sites Plan
The Biodiversity Sites Plan is part of the Urban Biodiversity Strategy. It helps us maintain, manage, budget and allocate resources for biodiversity sites within Boroondara.
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Helps us improve the condition of existing vegetation and areas dedicated to biodiversity management.
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Identifies up to 25 hectares of land that we can manage for biodiversity.
Next steps
We’re now delivering the actions to help achieve the targets of the strategy.
You can read the strategy and the first 2-year action plan on our Protecting our biodiversity page.
Community consultation
The strategy was shaped by feedback we received from our community through consultation. Find out more about what we heard below.
Who we heard from
Between May and June 2024, our community had the opportunity to review the draft Urban Biodiversity Strategy. We heard from:
- 87 people who completed a survey
- 6 people who dropped in for an informal chat with Council Officers
- 9 people who sent us written submissions.
Of those who participated:
- the age group most represented was over 55
- 70% were female
- the majority lived in Hawthorn, followed by Kew and Glen Iris.
How you heard about the consultation
We promoted the consultation through:
- the April / May edition of our community magazine, Boroondara Bulletin
- direct communication with stakeholders, community groups and organisations
- social media posts
- in Council’s sustainability e-newsletter, Living for our Future
- information sessions at Camberwell Civic Precinct and Maranoa Gardens in Balwyn
- email to community members who have signed up for consultation updates on Your Say Boroondara.
Your feedback
Overall, there was a strong level of support for the strategy:
- 95% supported the vision of the strategy
- 94% supported basing decisions about biodiversity management on reliable information and up-to-date evidence
- 92% supported Council increasing community support for biodiversity protection and enhancement
- 89% supported reducing land use and development impacts on biodiversity.
“The vision and targets are sound and achievable.”
“Great to see how council takes educating the public down to a level of meaningful and practical connection e.g. Backyard Biodiversity [Program].”
“It shows that Council values the importance of preserving, marinating and extending biodiversity in Boroondara and the importance of biodiversity in the face of climate change.”
Of those who weren’t supportive of the strategy, the main concerns were:
- the impact of land development on biodiversity in Boroondara
- the need for greater protection of biodiversity through the Boroondara Planning Scheme
- the need for more community education about biodiversity
- the need for greater control of cats
- the desire for a target greater than an increase of 1 hectare per year.
“I'd love to see Council encourage property owners to convert the Nature Strip in front of their home into a showpiece native garden.”
“1ha/yr is not enough, especially given the clear community concern for the environment, green spaces and biodiversity (as reflected in the Council Community Plan).”
"Educate pet owning residents on how they should manage their animals (i.e. cats being let outdoors) so as to reduce or eliminate the negative impacts on wildlife.”
We listened and made the following updates to the Urban Biodiversity and its Action Plan:
- We’ll assess the necessity for a cat curfew as part of a scheduled review of Council’s Domestic Animal Management Plan.
- We’ll develop a proposal for a large-scale revegetation project to offset the loss of biodiversity areas that will be affected by the North East Link Project. This project is subject to funding and community consultation.
- We’ll advocate for the Victorian Government to create more areas for biodiversity. This is to offset any biodiversity loss that is impacted by Victorian Government projects, including the North East Link Project.
- Where appropriate, we will seek opportunities to exceed the target of increasing biodiversity land by 1 hectare per year.
- One of the main objectives in the strategy has been renamed to "Improve biodiversity on private land through community engagement”. It has also been reordered as the second main objective in the strategy. The reason for this change is to reflect that we will work together with our community to enhance and positively impact biodiversity on private land.
During our Climate Action Plan consultation, 79% of local participants said protecting and enhancing biodiversity was very important to them (5 out of 5 stars).
Biodiversity was also rated by our community as one of the 3 most important priorities in the Climate Action Plan.
Around 2,000 community members provided feedback through consultation in 2020-21.
During consultation on the Boroondara Community Plan 2021-31, 69% of participants selected ‘Parks and Green Spaces’ as a top 3 priority for us to focus on over the next 10 years.
About 5,000 people participated in this consultation in 2020-21.
