Our Catchments, Our Communities

New Strategic Directions Statement: Our Catchments Our Communities: Building on the Legacy for Better Stewardship

The Victorian Government has released a new strategic directions statement for catchment stewardship.

The statement builds on the successes of the first state-wide integrated catchment strategy for Victoria. It maintains the commitment to invest in integrated catchment management under Water for Victoria Action 3.3 with a further $21.75 million committed between 2021 and 2024.

Our Catchments, Our Communities: Building on the Legacy for Better Stewardship supports catchment stewardship through 10 new regional catchment strategies; on-ground place-based projects which deliver environmental, cultural, social, and economic outcomes; enhanced catchment partnerships; and aligning with Traditional Owners aspirations for Country.

You can view the report here:

Our Catchments, Our Communities Strategy (2016-2019)

We've developed Our Catchments, Our Communities in partnership with Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs).

The strategy confirms the Victorian Government's commitment to managing our catchments to benefit our environment, our community, and our economy. It focuses on how we manage our natural resources by ensuring catchment management partners work better together. It complements Victoria's directions for biodiversity and climate change, and supports implementation of chapter 3 of Water for Victoria.

Read Our Catchments, Our Communities:

Our Catchments, Our Communities (PDF, 4.4 MB)
Our Catchments, Our Communities accessible version (DOCX, 134.9 KB)

Our vision and goals

The strategy aim is:

“Healthy, sustainable and productive land, water and biodiversity maintained through integrated catchment management that is strongly community based, regionally focused and collaborative.”

Through Our Catchments, Our Communities, we are building:

Effective community engagement in catchment management;
Better connections between state, regional and local planning;
Strengthened implementation of regional catchment strategies;
Clearer roles, strengthened accountability and co-ordination; and
Improved monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

Implementation

The Victorian Government provided $22 million over the next four years to implement Our Catchments, Our Communities, ensuring our approach to catchment management is ready for future environmental and economic challenges and opportunities.

State and regional partners and community networks will be involved in its implementation, along with DELWP and CMAs. Through this partner approach, the strategy will strengthen partnerships through co-ordinated planning, investment, and on-ground activities.

Over the course of the strategy, CMAs and their regional partners and communities will deliver integrated catchment management projects across Victoria.

Progress

Our achievements to date include:

175 partnerships delivering integrated catchment management with the community including:
- 74 landowners entering into formal agreements with CMAs for improved property management
43,587 hectares of environmental works and management services to improve the health and resilience of catchments including, for example:
- 553 hectares of native vegetation planted
- weeds controlled on 4,485 hectares of land
- pest animals controlled on 36,427 hectares of land
- improved management practices on 1,905 hectares of agricultural land
- 252 ecological, cultural and soil assessments conducted
8,631 people engaged in field days, workshops, meetings and training

Further information on our progress can be found within the mid-term progress fact sheet and the following themes:

OCOC Mid-term Progress Report Summary (PDF, 713.2 KB).

OCOC Progress update July 2019 (PDF, 2.5 MB).