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Melbourne Metropolitan
Urban Forest Strategy
LIVING MELBOURNE A METROPOLITAN URBAN FOREST STRATEGY
• Who is Resilient Melbourne? • Background to Living Melbourne • Why does Melbourne need this? • Who has been involved? • The Draft Living Melbourne overview • Recommendations and actions • Next steps
CONTENTS
WHO IS RESILIENT MELBOURNE
Resilient Melbourne is the Melbourne branch of the 100 Resilient Cities program, founded by the Rockefeller Foundation. The initial two-year grant saw local government from across metropolitan Melbourne coming together to create Melbourne’s first “resilience strategy”. A key action of the Resilient Melbourne strategy is the development of a Metropolitan Urban Forest Strategy (Living Melbourne) as a Flagship action to extend and link existing urban greening, reforestation and nature conservation initiatives across Melbourne, to improve wellbeing and reduce our exposure to hazards such as heatwaves and flooding. Resilient Melbourne are partnering with The Nature Conservancy in its development. The objective of Living Melbourne is to ensure strong natural assets and ecosystems exist alongside a growing population and also to make sure that there is an; • associated improvement of sustainability (e.g. stormwater water runoff, ecosystem improvements), liveability (e.g.
heat and flood mitigation), viability and community wellbeing (e.g. amenity physical, mental, neighbourhood pride and overall enjoyment of a place);
• enhancement, maintenance or increase in vegetation, with a particular emphasis on native vegetation, and the ecosystem services that they support with stress on outcomes relating to biodiversity and conservation and community health and wellbeing;
• enhancement of natural values (biodiversity) such as the native fauna presence and movement.
BACKGROUND TO LIVING MELBOURNE Why do we need a metropolitan Urban Forest strategy? Metropolitan Melbourne comprises 32 local government areas (LGAs) of widely varying geography and demographics. The councils which govern these LGAs largely lead the conservation, introduction and expansion of urban vegetation in public open space within their area. In addition government agencies, developers, and homeowners, all have influence over land management in the public and private realm influencing vegetation across the city. At present, most of the 32 metropolitan Melbourne councils have their own urban greening and/or biodiversity strategies. While councils individually have been leading the way in urban greening, there is no strategic connectivity to bridge these urban greening strategies, and formulate a larger picture for metropolitan Melbourne’s urban forest. Living Melbourne aims to synthesise current strategies by individual councils, organisations and agencies and provide guidance and regulation for urban greening across municipal, sub-regional and regional scales. Urban greening builds city
resilience in numerous ways
WHY DOES MELBOURNE NEED THIS?
Context for Melbourne Metropolitan Melbourne is growing and densifying. Melbourne has a population of over five million and is expected to grow to a population of 7.9 million by 2050. To meet the housing needs of this population Melbourne will need 1.6 million new homes over the next 35 years (Victorian government, 2017).
How is this affecting urban vegetation? Much of Melbourne’s residential development up until about 1990 was in the form of a detached house with a large backyard. Since then, there has been a trend towards larger houses on smaller greenfield plots and urban infill in established areas, including mid-high density apartment development. This has reduced lawn and garden size, increased impervious surfaces, and increased plot coverage as much as double in newer suburbs (65%) compared to established suburbs (30%).
Urban Biodiversity in a Global Context Today, just over half of the world’s population (55%) lives in urban areas, and this is predicted to rise to over two-thirds (68%) by 2050. Cities are home to billions of people relying on healthy natural systems to provide clean water, food, flood protection and resources for industrial, recreational and other uses. A growing population, and an increasing trend toward urbanization, are placing higher strain on the natural systems in and around urban areas, which sustain critical biodiversity within and outside their borders.
WHY DOES MELBOURNE NEED THIS? Typical urban ecosystem services provided by plants and trees include: • maintaining or improving water quality in water catchments • assisting the treatment of urban stormwater • lowering water tables which reduces the risk of salinity • flood mitigation by slowing runoff • reducing coastal erosion and flooding through natural coastal habitats like
wetlands, shellfish reefs and mangroves • sequestering carbon • capturing airborne particulates which improves air quality • lowering air temperatures via transpiration • reducing surface temperatures through shading • improving urban amenity and therefore community pride of place • improving human health outcomes by promoting physical activity • providing cool green space for active and passive recreation • supporting our mental health and feeling of wellbeing • helping to minimise the Urban Heat Island effect • strengthening biodiversity and providing habitat for native/introduced species
A range of stakeholder organisations have been involved in the development of this strategy including:
• 32 local government areas (LGAs) • Victorian government departments • Statutory agencies • Land owners and managers • Policy makers • Community representatives • Developers • Traditional owners
The above stakeholders have collaborated with Resilient Melbourne and The Nature Conservancy primarily through four co-design workshops. These workshops have been used to identify the vision, goals, recommendations and associated actions of importance to relevant stakeholders, as well as to identify immediate opportunities for urban greening projects across metropolitan Melbourne.
WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED?
The broader community who benefit from and are invested in the urban landscape will be essential contributors and participants in the implementation of many directions for action of this strategy. ‘Friends Of’ groups, Landcare and communities of practice are all currently making significant contributions to urban greening, improving the management of the urban forest, biodiversity and the maintenance and development of Melbourne’s urban forest.
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DRAFT LIVING MELBOURNE OVERVIEW
“Our thriving communities are resilient and connected through nature.”
GOALS
Healthy people | Abundant Nature | Natural Infrastructure
RECOMMENDATIONS Set targets and track progress
Protect, restore and create green corridors
Green the private realm
Collaborate and finance greening interventions
Mobilise tools and galvanise support
RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendation 1. Set targets and track
progress
• Achieve specified minimum regional urban forest targets
for public and private land
• Increase diversity of tree and understory species planted in
streets
• Build on existing methodologies to establish an adaptive
management framework, including universal measures for
monitoring the urban forest and biodiversity
• Commence the collection of consistent data in a publicly
available online database
Recommendation 2. Protect, restore and
create green corridors
• Consolidate mapping of all sites of biodiversity significance
and protect existing habitat
• Consolidate areas of priority for increasing connectivity and
bio links at municipal, sub-regional and regional scales
inclusive of responses to climate change
• Build on ongoing approaches to map trees with significant
conservation values
RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation 4. Collaborate and finance
greening interventions
• Capitalise on existing collaborations of local government
areas where new collaborative networks might be established
• Establish at least four regional greening alliances across
metropolitan Melbourne
• Determine a best-practice governance model for each
alliance
Recommendation 5. Mobilise tools and
galvanise support
• Develop agreed upon Victorian standards for placing a value
on vegetation
• Review and clarify existing vegetation asset management
guidelines and procedures
• Collaborate with land development industry to develop a suite
of agreed and accepted best-practice tools for balancing land
use priorities
• Build on existing–and develop new–community industry
engagement tools, clear and agreed procedures to assist
engagement, and vegetation management training for private
and semi-public utilities companies
• Develop training and guidelines to enhance land managers’
understanding of capital and operational costs involved in
managing and maintaining the urban forest
Recommendation 3. Green the private realm
• Develop options for specifications in the VPP to strengthen
planning regulations for green infrastructure
• Strengthen VPP and enforcement regulations to protect
existing canopy
• Strengthen planning and building controls that allow for
greater private green space in combination with urban
densification
NEXT STEPS
Draft distribution and consultation process
December 2018–January 2019
Incorporation of feedback and
distribution to councils for final review
January–February 2019
Final changes, editing and design of document
March–April 2019
Official launch of Living Melbourne strategy to
the public
May–June 2019
