Manningham Council is proudly partnering with Resilient Melbourne, The Nature Conservancy and state and other local governments to launch a new metropolitan wide urban forest strategy for Melbourne called Living Melbourne: our metropolitan urban forest.
This is an Australian first – a metropolitan strategy galvanising support for a unified vision across local government, state government, water authorities, statutory agencies, academics and more. Our vision is for a more liveable Melbourne – where our thriving communities are resilient, connected through nature.
Changes in urban form, a growing population and climate change – including increasing urban heat – leave Melbourne’s greenery vulnerable and could severely compromise the benefits derived from urban nature like cleaner air and water, reduced heat and habitat for wildlife. Melbourne needs a plan to reverse this current and future decline and sustain Melbourne’s liveability for people and nature, across the entire city and its suburbs.
Supported by solid evidence, Living Melbourne sets out six recommended actions to support Melbourne’s rapidly growing city to better protect and strengthen its natural assets. The actions relate to healthy people, abundant nature and natural infrastructure:
- Protect and restore species habitat, and improve connectivity.
- Set targets and track progress (allowing for growth in the extent of the urban forest despite current losses).
- Scale up greening in the private realm.
- Collaborate across sectors and regions.
- Build a toolkit of resources and underpin implementation.
- Fund the protection and enhancement of the urban forest.
