VICTORIA'S CORANGAMITE REGION LEADS THE WAY FOR NATURE AND CLIMATE POSITIVE FUTURE

Over 70 representatives from local councils, government agencies, Traditional Owner corporations, Landcare, research and environmental bodies, and community groups joined forces in Geelong to identify nature and climate positive opportunities for the Corangamite region.

The Nature and Climate Positive Forum was co-hosted on 18 September by Corangamite Catchment Management Authority (CMA) and the G21 Geelong Region Alliance. The forum brought together leaders in natural resource management to explore strategic and policy drivers, and discuss opportunities for attracting nature and climate positive investment to the region.

The priority actions identified by participants on the day were to:

1. Develop a regional nature positive prospectus, to attract new investment in nature.
2. Continue to build regional partnerships and share knowledge.
3. Invest in regional data sharing and mapping of the region’s natural assets and current condition.

People, businesses, and the economy all rely on nature and the services it provides. Urgent global action is needed to reverse the negative impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity degradation on these vital services. The Australian Government’s Nature Positive Plan describes ‘nature positive’ as repairing and regenerating nature (meaning species and ecosystems), rather than nature being in decline. In simple terms, being climate positive is about reducing more greenhouse gas emissions than we produce.

Corangamite CMA CEO Dr Amber Clarke said the Corangamite region is uniquely placed to play a key leadership role in delivering a climate and nature positive future.  “We can achieve this through catchment-scale demonstration projects that trial natural capital approaches and develop new environmental market opportunities for landholders, agencies and businesses.”

Nicole Sexton, co-chair of the G21 Sustainability Pillar, said a major economic transition to a net-zero and nature positive economy is already underway as an increasing number of companies understand the risks that climate and nature dependencies pose to their business, and the opportunities to be gained by taking action now.

“We are striving to protect and enhance the beautiful natural environment that makes our region so special.

“With a lot of competition for traditional funding sources, it is more critical than ever to plan for the future and harness new opportunities for attracting investment.”

Key speakers at the forum included Carl Obst, Director at IDEEA Group, who gave an overview of natural capital accounting; and Professor Peter Macreadie from RMIT who discussed local opportunities in natural capital, blue and teal carbon, and environmental accounting.

Carl Obst, Director at IDEEA Group, said “The Corangamite CMA has already developed a natural capital Roadmap, has strong established regional partnerships, and comprehensive existing data. The region has everything needed to be an early leader in applying a natural capital approach and attracting new investment to the region.”

Professor Peter Macreadie from RMIT University said: “We’ve identified and mapped ‘blue carbon’ and ‘teal carbon’ opportunities in the Corangamite region, through coastal and freshwater wetland restoration respectively. We’ve found ~10,000 hectares of coastline that is suitable for blue carbon projects, and over 13,000 farm dams that could be suitable for teal carbon projects.”