Priority

Strategic Conservation in Victoria

Statewide Conservation Plan

Our Statewide Conservation Plan provides goals and targets for strategic conservation on private land across Victoria over the next decade.

In the face of biodiversity and climate crises it’s more important than ever that scarce resources are placed in the areas where they can have the most impact.  An indicative 100,000 ha of Victoria’s nature on privately-owned land will be targeted for protection by 2030. Currently we have protected 114,000+ ha of freehold land across Victoria.

We can’t rely on national or state parks to prevent species extinction. We need the support of landholders to protect nature. One way they can do this is to protect the land permanently with conservation covenants. Putting a conservation covenant on a property is voluntary.

The Plan identifies 18 landscapes (13.5% of all private land in Victoria) across the state that will make the greatest contribution towards conservation on private land, helping to save vulnerable plants and animals.

Download a snapshot
Download the full plan

Victorian Ecosystems

Victoria’s landscapes are as varied as they are beautiful – from rainforest to desert, coast to mountains, and everything in between. Ecosystems describe the relationships between all the living organisms in an area, and the air, water, and minerals that support them. In Victoria, Ecological Vegetation Class (EVC) groups are used by the scientific and conservation community to identify ecosystems based on the vegetation type, such as Grassy Dry Forest, or Plains Grassland. Nearly 90% of all Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs) that are under-represented in reserves occur on private land.

Scroll through the map below to explore Victoria’s EVCs.