Urban Biodiversity Strategy 2013 2023

səhifə	2/8
tarix	27.06.2016
ölçüsü	1.23 Mb.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Introduction

Biodiversity loss is a serious and urgent national and global issue. There are huge challenges ahead to stem the dramatic decline of natural environments and accelerating species loss. Communities around the world, where able, have an important responsibility to protect and foster biodiversity in their local area.

Despite our highly modified environment, Boroondara has many high value natural areas worth protecting. These areas are home to a rich diversity of indigenous flora and fauna and provide opportunities for residents to connect with nature close to home. The Yarra River, Melbourne's natural playground, borders the City’s northern suburbs and provides a major wildlife corridor bringing wildlife to our suburbs and gardens. Smaller creeks flowing through our municipality are gradually being improved and are attracting more native wildlife.

Boroondara has a surprising diversity of indigenous plants and many are at risk from extinction in other parts of Victoria. Unfortunately the pressures brought about by urban development — especially habitat fragmentation, waterways pollution and exotic weeds — are an ongoing challenge to maintaining local populations of many species.

A new plan for protecting local biodiversity

The City of Boroondara's first biodiversity strategy was adopted by Council in 2003. Over the past nine years, implementation of the original biodiversity strategy has guided on-ground biodiversity restoration and management of threats and issues; prompted further research to improve evidence-based planning; and provided opportunities for residents, schools, kindergartens and community groups to become involved in biodiversity protection and enhancement.
This updated Urban Biodiversity Strategy for Boroondara 2013-2023 replaces the original biodiversity strategy and sets out a ten year plan to build on the substantial achievements to date. The process of preparing this strategy has enabled stakeholders from Council and the community to work together to confirm current issues and agree a strategic path forward.

Together with stakeholder consultation, a number of important reference documents have informed the drafting of this updated strategy:

Biodiversity Corridors Plan (2005) which identifies a strategic network of habitat links for native fauna to move more easily through the urban landscape. Fifteen wildlife corridors - major, creek, linear and stepping stones were mapped and continue to be developed and restored by Council with assistance from Melbourne Water, Friends Groups and residents.

Refer to Map 1 (page 9) for a graphic summary of the corridors network.

Inventory and Assessment of Indigenous Flora and Fauna in Boroondara (2006) is the core reference document informing our knowledge of local native animals, indigenous plants, environmental weeds, biologically significant sites and natural resource management issues. The Inventory was based on thousands of hours of research, fieldwork and interviews and provides technical data on:

fauna species present today and species previously recorded in this area but now locally extinct
flora species (both indigenous and exotic) and their status
sites of national, state, regional and local biological significance (58 sites in total)
significant indigenous trees on private and public land.

The data presented in the Inventory confirms that Boroondara makes a significant contribution to Victoria's biodiversity.
Table 1 - Fauna species in Boroondara (Source: Inventory and Assessment of Indigenous Flora and Fauna in Boroondara )

Fauna Group	Number of native species	% of these species threatened in Boroondara
Birds	153	21%
Butterflies	19	n/a
Fish	12	75%
Amphibians	8	87%
Mammals	14	28%
Reptiles	15	86%

Protecting and Enhancing Biodiversity in Boroondara: Existing Planning Provisions and Potential Strategies (2012) was prepared for the City of Boroondara to provide an independent analysis of existing planning scheme provisions and key issues. It suggest potential planning scheme amendments, strategies and projects to address major issues affecting local biodiversity.
(Draft) Biodiversity Asset Management Plan (BAMP) is designed to document and assess existing and potential biodiversity sites. It takes an 'asset management' approach (including mapping and quantifying the extent of maintenance zones, and assessing asset condition) to guide long-term investment in protecting and maintaining them into the future.

As context to the challenge of managing and enhancing biodiversity within the City, the next section briefly summarises the dramatic history of land-use change and the significant natural and ecological assets that remain in our stewardship.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8