Help shape Ballarat’s Biodiversity Strategy

Do you want to help shape a Biodiversity Strategy to better manage and restore the natural environment across the Ballarat region?

For the next month, you can get involved in the conversation about how to improve the health of our natural environment.

The City of Ballarat, in partnership with and alongside the Country Plans of the Wadawurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung Traditional Owners, has developed a Ballarat Biodiversity Conversation Kit to help guide conversations with your family, friends, community groups or colleagues. 

A group of students and youth will also participate in a Young People’s Forum on 21 October to review the community’s feedback, identify priority areas and discuss ways that our youth can improve the health and variety of our ecosystems.

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Des Hudson said this is an important community consultation designed to look at how we can care for and restore a healthy environment.

“The Conversation Kit is designed to get you thinking about the environment, both the good and the bad, to share and hear those ideas with your peers, and to capture those views in a manner that we can best act on them,” he said.

“I encourage everyone to get involved and share your views to make sure that we take the right steps to improve the health of our environment.”

A range of community conversations with Traditional Owners, City of Ballarat Councillors and staff, and with key land and water authorities about the natural environment and how we can better manage it, will take place over the next few weeks.

To get involved:
•    Visit https://mysay.ballarat.vic.gov.au/biodiversity-strategy and download the Ballarat Biodiversity Conversation Kit
•    Follow the conversation plan and capture your conversation using the provided template
•    Email photos of your template to sustainableenvironment@ballarat.vic.gov.au or provide feedback at https://mysay.ballarat.vic.gov.au/biodiversity-strategy by 5pm, Sunday 15 October 
•    To register interest for the Youth Forum event in October, visit sustainablenvironment@ballarat.vic.gov.au

Your feedback will help to inform the Draft Biodiversity Strategy, which is expected to go before Council for consideration later this year.

Biodiversity is the variety of life, including the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria, that make up our natural world. Each of these species and organisms work together in ecosystems, like an intricate web, to maintain balance and support life.

In 2022, Council adopted the Biodiversity Vision and Commitment, paving the way for the development of a Biodiversity Strategy. The strategy will guide the management and protection of the municipality’s unique landscapes and species.

The Biodiversity Strategy will align with the Council Plan 2021-2025 goal to ‘develop policy guidance on biodiversity and natural resources management’ and supports the Ballarat Strategy 2040.