A national award which recognises sustainability has been given to the organisations that manage river catchments throughout Victoria.
Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority has a share in a prize awarded by the Banksia Foundation, which annually recognises businesses and organisations in 14 categories of community engagement and sustainable business practices.
Victoria’s 10 catchment management authorities collectively won the Nature Positive Award for restoring and transforming statewide landscapes, reconnecting rivers, recovering threatened species and uniting communities while preparing for future environmental challenges.
Goulburn Broken CMA chief executive officer Chris Cumming said the win was likely due to regional nuances with which the organisation goes about its work, chiefly the relevance it provides at the local level among a range of activities.
“Every region will have the projects they have delivered, the partnerships they have made and the priorities that they have worked on with the community,” Ms Cumming said.
“The way they are delivered in their region makes it actually much more relevant than if you were trying to have that scattergun approach of investment into regions without that coordination.
“I think that is, for all of us, the difference.”
Goulburn Broken CMA spans a landscape from Mt Buller to the Goulburn and Broken rivers catchment, which Ms Cumming said comprised much variation between environments.
“We have a lot of programs in the irrigated landscape that are about protecting the natural assets that underpin irrigation, such as water quality and flood work; whereas in the upper areas of the catchment, more focus is given to soil management.”
Goulburn Broken CMA is currently planning for its next 30-year plan, the last which ran from 1990 to 2020 and saw about $2 billion community investment in farm works to better protect natural assets and involved more than 4000 whole-farm plans.
In addition, the plan saw more than 6600 Gl of water — the equivalent of 12 Sydney Harbours — provided to Victorian wetlands.
Ms Cumming said the biggest role for the CMA was for integrating management and not for managing any ‘flagship’ projects.
“It’s for bringing [stakeholders] together and to say how do you work with all your partners, the community and the people actually managing the land.
“We do this through prioritising working together to address the key drivers and ask how we can make the biggest difference.
“So, it’s not what do we do specifically; it’s the role we have in bringing it all together and empowering everybody on the same pathway.
“If it shines a light on the importance of working together, then they are things that make it real to people.”