Landscape Scale Connectivity Conservation -
A critical natural defence response to the threats of climate change
Landscape Scale Connectivity Conservation provides a natural defence response to the
formidable challenges of climate change. It conserves natural interconnections in the
landscape, which protects habitat and helps species to move and evolve as temperatures
become hotter and as weather patterns change.
It helps to keep the environment healthy.
Large “connectivity corridors” become places of refuge for species when times are tough
such as during severe drought, and of course, they are the natural lands which help protect
our catchments.
As such, like protected areas, they are part of a Natural Defence Strategy for Australia,
and an important response to climate change.
Without such connectivity conservation action, many species around the world will become
extinct, and water catchment areas and other important natural lands used by people will be
impacted - just some of the many social, economic and cultural reasons why connectivity
conservation is very important for society.
By children at Dunkeld Primary
Connectivity conservation brings together many partners to work together with a
common vision for a healthy environment and a better planet. A planet that :
· mitigates the impacts of climate change by retaining green carbon - the living
vegetation of connectivity corridors
· increases resilience of the natural environment by retaining natural, functioning
ecosystems
· provides an adaptation response to climate change by maximizing opportunities
for species to move and evolve in the landscape.
Bold visions, collaborative and urgent actions at an unprecedented scale, are required to
ensure the health of the natural environment on which we ultimately depend. Landscape
scale connectivity conservation fulfils this need.
Healthy Parks Healthy People, an initiative pioneered by the State of Victoria, Australia
emphasises the vital link between the health of people and the health of our planet. This is
not new thinking; it is a rediscovery of our ancestors’ understanding that people and their
environment are intrinsically linked.
Indigenous people know this ‘connection to country’: to live within and as part of nature.
However, as humanity has developed, we have grown away from nature.
The way we live is a risk to the sustainability of our health and the health of the planet.
