The Victorian's Volunteering for Nature - Environmental Volunteering Plan aims to reduce barriers to volunteering in Victoria, and to encourage more Victorians to connect with nature and act to protect and enhance the natural environment.

Currently there are approximately 100,000 environmental volunteers in Victoria who work across Friends groups, Landcare, Coastcare, and other community based environmental volunteering groups.

An aspiration under Biodiversity 2037, Victoria's plan to stop the decline of our native plants and animals and improve our natural environment, is to increase this number to five million Victorians by 2037. 

For more information and to read the Environmental Volunteering Plan, click here.

To support the new Plan, $2 million in funding for the new Caring for Our Local Environments Initiative was also announced.

The Caring for Our Local Environments Initiative aims to support local governments to invest in urban environmental projects that transcend beyond aesthetic and recreational values. Green community spaces provide vital urban infrastructure and create resilient, healthy, urban centres that are enjoyable places for people to live and work.

This initiative will support local governments to engage with non-government organisations and environmental volunteering community groups, and the broader community within the Greater Melbourne area.