Draft Biodiversity and Natural Assets Management Plan

The City of Victor Harbor is home to an abundance of ecological communities and considerable diversity of habitats, native plants and animals. Our Council area is situated within one of fifteen biodiversity hotspots in Australia. From our dunes and headlands to our rivers and hills, our stunning natural surrounds provide our region with immeasurable benefits.

Why do we need a plan?

Nature provides us with significant social, economic and recreational benefits. Natural assets can offer protection from flooding and climate extremes, coastal hazards and other processes which threaten built assets. Ecological services support our basic needs as a global community, providing cleaner water for us to drink, filtering the air that we breathe, pollinating the crops that we eat and improving the soil that our food grow in and on.

However, Australia has lost more mammal species than any other continent in the world. Biodiversity continues to decline, both globally and locally.

In the City of Victor Harbor, a number of threats to our natural assets have been identified, including climate change and catastrophic events, invasive and overabundant species, dogs and cats, phytophthora cinnamomi, and habitat loss and fragmentation.

By working alongside stakeholders in the local community and the wider region, local governments are well placed to play a key role in protecting and restoring natural ecosystems in their area.

What's in the plan?

With contributions from a range of environmental volunteers and key stakeholders, the City of Victor Harbor has developed a Biodiversity and Natural Assets Plan 2023-28. The Plan outlines Council’s commitment to protecting and enhancing our region’s natural beauty. Focusing primarily on the management of vegetation and habitats, it will guide Council towards safeguarding these vital environmental elements for future generations.