Restore the Bay
Building community capacity for understanding, preserving and restoring Port Phillip Bay
Register here to join our second in-person workshop at the Ecocentre, St Kilda on 21 June!
Sat 21 June, midday-3:00PM (lunch provided)
(click here for what to expect from the session)
Join the conversation
& have your say
A community initiative
This project is led by the Odonata Foundation
Restore the Bay is a FUN, SIMPLE and EFFECTIVE way to give our community its own say in how we value the Bay’s marine ecosystems and what they do for us.
How do you feel when you connect with the Bay and how much impact does that have on your life and work? A lot?
When we measure that, we can evaluate the importance of the landscape to our lives and economy. This becomes the basis for a community co-designed set of actions – and it takes as little as 25 minutes of your time, to make a big difference!
About the Project
Why do we need to restore the Bay?
So we can use nature to offset rising cost of living
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It’s estimated that every dollar spent on preservation and restoration of such important natural systems can produce 7-30 times more economic value.
This project is an important path to offsetting rising costs of living and ensuring Victorians continue to be able to enjoy the rich and varied activities that connect them to the Bay.
Where will it happen?
We invite participation by anyone who would like to get involved.
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Port Phillip Bay may be our region’s most important environmental asset. One fifth of Australians and three-quarters of Victorians live, work and play, among the catchments of this 2,000 square km inland sea.
We will be exchanging knowledge with anyone who lives near, or uses the Bay. We will then be applying our community’s learnings to a pilot region centred on Bayside.
How will it be done?
By gathering and collating community knowledge and ideas
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We need your honest and thoughtful opinions, experience, knowledge and understanding of Port Phillip Bay, so we can:
GATHER knowledge about how the community values the Bay.
COLLATE knowledge into a comprehensive database ‘BioNet’ (see above).
EVALUATE community ideas for action and find the best mix of options that restore Port Phillip Bay’s value for everyone.
The United Nations Environment Program says global investment in nature-degrading activities, outweighs investment in nature-based solutions thirty times. Meanwhile, it’s thought that restoring degraded land can yield 7-30 times more benefits for every dollar invested (Ding, H., et al., ROOTS OF PROSPERITY The Economics and Finance of Restoring Land. 2017). The European Union Nature Restoration Laws were adopted on this principle, that for every euro invested in land restoration, brings an economic return of EUR 8 to EUR 38 (European Commission, Nature Restoration Law: For people, climate, and planet. 22 June 2022 #EUGreenDeal).