Funding Boost To Protect Victoria’s Iconic Wetlands

Photo: Get Regional

Ramsar sites are wetlands that are listed as having international importance under the Ramsar Convention, an international wetland treaty.

Sites across the state will receive funding through local Catchment Management Authorities with the funding to be used to develop a management framework to ensure the sites are protected from decline.

The sites include the Barmah and Gunbower forests and Kerang and Hattah Kulkyne Lakes in Northern Victoria, Western District Lakes and Lake Albacutya in Western Victoria, Corner Inlet and Gippsland Lakes in Gippsland, Western Port, Edithvale-Seaford wetlands and Port Phillip Bay and Bellarine Peninsula.

These important environmental sites attract international migratory waterbirds from as far away as Russia, China and Alaska.

These wetlands provide many benefits to the community including:

• Providing a range of recreational opportunities such as boating, camping, bird watching and fishing which help to support tourism and local economies
• Providing habitat for native plants such as river red gums, mangroves, saltmarshes and for native animals such as waterbirds, frogs and fish
• Reducing the impacts of flooding by holding and slowing floodwater
• Protecting the water quality of rivers, estuaries and marine areas by trapping sediment and filtering nutrients from catchments
• Playing an important part of Aboriginal cultural heritage

The funding delivers on the Labor Government’s response to the Victorian Auditor General’s Office (VAGO) audit of Victoria’s Ramsar program.

The Labor Government is investing $222 million to improve the health of our waterways and catchments across the state as a part of its water plan, Water for Victoria.