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Charter for Change: A call for nature action at scale

 

We are the nation’s leading practical environmental group, passionate about creating a world in which people and nature thrive together by making conservation accessible, fun, and fulfilling for all. Through a storied 40-year legacy of community involvement and app-led conservation activities, CVA is committed to ensuring that Australia’s natural wonders and unique biodiversity continue to thrive for generations to come by building and activating a community of one million people, taking simple yet powerful actions for nature.

This Charter is a call to urgently take action for nature and help halt and reverse nature loss by increasing the health, abundance, diversity, and resilience of species, populations, and ecosystems. CVA supports the Global Goal for Nature and the Biodiversity Framework’s “30×30″ pledge made by the Australian Government.

In our season of actions on biodiversity and threatened species, we offer a range of ways you can take action.

“Australia has quietly passed 2000+ total threatened species for the first time in our history. The future of Australia’s threatened species continues to get worse, not better. This is backed by our findings that the share of species now listed as critically endangered – the last step before extinction – has doubled the past decade.”

Phil Harrison, CEO Conservation Volunteers Australia

 

Nature Blocks is a simple solution to a prickly problem

The world is experiencing a biodiversity crisis, driven by land use change, resource exploitation, invasive species, pollution, and climate change, all of which pose a significant threat to wildlife. According to exclusive findings from Conservation Volunteers Australia, powered by Provocate®, there has been a net increase of about 150 threatened species nationally in the two years since the landmark 2021 State of the Environment Report, compared to about 130 between the SOE 2011 and 2021 editions (released every five years).

 

 

“The future of Australia’s threatened species continues to get worse, not better. This is backed by our finding that the share of species now listed as critically endangered – the last step before extinction – has doubled in the past decade.”

Phil Harrison, CVA’s CEO

 

Because half of all threatened species live in urban areas, alongside 96% of the human population, we must take action!

 

A visionary and collaborative partnership

🌱 Reconnect with nature

🦋 Restore Australian native species

🐝 Build back habitats

Numerous studies have shown that reconnecting with nature reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression. A study, commissioned by Beyond Blue and carried out by researchers at Deakin University, found that humans have been doing connecting with nature to restore health for centuries.

Nature Blocks is a visionary and collaborative partnership with the Bupa Foundation to encourage Australians to rejuvenate and restore their health and wellbeing by reconnecting with nature in a simple, fun and inclusive way.

“When it comes to sustainability, collaboration is vital to creating meaningful change. That’s why our Foundation has partnered with organisations such as Conservation Volunteers Australia to deliver meaningful, healthy and practical programs such as Nature Blocks. Together, we want to help build a national movement of people who understand, value and benefit from connecting with and nurturing our environment.”

Roger Sharp, Chief Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Officer, Bupa Asia Pacific

 

 

About half of all Australia’s threatened species live in urban areas, alongside 96% of the human population. As our need for urban housing grows, so does their need for habitat. As little as 1 metre x 1 metre (1m2) in an unused corner of a backyard or balcony could swiftly contribute to filling critical missing links in urban biodiversity habitats. This is particularly the case for smaller “building block” species like birds, bees, butterflies, and other insects driving the rapid rise in threatened species in recent years. One block at a time, we can all make a difference in our own backyards – and the world around us.

Creating habitat corridors offers positive impacts to biodiversity, including increasing food resource availability, supporting increased species diversity and population abundance, and potentially facilitating gene flow between isolated populations. Individuals can play a role in conserving and restoring habitat through a range of actions.*

*References: ARUP, Biodiversity in your Backyard Report, Sept 2023; The benefits of contact with nature for mental health and well-being, Mardie Townsend and Rona Weerasuriya, Deakin University Australia

 

 

What is a Nature Block?

Nature Blocks adapt to your location, space and even your level of conservation knowledge. In a park, backyard or small city balcony, a Nature Block is a space where nature is respected and flourishes. You can choose to create a nature pot, a lizard lounge, a pollinator garden or an edible garden…

Hang a few nest boxes, install insect shelters, create a pond…

We will guide you every step of the way and let nature amaze you! Creating a Nature Block is an integrated and inclusive experience. It could be the very first step you take in your conservation journey, or be a fulfilling way to make an impact in between volunteering experiences.

Types of Nature Blocks

Many activities | 4 plants, one habitat element

• Nature Pots – Native plants grown in containers. Small habitat elements can also be included to attract, feed, and support native wildlife.

• Pollinator Garden – Native garden designed to provide food, shelter and nesting space for pollinator species (insects and birds).

• Rain Garden – A native garden designed to temporarily hold and filter stormwater pollutants and prevent them from reaching our waterways.

• Nature Strip – A native garden on an area of public land between a property boundary and the road.

• Edible Garden

 

 

Restoring 30% of backyards across properties, even within the heart of Australia’s most populous inner cities, could create habitat corridors, support native wildlife and foster a human-nature connection.

Dedicated on-ground action focused on urban areas is necessary to ensure the preservation of urban biodiversity. Initiatives like Conservation Volunteers Australia’s Nature Blocks, which inspire and support individual action, can make a significant contribution to habitat restoration efforts.

 

 

Nature Blocks™️ is your opportunity to contribute to something bigger

✔️ A collective response to the urgent need to protect and restore nature

✔️ From small individual actions towards meaningful long-lasting impact

 

 

The future of Australian biodiversity is in our hands.

Help restore our native habitat

Impact Partnerships Momentum is building for businesses to step up and scale up actions and commitments to contribute to the Global Goal for Nature: Zero net loss of nature from 2020, net positive by 2030, and full recovery by 2050. Partnering with CVA means investing in biodiversity conservation and mental health and wellbeing.

More info: [email protected]

 

Download CVA’s Charter for Change

 

Join an event near you

 

NATURE BLOCKS™️ is supported through our partnership with the Bupa Foundation.