From the Chair’s desk …

Strategic Planning for Global Landcare

A big thank you to the Global Landcare community and the team for participating in our strategic planning. The final plan is coming soon. Overall the focus was shown under 4 main themes and we are developing our Board subcommittees to reflect these:

1. Capacity building and training
2. Partnerships, networks and regional support
3. Communications and advocacy
4. Fundraising and project support.

Official Notification of new name

We have now written to notify everyone of the formation of Global Landcare:

Global Landcare (GL) is a not for profit community group which the spreads the values and practices of Landcare across the globe. By empowering communities, Landcare promotes the transfer of skills and knowledge, better use of natural resources, and collaborative involvement in land and water management and restoration. Landcare is a very effective enabler in the global campaign to improve food security, mitigate the impacts of climate change and increase biodiversity. It also helps afflicted communities to recover after disasters. The international Landcare networks – the Secretariat for International Landcare (SILC), Australian Landcare International (ALI) and Landcare International (LI) have united to form Global Landcare in October 2020.

Our constitution was updated to reflect the move to Global Landcare including expansion of our Board – which now includes members from Australia, Kenya, Uganda, Japan, Philippines, New Zealand, Fiji, and Bangladesh. https://globallandcare.org/

Our wish list includes:

• Development of on line training resources to support everyone when face-to-face isn’t available
• Supporting Landcare groups undertake vital work – demand can be greater than funds available. Here are some great projects we would love to support https://globallandcare.org/potential-projects-that-need-your-help
• Supporting overseas Landcare members to join us at the next National Landcare Conference;
• Supporting the development of the Landcare program in the Pacific.

To donate, just go to our website – https://globallandcare.org/donate/

Global Landcare Grants – coming soon in Spring!

Generous donors enable Global Landcare to reach to new and current landcaring groups around the world. Watch out for forthcoming grant application offerings later in 2021.

You can read about 12 current community gardens projects on our website at: https://globallandcare.org/community-gardens-program/

Australian Recognition for Landcare Leaders

In Australia, one way leaders are recognised for their contribution is with awards made in what are called the Queen’s Birthday honours. The 2021 list includes two Global Landcare stalwarts: founding member of Australian Landcare International Pam Robinson AM and ALI’s founding secretary Horrie Poussard OAM, both having served us well in their roles for six years. Both were part of the very beginnings of the Landcare movement.

As a Violet Town farmer, Pam helped form Warrenbayne-Boho Land Protection Group in 1983-84. She and colleagues, besides developing and putting into practice Landcare ideas, did really useful work in Canberra informing numerous politicians and senior public servants of the wide potential of regional planning and on-ground action by the community.

Horrie, a soil conservationist and extension specialist, helped Joan Kirner launch Landcare in 1986. The first state coordinator, he left that job in 1989. By then, he had attended well over 20 group launches across Victoria, and seen the concept taken up at Commonwealth levels. In those early Kirner days, Horrie’s wonderful wife Wendy Poussard AM, who made her career with NGOs in overseas aid throughout the Asia-Pacific, influenced the development of the Landcare concept in her own quiet way. Horrie has also worked on projects in Korea, the Philippines, Fiji, Tonga and Argentina. Thanks for your hard yakka and many insights, Horrie.

Two other major Landcare figures were also recognised.

CSIRO staff member, author, journalist and environmental and agricultural intellectual, Julian Cribb AM has helped our cause immensely at all levels. Julian was also a director of SILC. Prof Allan Curtis AM of Charles Sturt University has been an outstanding educator in environmental and social science arenas since around 1990. In particular, his annual statistical compilations from the late 1980s to the later 1990s made everyone, from the troops in the field to the upper echelons of politics and bureaucracy, realise how dynamic and effective was Landcare at getting things done. Allan has also contributed lately to the emergence of Landcare Victoria Inc.

Global Landcare Webinar

You can view the webinar hosted by Landcare Australia in which Rob Youl, Tony Bartlett and Andrea Mason shared and discussed the incredible work occurring in Landcare outside of Australian borders, what we can learn from it, and where it is all headed. This is, of course, the story of what we are now calling Global Landcare.

See the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1_7vAetBuU

There are a number of other Landcare webinars from around the world that might interest you:

New Zealand	https://youtu.be/0L67wjiNKsw
Philippines	https://youtu.be/NSgDb19u11c
Nepal	https://youtu.be/AfypmlaJvUw
Bangladesh	https://youtu.be/I9Z2Nyh7u0I
Uganda	https://youtu.be/jMHXsMdZW0E
DRCongo	https://youtu.be/kkByxTsX3o0
Grayson Landcare USA	https://youtu.be/KfiiR-gZxSw
Pakistan	https://youtu.be/pagDdthe4pE

News from around the globe

News from a Global Landcare supported project in Uganda

Ikamiro community Landcare Association, Matakara village, Ikamiro parish, Muko Sub county, Rubanda District – Southwestern Uganda. This was one of the projects supported last year. It is amazing to see what can be done even when there is a pandemic threatening.

Grayson Landcare, USA

Loosely modeled on the Australian Landcare movement, Grayson LandCare in Virginia, in the US, was incorporated in 2008. A landcare group is a community-based group of members working on projects that contribute to environmental, social and economic outcomes.

Grayson describe Landcare: “LandCare promotes economic self-reliance, preserves local traditions, and helps landowners to protect and enhance our natural heritage by starting conversations, problem-solving, and appreciating the value of the place we call home.”

Grayson LandCare has adopted the member driven model to promote the triple bottom line of economy, environment and community. Projects led by the membership include the Free Market, Independence Farmers Market, the Grayson County Permaculture group and Land Stewardship contest, among other initiatives. Monthly presentations featuring topics of local interest  are always open to the public.

Grayson Landcare’s Mission:

• Advocate solutions for the community of Grayson County, Virginia and the surrounding area.
• Increase the productivity and expand economic opportunities for local farmers, forest owners, and other citizens.
• Practice sustainable and equitable management of natural resources and the environment.

Read the Grayson Newsletters at https://us5.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=976767174a9e1c87de59b0516&id=83aef3ab7d

New Zealand Landcare Trust Newsletter

The CEO Dr Nick Edgar welcomes readers with the words:

“Kia ora and welcome to the first of our new revamped national newsletter.”

There will be 4 newsletters each year. The current edition contains a story of amazing work done in the far south of New Zealand by a group when they discovered how poluted their waterway was. They wanted to restore it so people could safely swim there again. Read more at https://www.landcare.org.nz/our-stories-item/the-pomahaka-otago

The website has hundreds of resources available for download – whether it’s for Good Management Practices or Native Fish Guides, to the basics, like How-To guides and more available at https://www.landcare.org.nz/resources.

The Trust website is at https://www.landcare.org.nz/

Parliamentary Friends of Landcare in Australia

This new group was recently brought together in Canberra, Australia. It is hoped the initial enthusiasm turns into a lot more support for all things Landcare!

News from the Global EverGreening Alliance

March 21 marked the International Day of Forests. We were reminded that forests play a crucial role in our bid to EverGreen the Earth. Read about this special day at https://www.un.org/en/observances/forests-and-trees-day there are links to all sorts of interesting articles on that webpage. Indulge yourself!

The EverGreening Alliance is officially a Supporting Partner of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration that will run from 2021 to 2030.

The UN Decade is a call for the protection and the restoration of our planet. It aims to halt degradation of ecosystems and restore them to achieve global goals. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet – and its people. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. It can help to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent a mass extinction.

Find out more about ecosystems and the UN Decade, and join the global movement to restore our world. Visit https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/

And a New Project Announcement! The Alliance has a new project in partnership with AstraZeneca to restore degraded agricultural and forest lands through the planting of 120,000 Gliricidia Sepium trees in Kajiado County, Kenya. The project is supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, and Kenya Forest Service, and will be implemented by Green Pasture Network and Alliance member organisation Zero Two Heroes. Image in temp – Tree planting at the project launch, organised by the Kenyan chapter of the Global EverGreening Alliance.

New Supporting Partners

The EverGreening Alliance, including Global Landcare, continues to grow and welcome new partners:

• Cassinia Environmental (https://cassinia.com/)
• Friends of Usambara Society (https://usambaratravels.com/)
• Uganda Landcare Network (http://www.ugandalandcare.org/)
• Global Forest Generation (https://www.globalforestgeneration.org/)
• SayTrees (https://www.globalforestgeneration.org/)
• GroundSwell International (https://www.groundswellinternational.org/)

Visiting just the websites of these organisations takes one around the world on an interesting tour of the incredible work being done world-wide.

World Environment Day – 2021

A number of activities took place around the world on June 5. In addition, some activities were developed for people to enjoy in the future. You may like to visit https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/ and take a journey into a forest, or under the sea, in a desert or in the mountains to learn more about the role of these environments.

Upcoming Events

Landcare Australia Webinars

Landcare Australia is offering webinars that can be accessed from their website at https://landcareaustralia.org.au/national-landcare-conference-webinar/ You can subscribe to their series for participation in up-coming events and can join in or view the webinars when they are archived. There is a brief description of those available on the webpage.

Up-coming are:

24 June, Natural resource management – traditional methods to modern innovation – Landcarer | website

29 July, The power of Landcare partnerships – Landcarer | website

2021 Australian National Landcare conference Wednesday 4 – Friday 6 August, 2021, International Convention Centre, Sydney. Early bird delegate registrations will close on May 1. Landcarers from across the country will gather this August to share knowledge, ideas, and plan for the future – as part of the 2021 National Landcare Conference. Delegates who can’t be there in person, can register as an online delegate. All sessions will be live streamed and recorded for online delegates. With more than 60 speakers, the conference program includes a field trip program around the Greater Sydney region, and four important panels on the topics of Landcare Farming, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Bushfire Recovery and Resilience, and Cultural Land Management. See https://www.nationallandcareconference.org.au/

Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress
June 12-15, 2021 – live virtual event – 100+ sessions over the three days The Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2021 (SRI2021) is the world’s first transdisciplinary gathering in sustainability – it will be a space of fierce advocacy for sustainability scholarship, innovation, collaboration and action. SRI is a joint initiative of Future Earth and the Belmont Forum. Australia is hosting the Congress in 2021. The local hosting consortium, led by Future Early Australia and CSIRO, features academia and government partners from Brisbane and Queensland. Learn more here: https://sri2021.org/registration/

Fire – just another partner in caring for country?

Image from https://www.firesticks.org.au/

For many, maybe most, fire is a scary hazard. Devastating fires in many countries recently have shown how dangerous they can be. But some argue it is not the fault of fire but rather how we interact and live with it. They argue the same for weeds often – plants that are not ‘at home’ or welcome in some places. For Aboriginal Australians, fire has been a tool and part of their lives for millenia.

Victor Steffensen, an Elder from the far north of Australia, has been teaching the techniques he learnt many years ago from some older Elders. Victor has also written extensively about how learning to understand the role fire can play in country management and more recently that it is just one part of what can be learnt by listening to the land, or as some say, country or Mother Earth. See his story at https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NC2002Q009S00

Victor’s theories provide a refreshing view of the elements such as fire and water, and integrate attention to country with better living for all. Particularly, Victor does not distinguish between older cultures and those of the more recent arrivals in Australia. He says everyone has things to learn, share and benefit from. His view is closely allied to the views of many caring for country with the additional factor of human well-being. We, as people, will have better lives if ‘country’ has a better life and we work together to achieve this.

Victor recently wrote an essay that has raised these ideas and can extend our appreciation of caring for country. See https://www.wheelercentre.com/notes/the-planet-is-us