A bold mission to protect, restore and relink habitat to allow nature and people to continue to thrive despite changing climatic conditions can lead to engagement of many parts of society and on-ground conservation activities.

Australia is one of 17 mega-diverse nations globally, with 6,794 vertebrate fauna species – including 1,350 endemic terrestrial vertebrate species, the highest number for any nation – as well as 22,000 species of flora. The greatest concentration of this outstanding biodiversity is found along the rugged eastern mountains and coast. This area comprises a substantial part of Conservation International’s “Forests of East Australia” global high-biodiversity hotspot. Substantial sections are conserved in an archipelago of embedded protected areas, including three World Heritage areas, as well as lands used for agriculture, mining, urban development, infrastructure and forestry. Clearing and fragmentation of habitat; land degradation; introduced exotic species of plants, animals and pathogens; and climate change are major threats that degrade and fragment this ecological network for conservation.

The Great Eastern Ranges (GER) Initiative was established in 2007 with a bold mission to protect, restore and relink habitat to allow nature and people to continue to thrive. The initiative comprises natural lands that extend along the mountainous ranges on the eastern seaboard of Australia for more than 3,600 km from the Grampian Mountains in Victoria, through eastern New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), to Cape York in the far north of Queensland (Figure 1). Countless species rely on the Great Eastern Ranges to move and adapt to a climate of extremes. The GER Initiative is an ecological network for conservation that helps people to work together to restore and reconnect nature in areas of high biological importance such as gaps and areas that are fragmented. This work is guided by a vision for the ecosystems of Australia’s Great Eastern Ranges to be healthy and connected, which will contribute to the long-term economic, social, cultural and spiritual well-being of the community, and of native plants and animals.

The GER Initiative is one of a very few connectivity conservation initiatives worldwide that have been initiated by government. The initiative began in 2007 with funding from the state of NSW, enabling its Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water to demonstrate a new approach to conservation based on collaborative partnerships. Five ‘regional partnerships’ were established in five priority connectivity areas. Partners included non-governmental conservation organisations, land care groups, Aboriginal groups, academic institutions, local governments and other government agencies. In 2010, governance devolved to a public–private partnership group of five non-governmental lead partners. Regional groups expanded to ten by 2016. In 2017, governance was transferred to Great Eastern Ranges Ltd. with a board of eight independent directors.

Great Eastern Ranges Ltd. is now a not-for-profit entity that operates as an equal partner in a national network of regional partners in 10 partnership areas in Victoria, NSW, the ACT and Queensland.

Figure 1. The Great Eastern Ranges ecological network for conservation forms a 3,600-km arc of mostly interconnected natural lands that extends from the Grampians in Victoria to Cape York in far north Queensland. © Great Eastern Ranges Ltd.

Regional partnership groups consist of public and private organisations and individuals involved in on-ground voluntary conservation activities that come together to collaborate and share resources and capacity (Figure 2). A number of the connectivity partnership areas link north– south along the central mountainous spine and several areas extend east to the coast and west onto the slopes connecting the mountains to the inland. For example, the Slopes to Summit and Kanangra to Wyangala are ecological networks linking alpine and montane forest to the inland. The Kosciuszko2Coast ecological network links the Alps to the east coast. The Victorian Biolinks Alliance works to connect tall-forest landscapes in the central Victorian highlands and the transboundary Border Ranges Alliance works to maintain and improve connectivity of World Heritage-listed rainforests and tall eucalypt forest on the border between NSW and Queensland.

From funding provided by the NSW and Australian governments over 10 years, the GER Initiative and partners coordinated voluntary conservation activities through a suite of instruments. These included whole-of-paddock restoration agreements, voluntary conservation agreements, land for wildlife agreements, grants to fence stream banks, tree planting, habitat restoration, feral animal and weed control, community education through community field days, development of a range of communication products including videos and a web site, biological surveys, and research programs.

Figure 2. Great Eastern Ranges network of regional partnership areas of connectivity conservation © Great Eastern Ranges Ltd.