Urban Forest Fund - Melbourne

The Urban Forest Fund (UFF) is a grant that was launched in May 2017 by the City of Melbourne, Australia to provide financial support to new greening projects on private properties. As such, the Fund aims to build partnerships between government and the private sector to deliver additional greening above and beyond existing Council capital works investment. As 75% of the land within the city of Melbourne municipal area is privately owned or managed, the city needed to collaborate with the private sector to achieve its greening goals and establish incentives to create high quality greening projects on private land. Such greening projects include creating new green spaces, vertical greening or green roofs or planting trees. The grants fund up to 50% of the planned investments for the greening measures and the recipients are required to match the public funding themselves. The eligible projects must be primarily focused on creating new greening, demonstrate community and environmental benefits, be visible from public spaces or regularly accessed by a large number of people and be located on a private property. A series of assessment criteria prioritise projects that deliver a variety of social and environmental benefits. The Urban Forest Fund supports the implementation of Melbourne Urban Forest Strategy.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Economic and fiscal instruments›Payments as rewards/for ecosystem services, subsidies, incentives

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Soil quality
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Heat stress and heat island effect
Air quality
Noise
Social cohesion
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The Urban Forest Fund funds green roofs, green walls and facades, creation of new gardens and parks, planting of trees, biodiversity plantings and water-senstive urban design projects. The overall goal of the fund is to support the urban forest, understood as all the trees and other vegetation within the municipality to improve the delivery of ecosystem services such as air and water filtration, shade, habitat, oxygen, carbon sequestration, and nutrient cycling and provide a connection to nature that is often perceived to be missing in urban areas. Priority is given to projects that contribute to community health and well-being, are publicly accessible and are located in areas with low canopy cover or limited open space. The project should include indigenous and native plants, a variety of plants and tree sizes to create structural diversity and where appropriate should reduce threats to biodiversity and support the movement of wildlife across landscapes.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Green areas for water management

External building greens

Good practice characteristics:

Effective

Support multifunctional NBS

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Innovative

Policy business case

Inclusivity

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Melbourne City Council

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The Urban Forest Fund was initiated and is being implemented by the Urban Forest and Ecology team of the City of Melbourne.

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

The Urban Forest Fund aims to build partnerships between government and the private sector to deliver additional greening above and beyond existing Council capital works investment. As 75% of the land within the city of Melbourne municipal area is privately owned or managed, the city needed to collaborate with the private sector to achieve its greening goals and establish incentives to create high quality greening projects on private land. Business owners, corporations, community groups, developers and educational institutions can apply for grants. Grant applications are assessed by a panel of experts in green infrastructure, arboriculture and ecology and community members who prioritise projects that will provide the most benefit to the community and the environment.

Type of non-governmental actors involved:

Citizen oversight (e.g. boards, advisory role)

Implementation of NBS (e.g. with government funds)

Targeted actors:

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public local authority’s budget

Private Foundation

Budget:

500 000 € - 1 000 000€

Details about instrument financing:

Grants of €6,500 (AUD 10,000) to €195,000 (AUD 300,000) are available for small and large scale projects to support new green spaces on private property. In the first three funding rounds between 2017 and 2021, over €650,000 (1,000,000 AUD) in funding has been awarded to various projects. The applicants have to match the received funding, meaning that at least an additional €650,000 (1,000,000 AUD) was raised from private actors to realise greening projects in the city. Private funders are invited to contribute to the fund and support greening projects in the city.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Did an evaluation take place?:

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

Since 2017, the fund funded 15 projects across the city including greening a common area of an apartment building, green facades, a rooftop urban farm, a green corridor at the University campus in creating green spaces across a commercial district. At least €650,000 (1,000,000 AUD) match funding was raised from private actors to realise green projects in the city.

Success factors and lessons learned:

The fund successfully leverages private funding for greening projects in the city, as applicants need to provide at least 50% of the project costs. The funded projects have a variety of social and environmental benefits, as the assessment criteria prioritise projects in areas with low tree canopy cover, limited access to open space, projects that provide specific and substantial biodiversity benefits and provide education engagement opportunities for the local community. The project should use native vegetation where possible and apply good practice criteria to soil improvement. The fund promotes high quality projects as the assessment criteria includes engaging suitable experts (landscape architects, green infrastructure construction specialists, maintenance contractors). Grant applications are assessed by a panel of greening experts and community members who prioritise projects that will provide the most benefit to the community.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Urban Nature Atlas (2021), Urban Forest Fund (UFF), Available at: https://una.city/nbs/melbourne/urban-forest-fund-uff

City of Melbourne (2022), Melbourne's Urban Forest Fund, Available at: https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/community/greening-the-city/urban-forest-fund/Pages/urban-forest-fund.aspx

City of Melbourne (2022), Grant Application Guidelines, Available at: https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/urban-forest-fund-grant-guidelines.pdf

Further documents

Documents:

urban-forest-fund-grant-guidelines.pdf

Weblinks:

https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/community/greening-the-city/urban-forest-fund/P…