Bupa Landcare Grants to Power Planting of 82,500 Trees, Shrubs and Groundcovers Across Urban Australia
Landcare Australia and Bupa have announced the 33 recipients of the 2024 Bupa Landcare Grants Program, to support community-driven tree planting projects in urban and peri-urban areas across Australia.
As part of Bupa’s Healthy Cities program, $1 million was committed to environmental restoration projects in Australia and New Zealand such as the Bupa Landcare Grants Program which alone will result in the planting of 82,500 native trees, shrubs and ground covers across Australia. These projects will transform local environments and create healthier, greener spaces for communities to enjoy. The Bupa Landcare Grants Program aims to enhance both environmental and health outcomes by improving the connectivity of native vegetation and creating new green spaces in urban areas.
Funded projects include:
- Avoca Beach, New South Wales: Avoca and North Avoca Dunecare to regenerate the dunes at Avoca Beach by planting natives so natural ecosystems can again flourish.
- Maroubra, New South Wales: Randwick City Council will plant in a location important to community, increase volunteerism and help reconnect fragmented ecosystems.
- Lota, Queensland: Lota Creek Bushcare Group and Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee will rehabilitate endangered wetlands and preserve an eroding shell midden.
- Sunshine Coast, Queensland: Sunshine Coast Regional Council will engage community to help restore Doonan Creek Environment Reserve, providing essential habitat, food and corridors for local threatened wildlife.
- Mawson Lakes, South Australia: City of Salisbury – Friends of Pledger Wetlands will revegetate and subsequently maintain a neglected wetland.
- Albert Park, Victoria: Port Phillip EcoCentre Inc. will enhance biodiversity and habitat connectivity, engage community in landcare, and promote wellbeing and nature connection in an inner urban suburb.
- Kalorama, Victoria: Yarra Ranges Shire Council will re-establish indigenous plants around artworks along ngurrak barring RidgeWalk art experience through planting, community involvement, and education programs.
- Wodonga, Victoria: Wodonga Urban Landcare Network will cool and green Wodonga by planting natives in urban parks to create wildlife corridors, nurture the environment and cultivate wellbeing.
- Claremont, Western Australia: Friends of Lake Claremont Ltd will revegetate a site where Moreton Bay Fig trees infected with the invasive Polyphagous Shot-Hole Borer had to be removed.
Read the full list of grant recipients and project summaries here.
Landcare Australia CEO Dr Shane Norrish said, “We can’t wait to see these projects come to life, and I am proud of our partnership with Bupa and the commitment to empower communities to make a meaningful impact on both the health of their local environments and people’s wellbeing —values that lie at the very heart of Landcare. It is also inspiring to witness the dedication of so many volunteers, groups and organisations who are passionate about supporting their communities.”
Bupa APAC Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer, Roger Sharp said, “As a health and care company, we know that to have healthy people, you need to have a healthy planet. That’s why we’re so pleased that the billions of steps people took as part of the 2024 Healthy Cities program has unlocked funding for these amazing projects.”
For more information about the Bupa Landcare Project Funding go here.
