1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Melbourne
Region
Australia and Oceania
Native title of the NBS intervention
Urban Forest Fund (UFF)
Short description of the intervention
The Urban Forest Fund (UFF) was launched in May 2017 by the City of Melbourne to provide financial support to new greening projects that otherwise would not be able to be funded. Such projects include green spaces, tree planting, vertical greening or green roofs on private land" (1 p20). The City of Melbourne has multiple strategies and programs in place to increase the quantity and quality of green space in the city. The UFF aims to support such sustainability lead initiatives by providing match-funding grants to green projects in the private realm. The UFF is a key initiative in tackling sustainability challenges in the entire city, as 75% of its land is privately owned (1)
Address

Australia

Location
The NBS is a city-wide initiative, the GIS point marks the centre of the city
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Protected Area
Public Greenspace Area
Central Business District / City Centre
Other
Please specify “other type of area” before implementation of the NBS
Private property and/or land
Website of the intervention
https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/community/greening-the-city/urban-forest-fund/…
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2017
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2017
End date of the intervention
ongoing
Present stage of the intervention
Other
Please specify "other" stage of the intervention
As of 2021, the initiative is put on hold due to Covid-19
Goals of the intervention
- To build partnerships between government and the private sector to deliver additional “greening above and beyond existing Council capital works investment” (UFF, 2017)
- To grow the UFF to a $10 million fund by seeking contributions from other organisations and private actors (1 p7)
- Increase greening in the City of Melbourne through providing investment in green infrastructure on private lands and property (1)
Quantitative targets
Unknown
Monitoring indicators defined
Unknown
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
Climate change adaptation
Water management (SDG 6)
Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Green space creation and/or management
Environmental quality
Air quality improvement
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Regulation of built environment
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Social interaction
Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
Real estate development
Climate change adaptation: What were the goals of the NBS?
Reduce the impacts of climate risks events on urban places and communities
Climate change adaptation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?
Increase or improve urban vegetation cover to help reduce outdoor temperature
Implement green walls or roofs to lower indoor temperature and provide insulation
Create or improve outdoor spaces to help people escape from urban heat
Implementation activities
- Provision of grants (Habitat Grant) to actors and stakeholders in the private realm to green their land and property.
- Fund-matching private greening projects dollar for dollar in Melbourne (1)
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
Strategy, plan or policy development
Please specify other type of green wall
Unknown
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Nature on buildings (external)
Green roofs
Green walls or facades
Grey infrastructure featuring greens
House gardens
Institutional green space
Green areas for water management
Swales and filter strips
Type of Green Wall
Other
Please specify other type of green roof
Unknown
Type of Green Roof
Other
What is the level of innovation / development of the NBS related to water management?
Unknown
Amenities offered by the NBS
Unknown
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Regulating services
Local climate regulation (temperature reduction)
Air quality regulation
Carbon storage/sequestration
Cultural services
Aesthetic appreciation
Mental and physical health and wellbeing
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Private sector/Corporate/Company
Citizens or community groups
Governance
Governance arrangements
Government-led
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
The Urban Forest Fund was initiated and implemented by the urban forest and ecology team of the City of Melbourne, however, through the partnership program and as grant receivers, "the UFF involves citizens, individuals, property owners and organisations wanting to create a greener and more livable city (...)"(1 p23)
Key actors - initiating organization
Local government/municipality
Land owners
Private sector or company
Real estate developer
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Local government/municipality
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Citizens or community group
Please specify other participatory methods
"Citizens were not directly engaged in the development of the UFF. The panel that selected which projects would proceed included a number of members of the public though" (1 p24)
Land owners
Private sector or company
Real estate developer
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Other
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Unknown
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
Urban Forest Strategy aiming at increasing the canopy cover and state of urban biodiversity in the City of Melbourne (1)
Melbourne Open Space Strategy: City of Melbourne’s strategic response to future open space requirements (2)
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
No
If there is a relevant strategy or plan, please specify the theme / type of the plan.
City specific green space strategy or plan
Municipal / city level environmental plan or programme
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
The Urban Forest Fund (UFF) in itself creates a network of private sector actors supporting the greening of the City of Melbourne (1)
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
The UFF in itself is an investment structure supporting efforts of urban greening in the private realm. Through the UFF, the City of Melboutne match greening projects coming from the private sector dollar-for-dollar (1).
Co-finance for NBS
Yes
Co-financing governance arrangements
Yes
Co-governance arrangement
A fund / grant
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Set up for multiple NBS interventions, including this one
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Unknown
Please specify cost savings
Unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
As of 2018, the Urban Forest Fund had 1 million EUR in seed funding. There is no information on whether the UFF has reached the target 8.36 million EUR ($10 million) as funding. (1)
The UFF offers partnership grants ranging between $50,000 to $500,000 to projects.
Source(s) of funding
Public local authority budget
Other
Please specify other source of funding
Private budget
Type of fund(s) used
Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
No
Business models
Green densification model
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Public actor (e.g. municipality)
Private for-profit actor (e.g. firm, insurer)
Type of innovation
Social
Policy innovation
Economic innovation
Please specify social innovation
The framework of the Urban Forest Fund offers "changes in the public incentive system by offering dollar-to-dollar matching funding to private sector participants for strategically prioritized areas" (1 p25)
The UFF is also considered as an "economic innovation, as it introduces a new financing arrangement between private and public actors for green space created in the private realm" (1 p25)
Novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Climate change
Lowered local temperature
Environmental quality
Improved air quality
Green space and habitat
Increased green space area
Unknown
Description of environmental benefits
No summarized direct impact has been recorded in connection with the Urban Forest Fund. However, the projects that the UFF funds are required to deliver ecosystem services benefits such as:
- increasing the canopy cover and balancing built-in and open space ratios
- contribution to urban cooling in areas where the urban heat island is especially severe
- contribution to air pollution removal
- enhancing the work of other policies and municipal initiatives connected to climate change and the greening of the City of Melbourne (Urban Forest Strategy, Open Space Strategy, Climate Adaptation, streetscapes program or Green Your Laneway Program) (1)
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Social and cultural impacts
Social justice and cohesion
Improved social cohesion
Unknown
Description of social and cultural benefits
No summarized direct impact has been recorded in connection with the Urban Forest Fund. However, the projects that the UFF funds are required to deliver social benefits such as:
- Increasing community health and well-being
- Building up social resilience
- Promotion of experimental methods in urban greening and their extensive research
- Serving a wide community and located in a publicly accessible area
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts
No impacts reported
Indicators
Unknown
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
No information available
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Due to COVID-19, the Urban Forest Fund did not offered any grants in 2020. Interested applicants can register their interest for future round, however, there is no information on when new rounds can be expected to open. (2)
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Unknown
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
List of references
1) Kiss, B., McCormick, K., and Wamsler, C. 2018. NATURVATION - Case Study Working Paper: Melbourne, Australia
2) City of Melbourne. (n.a). Melbourne's Urban Forest Fund. City of Melbourne. Accessed on 15th March, 2021. https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/community/greening-the-city/urban-forest-fund/Pages/urban-forest-fund.aspx