Natural resources financing in the Limestone Coast

This case study investigates alternative financing and governance models for natural capital by Growing the Region’s Ability to influence Investment in Landscapes (GRAIL) – the Limestone Coast pilot.

Climate change and, in some cases, our mitigation and adaptation responses pose major risks to Australia’s biodiversity and landscapes. Yet it is biodiversity that provides the resilience needed to cope and adapt under a changing climate. It is therefore a priority to enhance regional natural resource management (NRM) planning processes and capabilities.

The GRAIL project is developing and testing ways for regions to shape investment in their landscapes. In partnership with the Limestone Coast Landscape Board, it is capturing a set of investment opportunities for the region and the pathways to develop them.

For landscape benefits to be fully realised, coordination of financial investments is needed. Doing so effectively will require the development of landscape-scale organisations and governance arrangements. Our proposed strategy goes beyond a traditional approach – which relies only on market mechanisms involving global investors and individual landholders to negotiate investment.

This is being done by modifying and applying CSIRO’s ‘Enabling Resilience Investment’ approach in the Limestone Coast NRM region in South Australia, in partnership with the Limestone Coast Landscape Board and NRM Regions Australia. The project will generate transferable principles and lessons that can be scaled across NRM regions. 

This project is funded by the National Environmental Science Program through the Resilient Landscapes hub.