Embedding Nature into Victoria’s Infrastructure Future

The LFA has formally responded to Infrastructure Victoria’s draft 30-Year Infrastructure Strategy, calling for stronger recognition of green infrastructure as essential to the State’s future prosperity, sustainability, and resilience.

While the draft strategy mentions the value of nature-based solutions, it fails to embed the structural mechanisms needed to ensure their delivery, funding, and long-term management. In our submission, LFA proposes two new standalone recommendations and several targeted enhancements to existing priorities.

Our submission calls on Infrastructure Victoria to:

• Recognise and manage green infrastructure as essential infrastructure, on par with roads, bridges, and pipelines.

• Mandate minimum green infrastructure requirements (e.g., 30–40% site coverage) in all new private developments.

• Embed green infrastructure in structured asset management systems and infrastructure contribution reforms.

• Use digital technologies to monitor, model, and optimise the ecosystem services delivered by nature.

• Support local government capacity through proven frameworks, such as the IPWEA IIMM and LFA’s 3x3 Green Infrastructure Framework.

The streetscape of Lonsdale Street in Dandenong, Victoria, designed by TCL Landscape Architects, uses the Citygreen Stratavault soil cell system. Photo source: Chris Champion (2025)

From the Birrarung/Yarra River delivering over $730 million annually in economic benefit to tree canopy reducing urban heat and saving lives, the case is clear: green infrastructure is not a ‘nice-to-have’. It is essential.

We encourage other professionals and policymakers to join us in advocating for these reforms to shape a more liveable, climate-resilient Victoria.