Thank you to our ALCA26 delegates, partners and sponsors for joining us in Nipluna/Hobart, and for being part of our biggest ever ALCA Conference.
We call it a conference, but I feel like it’s much more. And as it has grown over the last decade it has shifted from network building to sector building and now with the increasing diversity and interest, movement building. This year the convening carried a strong sense of momentum, agenda-setting and as always a really strong action agenda.
I always feel privileged to be in a room with people who understand both the scale of the challenges we face, and the opportunity, and this year, our room was bigger. We live and operate in turbulent times and our work is not easy - and yet I left the room with hope. I’ve heard from many of you of the value you found being in this room, united and galvanised by a shared commitment to nature, climate and community, and to creating space and contributing action that shapes our sector's future, and the world that we want to live in.
500+ attendees, representing 230+ organisations, who all through your participation and contribution, ideas and experiences, have informed my top takeaways:
Our work is critical.
ALCA26 was a demonstration of practical, scalable action. Progress towards Australia’s national and global nature-climate agenda ultimately depends on what happens on the ground, but on-ground action cannot stand alone.
ALCA26 delegates represent Australia's delivery agents for nature and climate action. Together, we are an increasingly sophisticated and integrated sector spanning private and Indigenous land management, science, finance, law, policy, restoration and other forms of on-ground conservation.
Our work is the only scalable intervention that Australia can deploy at the scale needed to meet nature and climate goals. We’re ready, capable and already doing the work, but we can’t shoulder the responsibility alone. We need the policy, regulatory and investment settings that back our work in and enable it to scale.
Broadening the conversation.
The last ALCA conference in Lutruwita/Tasmania was almost a decade ago. It provides a neat reference point for how far we've come in making the case for nature.
Back then, much of the conversation focused on how to help governments, businesses and communities understand nature's value. While that work continues, the conversation has evolved. When it comes to making the case, language really matters. We know we can’t discuss it only in environmental terms, but as the foundation of things that our different audiences care about: healthy communities, cultural connection, productive soil and food systems, water security, climate resilience, and economic prosperity.
That shift is important for broadening participation. Building support for nature means recognising that people come to this work from different perspectives and priorities. Meeting people where they’re at opens the door to new partnerships, new audiences and new opportunities for action.
Part of ALCA’s role is bringing people to the table, and it has been encouraging to see the growing number of “unlikely allies” with us.
Leadership matters.
The conference theme, Nature-climate action: our opportunity to lead, prompted reflection and demonstration of what leadership looks like in a turbulent and rapidly changing world.
Leadership exists everywhere: communities, farms, ranger teams, conservation properties, research institutions, boardrooms, and cross discipline teams - people are taking responsibility for creating positive change.
And we need that leadership to always challenge the status quo; to recognise First Nations peoples as rights-holders, knowledge holders and authorities; to mobilise collective action and invest in the relationships and workforce capacity building needed for lasting change; and to remain focused on long-term outcomes even in uncertain times.
We received so many gifts from First nations speakers from across Australia and the Oceania. They challenged us to reimagine our relationship with Country, and to really consider how we can better recognise the opportunity we have when first nations lead from the front.
I was struck by the leadership of early career starters. We are the in process of transitioning some of the biggest challenges, and the biggest opportunities to our next generations. Whether there are more opportunities or challenges to leave behind is up to us. How we position and support them to carry those things forward, is also up to us. Their contributions of knowledge, experience, energy and ambition was palpable across the week.
Leadership is needed everywhere, but government leadership matters most.
Government has a unique responsibility.
Leadership by government remains the single most important factor in protecting nature and reversing biodiversity decline.
Individuals, communities and businesses all have an essential role to play, and many are already stepping up. But as Vic notes, governments can do things that others cannot. They legislate. They allocate resources. They establish institutions. They make decisions that shape the future, and they carry responsibility for fairness across generations.
In Australia and around the world, people increasingly expect governments to take responsibility for large-scale environmental protection and resoration. Governments are responding with targets that are ambitious, significant and capable of galvanising action that was difficult to imagine only a decade ago.
That is encouraging, but ambition alone will not restore ecosystems or recover species. Australia has everything it needs to lead the world on nature and climate action, implementation must catch up.
An investment gap or an implementation gap?
We talk a lot about the investment gap – and the roughly 7.5B per year shortfall between what Australia needs to spend on nature and what is currently being invested.
But as our Chair, Vic Marles, argued in her ministerial response, this is really a government “implementation” gap.
It reframes the issue from what the conservation sector lacks to what governments must do to deliver on their promises. Governments have set ambitious targets, signed international agreements and publicly committed to nature recovery and net zero. And citizens expect them to take responsibility for delivering those outcomes. The fact that the Australian government invests only a fraction of what is needed to meet its own commitments is evidence that implementation is not keeping pace with ambition.
Our sector will keep helping build and improve the systems and frameworks needed to support nature conservation at scale. Blended finance, environmental markets, strategic philanthropy and private investments, ecosystem accounting, sustainable finance taxonomies, nature-related disclosure frameworks, are all important groundwork. Many of the people in the room have helped shape that progress.
We will continue to work constructively with governments across the country. And we will also hold them to account.
ALCA is here to partner, and to pressure.
We represent and serve a sector with growing influence, capability and reach.
Much has changed since ALCA was established. Private land conservation is more consistently recognised in policy and investment decisions, though gaps remain. First Nations-led care for Country has grown in visibility and recognition. Nature is appearing more prominently in economic and investment discussions. And partnerships between conservation and production are becoming the norm, not the exception.
Together, we've built a bigger, more diverse movement with a stronger voice for nature.
That collective voice was evident at ALCA26, and your endorsement of Australia's Nature and Climate Declaration, a sector-wide call for action on the intertwined crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.
The Declaration has been formally submitted to the Australian Government for response, and includes calls to reverse chronic underinvestment in nature, keep 1.5°C within reach, and pursue the highest possible ambition for nature and climate at COP17 and COP31.
Climate change and nature loss are among the defining challenges of our time, and they can’t be solved by one organisation or sector alone. Meeting the challenge requires governments, communities, funders, business, and conservation organisations working together.
ALCA’s role is to bring those efforts together, build support for nature, and create the conditions for action at scale. We are here to partner. And where necessary, we are here to apply pressure.
Our sector will keep doing what we do best. Protecting, restoring and managing nature. But as Cliff Cobbo said in his closing remarks, governments work for the Australian people, and Australia expects them to fund, enable and scale our work.
Thank you all for the work you all do. And to conference delegates, for your full participation, your energy, and your commitment. We look forward to seeing the ripple effects of your work in the months and years ahead.
Stay connected to the people you met, the ideas that challenged you, and the opportunities that emerged. And stay connected with ALCA as we continue building the systems, partnerships and support needed to scale the protection, management and restoration of nature.
--Jody Gunn
