Bonds of friendship and collaboration

EARLIER this week, the City of Greater Geelong was fortunate enough to receive a visit from a student delegation from our friends in Nagoya, Japan.

This partnership holds special significance for our region as it provides a unique opportunity for students from both cities to exchange valuable information about our respective cultures, cities, and the amazing migration of birds between the Ramsar wetlands in Nagoya and Geelong each year.

The relationship was established nearly 20 years ago when one of our former Mayors, Bruce Harwood, had the honour of attending the Geelong-Nagoya wetlands affiliation agreement ceremony in Nagoya, Japan, marking the beginning of a fruitful partnership.

That was in in 2007, and since then, a delegation from Nagoya has been visiting Geelong every two years, strengthening the bonds of friendship and collaboration between our communities.

It is encouraging to see the shared respect both cities have for our wetlands, which are of immense importance and serve as a critical habitat for over 65,000 migratory birds.

Most of these birds breed in Siberia, central Asia, and Japan, and travel over 11,000 kilometres to escape the icy northern hemisphere winter.

One of these migrants, the tiny, red-necked stint, which weighs only 30 grams – about as much as a light-bulb – will fly as far as the distance between the earth and the moon in its lifetime.

So we care greatly about our wetlands, and want to ensure the knowledge sharing that occurs between our city and Nagoya continues.

The Greater Geelong region is home to more than 100 individual wetlands covering a total of 11,630 hectares.

These range from coastal and freshwater wetlands, to major waterways and smaller creek systems, and these areas make up a significant part of the total habitat remaining in the Geelong area.

Three of our wetlands are internationally-recognised under the Ramsar Convention, but all support a diverse range of plants, birds and other animals, including a number of rare or threatened species.

The ongoing protection of these spaces is vital and forms part of our Environment Strategy 2020-2030 and Environment Strategy Action Plan 2020-2022.

These documents detail our City’s environmental sustainability goals and how we will act to protect our region’s environment and reduce our environmental footprint.

The strategy and supporting action plan were informed by local and international environmental trends, and by the knowledge and ideas of our community and regional stakeholders.

The Environment Strategy 2020-2030 defines five key goals to guide our planning and decision making, which are: become a zero-emission, climate-ready city and region; create greener community spaces; contribute to a circular economy by reducing waste; protect, enhance and restore our region’s biodiversity; and achieve better integrated water management through planning and design.

The relationship that has been built between the City of Greater Geelong and Nagoya through the Geelong-Nagoya wetlands affiliation agreement has contributed greatly to our ongoing work in this space, thanks to the sharing of information and knowledge between our two cities.

For that reason, it was so wonderful that we were able to play host to the delegation that was here, and we look forward to the continuation of our friendship into the future.

Cr Jim Mason

Bellarine Ward, City of Greater Geelong