The 202020 Vision is a national initiative funded through the nursery industry levy, with the aim of increasing trees and plants in urban areas by 20% by 2020.

The initiative is now in its fourth year and there are five key audiences the program will be the focussing on for the 2016/17 Financial Year:

• The Living Network (partners and advocates)
• Schools
• Business
• Government
• Consumers

There are more than 400 advocates in the 202020 Vision network, who say they will continue to work together to help individuals, businesses, schools, consumers and organisations that want to increase their green space.

The success of the program’s My Park Rules initiative, which saw Marrickville Public School win a brand new park valued at over $100,000, will continue to generate media coverage as the park is being built.

Building on the success of previous “How To” guides, the 202020 Vision team will launch the How to Green Your School guide; providing every school with a range of pre-made park designs and other resources so they are fully equipped with the information they need to do it themselves.

The 202020 Vision will help provide input into the newly established Green Cities Fund, managed by Horticulture Innovation Australia, and encourage partners to get involved in research projects to fill the gaps in knowledge that support the Vision.

Ongoing work with local government areas (LGA) will include a partnership with the City of Melbourne to assist in the development of a metropolitan-wide Urban Forest Strategy.

There will also be a catalogue of where Victorian councils are up to in their planning, which will help to determine what plants will be needed and how far in the future, in order to implement their green space strategies.

In the consumer space, designs for various sized apartments will be developed, including species advice and information regarding the health and wellbeing benefits of green space, with the aim to encourage consumers to increase the amount of greenery in their homes and realise the health benefits of this.

The team from 202020 Vision says it is open to any thoughts NGIA members have which may benefit Year 4 plans. Please send any feedback to Craig Perring from Hort Innovation – e-mail or phone (02) 8295 2342.