LCSDP Objectives and Activities

7. To consolidate the LCSDP’s strong collaborative partnership of active members to support, resource, advocate and take responsibility to achieve outcomes.

The LCSDP Leadership Group facilitated the launch of the LCSDP in 2002 and the establishment of the LCSDP office in 2004. The Leadership Group sets and monitors the overall direction of LCSDP steers the management of related activities.  The project office is responsible for the day-to-day coordination of related activities and ongoing community engagement.

The LCSDP governance structure has evolved in a way appropriate to its own identity and processes.  The original LCSDP concept was to form a structured legal entity to house the activities of the LCSDP.  The original concept was reviewed by the Leadership Group and realigned to reflect the more flexible working relationships that had proven successful since the Leadership Group's establishment.

As a result of Leadership Group's decision to continue with its flexible arrangements in lieu of establishing a new legal entity, project funding continued to be auspice with Winda Mara. The arrangements contributed to the enhancement of the corporation's established capacity through the management and delivery of several LCSDP related projects in partnership with the Gunditjmara traditional owners.

The establishment of the Gunditj Mirring corporation in 2006 by Gunditjmara traditional owners and subsequently recognised native title holders added to the capacity of community-based development and delivery of projects and programs. The 2007 Gunditjmara native title consent determination and Indigenous Land Use Agreement between the Gunditjmara and the State of Victoria provided a long-deserved recognition of the Gunditjmara as well as resources for the new corporation.

The levels of achievement and change since the LCSDP's establishment in 2002 is reflective of the ongoing growth of the Gunditjmara and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in the far southwest of Victoria. The LCSDP had engaged traditional owners, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the broader community to work towards common goals of sustainable development of the Budj Bim landscape.

In 2011, we can reflect on the original LCSDP vision to measure progress and achievement of the vision and its objectives as well as reviewing what still is required to be done. An important base component that remains is the nomination of the Budj Bim landscape for World Heritage Listing.

Alongside the current world heritage nomination activity and its many processes, the LCSDP Leadership Group will also take the opportunity to evaluate its own relationships and the local and global socio-environment it operates within to best work towards the sustainable development of the Budj Bim landscape.

John Osborne LCSDP Co-Chair & Portland Aluminium Operations Manager, Damein  Bell LCSDP Manager and Gunditj Mirring Chairman & Hon Gavin Jennings Minister for the Environment and Climate Change at The Return of Lake Condah 2008.