Landcare's potential contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals: a local self-reliance approach to global sustainability

This chapter maps aspects of the Australian experience of landcare against the United Nations' framework of Sustainable Development Goals to demonstrate its potential efficacy in a global context. The landcare approach, in its contemporary form, is articulated in the Australian Framework for Landcare (2010-2020) as comprising: -the landcare ethic (a philosophy, influencing the way people live in the landscape while caring for the land) -the landcare movement founded on stewardship and volunteers (local community action putting the philosophy into practice) -the landcare model (a range of knowledge generation, sharing and support mechanisms including groups, networks from district to national levels, facilitators and coordinators, government and non-government programs and partnerships). Landcare is an example of a long-lasting local self-reliance approach that has been flexible, innovative and dynamic enough to survive and, mostly, thrive for over 30 years in an ever-changing, and occasionally hostile, policy environment. The analysis presented in this chapter suggests that the landcare approach, underpinned by supportive policy settings and institutional arrangements, has much to contribute beyond Australia to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in both developed and developing country contexts.