Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) reserve system review

The Victorian Government has completed a review of the Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) reserve system as required by the Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs).

It is considering how the review findings will help to improve the CAR Reserve system.

Read the full review here (PDF, 1.9 MB).

The Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) reserve system

The CAR reserve system protects biodiversity, old growth forests and wilderness areas across Victoria’s five RFA regions. It makes sure we protect these values in a way that is:

• Comprehensive – includes a full range of vegetation communities
• Adequate – is large enough to maintain species diversity
• Representative – conserves each vegetation community’s diversity

The RFAs require the Victorian Government to review the CAR reserve system every five years. It needs to consider the impacts of climate change and best available science.

What were the key findings of the report?

Overall, the report found that Victoria’s CAR reserve system is well established and operating as it should. There are also some areas for potential improvement. Key findings of the report include:

• the CAR reserve system is providing strong protection for old-growth forest and wilderness areas
• there are improvements that can be made to protect some vegetation types
• many of the opportunities for improvement are on private land
• some types of vegetation are highly vulnerable to climate change and increased protection is important for climate resilience of the CAR system
• there are opportunities to improve reserve system reviews, including improving available data.

Next steps

The Victorian Government is considering how the report's findings can improve the CAR reserve system, including how this work can provide an input to the Australian Government’s commitment to protect 30 percent of land by 2030.