The Concerned Waterways Alliance is pleased to announce the release of our latest report, Single Living Entity Concept in Planning for Waterways, authored by Stephen Rowley of RCI Planning.
Across Victoria, communities and Traditional Owners have long understood that rivers are not just channels of water but living systems, connected, dynamic, and deeply entwined with people and place. In recent years, this understanding has started to reshape how our planning system thinks about waterways.
The Single Living Entity Concept in Planning for Waterways report, prepared by Stephen for the Concerned Waterways Alliance, captures this shift and asks a crucial question: how can we ensure that rivers are truly recognised in planning as whole, living entities rather than fragmented assets?
The report traces the story of how the concept has taken root. It began with the Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act 2017, which, at the urging of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung, recognised the Yarra as “one living and integrated natural entity.” This principle has since extended to the Barwon and the Waterways of the West, and is now filtering into the state’s broader planning frameworks. Along the way, planning overlays, regional policies, and community visions have carried forward this idea of rivers as whole systems, deserving of respect and care.
The report also makes clear that while progress has been made, significant hurdles remain. The idea of rivers as living entities is now written into some policies with strength and clarity, yet in others it is little more than a passing phrase. Governance too remains fractured, with councils, agencies, and catchment authorities often working in silos – dividing rivers into sections rather than managing them as wholes.
The planning tools available are also uneven. Broad strategies may speak in holistic terms but carry little weight, while the binding controls that could enforce protections, such as overlays, are often narrow and limited in scope. And although recognition of Traditional Owners has grown, genuine power-sharing is still elusive. Too often their role is symbolic rather than substantive, when in reality their perspectives and leadership are central to making the living entity concept meaningful.
The report argues for stronger, more integrated planning tools, potentially a comprehensive River Protection Overlay, and for reform of governance arrangements so that waterways are managed as they exist: across boundaries, across disciplines, and across cultures. Most of all, it insists that Traditional Owners’ voices must be central to decision-making if the concept of rivers as living entities is to move from rhetoric to reality.
At its heart, this is a report about re-imagining how we care for waterways. It reminds us that planning is not just about buildings and boundaries, it is about recognising the living systems that sustain us, and ensuring that they are given space, respect, and protection. For Victoria’s rivers, this represents not just a policy shift, but a chance to heal landscapes, honour culture, and create a planning system that works with, not against, the natural world.
The story of its launch can be found here: https://concernedwaterwaysalliance.org/launching-the-single-living-entity-concept-in-planning-for-waterways-report/