Our impact so far

we own and work across THOUSANDS of ACRES PROTECTING THREATENED & VULNERABLE SPECIES

Global political efforts to prevent climate change, which began with COP1 way back in 1995, are pretty much dead.  Why? Because major western powers have pulled out of climate projects, Asian countries are still bringing new coal-fired power stations on line, and almost all governments keep under-investing or shirking longer-term thinking. 

Whilst Australia is home to an estimated 7% of the world’s species, our deforestation rates are at an all-time high due to land clearing, housing developments and poor farming practices. Yep, Australia is a world-leader in chopping down trees and wiping out animals: two appalling accomplishments that are tightly connected.

But we’re not the only ones. Each year, large swathes of forests are destroyed to make room for palm oil, cattle, soy and other commodity-driven agriculture. This destruction comes at a climate cost: deforestation accounts for 8 percent of annual emissions, equivalent to those released by the entire European Union. Indeed, deforestation is at the root of our most pressing crises: water shortages, desertification, landslides, mass extinction, zoonotic diseases, and rapid climate change.

The Wildlife Bank Trust is addressing this emergency with passion, ambition and urgency. We are not waiting for governments to stop their short-term, vested approaches; instead we are leading by example and showing them what to do. So far we have secured over 17,000 acres across 7 reserves in our efforts to protect thousands of species of plants and animals. And, more importantly, we are focusing our attention on the factors most closely associated with long-term conservation success: ecological integrity, landscape contribution, threatened species value, permanence, cultural continuity, financial sustainability and effective stewardship. Because, for us, conservation action is best understood as landscapes held in trust between previous and future generations.