Protect Earth's last wildernesses, $5 per acre

Forever Wild's acquisition of 1650 square kilometers in Western Australia earlier this year generated a lot of interest, partly because of the scale and ambition of our work, and partly due to how we blended donations with private capital investment. Quite honestly, many people did not believe that any investor would consider placing their money into 'natural capital', but we figured that someone out there would take the leap. And they did!

The funds raised on GlobalGiving went a long way to demonstrate that society wants to see change, and we used the success of the GlobalGiving campaign as a clear demonstration that innovation in finance can - indeed must - be developed.

Now our focus is on expanding the Western Deserts concept, and ultimately making it truly a 'shared earth landscape' of a scale that is meaningful at a global scale. The long-term goal is a 10,000km sq area, and we have now entered negotiations for another 1650 square kilometers. With the existing national parks sitting adjacent, the protected wilderness landscape will be nearly 5,500 sq km! This is an extraordinary size, and will ensure thousands of species and hundreds of ancient cultural heritage sites are protected in perpetuity. Don't forget each property will also capture over 300,000 tonnes of carbon.

We thought we would share a few photos demonstrating why the area in Western Australia is so important. In 2021 the land saw the best rains for nearly 20 years and burst into life. Wildflowers that had lain as dormant seeds embraced the damp desert soil, and birds have entered a nesting and breeding frenzy. The landscape is quite literally thronged with life. We took loads of photos to share with you - most of the plants are found nowhere else on Earth. 

In our survey this year we also found an undocumented rock art site, which was one of the most astounding experiences of the last few years for the Forever Wild team.

As we look to expand the Western Deserts Shared Earth Landscape, please consider once again supporting us, sharing word of what we do and taking a moment to smile while you think of all the animals, plants and thousands of years of history you have helped to protect for future generations.

We have only one planet, very little time, but enough people willing to make the change we all need.

Links:

• Western Deserts gallery
• Forever Wild

G'day everyone,

Don't forget to watch the short video of the gorgeous little animal we cared for an released recently ;-) 

Work is continuing at a furious pace on the acquisition and protection of the landscape in the Western Deserts. This place of stark beauty and incredible biological diversity has only 7% of its habitat types under protection. Austin Downs, the first property we are buying in this landscape, has 19 different habitat types!! This is partly because the place, at 1650 square kilometers, is so vast. But it also has lots of different soil types, water flows and low, rocky escarpments that all have their own species. At this stage we are hoping to finalize acquisition in May, and all the funds donated via GlobalGiving will be allocated to this.

Our primary activity for the Western Deserts landscape since January has been raising the investment to combine with donations. We apply what is referred to as a 'blended finance' model where we bring in donor funds and investment. Any investment has to meet specific criteria, including funding conservation outcomes. It is hard work finding this investment, but it enables us to increase x10 the level of funds from donations. Forever Wild is at the cutting edge of large-scale conservation finance and your donation is a critical part of it; without donations to help buy and protect a landscape, blended finance would not be possible.

Covid19 has restricted travel across Australia, so on-ground activities in the Western Deserts have been on hold. Nonetheless, we have been planning a biological survey for Austin Downs, which will be the first one ever conducted in the area. Some of the scientists believe new species may be found. We are not sure if we will get it done this year given all that is happening, but we will keep you updated.

In other work in Northern Australia, we have been very focused on core conservation activities, particularly our work with threatened species on our Tropical Wetlands property. Probably one of the more rewarding was looking after a small marsupial carnivore called a Northern Quoll. This species is endangered, and a young male was brought to us with injuries. He did not take long to recover however, and was soon released into the reserve where this species is seen regularly.

Thank you all so much, and I hope everyone is safe.

Forever Wild team

Links:

• The Western Deserts landscape program will be launched in 2021
• The injured Northern Quoll