Our Mission

Our mission, simply, is to serve Nature.

The lines of Lord George Byron (in Childe Harold, Canto iv, Verse 178) say it beautifully:

I love not man the less, but Nature more

Specifically, our mission is to protect, repair and restore the extraordinary rainforests of Australia.

We do this through research, advocacy, public education, grass-roots support and on-ground ecological restoration.

The research

We see a fundamental connection between our desire to protect and the need to provide a convincing case supported by good, peer-reviewed science. We stay well versed in the latest scientific literature, seek out experts from around the world, many of whom become friends for life, carry out our own research and investigations, and publish reports independently reviewed by experts. If we want people to share our goals and work together to achieve them we want people to trust what we say and do.

Advocacy

We believe we must advocate for change where it can be most effective. This means good laws and policies, and the long-term strategies and plans to implement them.

Public education

We feel the quote from Senegalese ecologist Baba Dioum’s speech to the IUCN General Assembly in New Delhi in 1968 encapsulates the vital role of education:

Our websites, blogs, social media outlets, books, articles, newsletters, media engagement are our means to reach the hearts and minds of the community, for ultimately the community is the only force for lasting change.

Grass root support

We cannot achieve lasting change working alone. Over more than 30 years we have networked with many organisations, in many different campaigns, on many different journeys together, some lasting a decade or more to succeed. With unity comes strength and resilience, and with diversity, the inspiration to see and try new things.

Ecological restoration

We have lost so much. Habitats that were critical for plants and animals to survive in now barely keep them alive if at all. Vast landscapes lie so fragmented animals cannot disperse as they must. How often we hear the words “I used to...” or “I remember when...” when remembering the once familiar forests or forest giants, or animals long since gone.

The challenge for generations to come, all around the world, will be to reassemble Nature, help it heal and reconnect. Not to try is to lock in all the cascades of extinction already looming and leave those who follow a barely recognizable world.