HOW YOUR BUSHFIRE RECOVERY DONATION IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE

In January 2020, in response to the unprecedented bushfire tragedy unfolding across the country, WWF-Australia called for global support to establish a AUD$30 million Australian Wildlife and Nature Recovery Fund. Thanks to your generous donations and those of supporters and partners around the world, we ultimately raised almost AUD$51 million for wildlife and nature recovery. WWF-Australia has now fully committed all funding and we are proud to have supported an incredible 245 projects since 2020 in areas from wildlife care to habitat protection, rewilding and more. We have worked with Traditional Owners, communities, NGOs, scientists, businesses and governments to restore what has been lost in a time of climate emergency – building on WWF-Australia’s 45 years of experience working with partners to achieve species conservation and habitat and landscape management across Australia.

Here’s how your donation has made a difference

Our bushfire funds have been deployed over multiple years to deliver long-term restoration plans, as well as through investment in large-scale, high-impact regeneration projects. Some highlights of our bushfire work include:

• Together, we have planted 95,561 koala food trees and restored more than 1,200 hectares of koala habitat in bushfire-impacted areas, supporting partnerships with more than 10 on-ground tree planting and revegetation organisations in Northern NSW and South East Queensland.
• Over 700 veterinary professionals have been trained to provide life-saving care to animals injured during bushfires.
• We installed 234 ‘next generation’ nest boxes to help greater gliders re-establish their homes in bushfire-impacted areas in NSW and Victoria. We’ve also used GPS devices to track greater glider movements and habitat use in fire-impacted areas. The information collected helps us to improve recovery and habitat restoration efforts and to understand the best types of habitat if, in future, greater gliders need to be moved to new areas to protect them from the increasing impacts of climate change.
• 44 western swamp turtles raised through a breeding program have been moved and introduced into a new climate-stable swamp about three hours south of their natural range, in Western Australia. This innovative conservation approach will help protect Australia’s rarest reptile, supporting critically endangered turtle populations in the wild after 90% of their habitat was burnt by fires.
• We have made progress towards rewilding more than 55,000 hectares of landscape, collaborating with 19 partners to support eight priority species, including reintroducing platypus to the Royal National Park in Sydney’s south.
• Over 1,100 sensor cameras have monitored wildlife recovery with the help of AI. Eyes on Recovery is Australia’s first large-scale collaborative camera sensor project measuring the impact of the bushfires on wildlife and informing more action towards recovery.

We couldn’t have done any of this work without the generosity of our supporters in Australia and around the world. And we’re not done yet. With 72 projects commencing in the last 18 months, your donation is helping us continue to collaborate with our partners to help Australia’s wildlife and wild places thrive into the future.

Together we are strengthening resilience to future fires and other climate-driven emergencies. Moving forward, we can keep building on the impact of the Australian Wildlife and Nature Recovery Fund – and keep helping nature to heal – by working to Regenerate Nature by 2030.

The WWF Australian Wildlife and Nature Recovery Fund was established in January 2020 in response to the catastrophic bushfires of 2019-20. The fund delivers: Wildlife response: partnering with wildlife response organisations, communities and scientists nationally for swift and effective recovery at scale. Habitat restoration for people and nature: restoring forests and homes for wildlife, stopping deforestation, cultivating habitat connectivity, core landscapes and Indigenous and rural fire management. Future-proofing Australia: driving innovative solutions to help reduce climate change, driving climate preparedness, species adaptation and long-term wildlife and nature conservation efforts towards securing Australia’s natural resources for people and nature.

We couldn’t do any of this work without the generosity of our supporters in Australia and around the world. Join us on this journey. Together it’s possible.