Rainforest reboot: Rainforest Rescue
The best time is now to protect rainforests forever.
Nestled within a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northeastern Queensland, there’s a unique pocket of ancient history: the Daintree is the world’s oldest evolving rainforest.
Yet since the 1800s, agriculture and development have fragmented this ancient landscape. Rainforest Rescue, a finalist of RestorLife Awards 20205, is working to reconnect what’s been broken.
Fragmented rainforests are vulnerable, especially those outside formal protection. Rainforest Rescue purchases and protects high conservation-value properties to restore natural connectivity.
So far, they’ve rescued 46 properties, with over 2.3 million square meters (nearly five times larger than Vatican City) brought into restoration!
The closure of farms and old industries creates environmental opportunities for local ecosystems and economic potential for local communities.
Take Nightwings, a former 18-hectare cane farm, now fully transformed.
Hundreds of thousands of endemic trees have been planted, welcoming back wildlife and at-risk species.
The Daintree covers just 0.2% of the country’s landmass, yet within it reside
30% of Australia’s frog, reptile, and marsupial species,
90% of its bat and butterfly species
18% of its bird species.
The forest is small, but critically important.
Rainforest Rescue’s vision extends beyond planting trees. They’re restoring and conserving the biodiversity and cultural heritage of the Rainforest.
Restor is helping them track their long-term ecological outcomes, showing tangible results through data.
Rainforest Rescue leverages Restor’s scientific insights and tools to investigate the integration of data across tree cover, land, carbon, biodiversity, and satellite imagery. As partners and funders seek transparent, measured impact data, Restor can deliver.
Rainforest Rescue first became aware of Restor and its platform when searching for suitable international grants to support our work. We were impressed by the transparent and powerful data layers, and we are excited to be part of Restor’s world now. As an organization, we are always looking for new ways to enhance our data capture and analysis using technology to increase our impact, and Restor is a powerful way to show the world our impact.
Tate Brammer, General Manager, Finance & Operations, Rainforest Rescue
To rainforests,
Rainforests play a very crucial role in regulating many of the planet’s most critical natural processes, such as rainfall, absorption of carbon dioxide, and combating climate change. These ‘ecosystem services’ are estimated to be worth trillions of dollars per year globally.
Support the communities that are at the forefront of protecting rainforests.
Explore their Restor’s profile.
