The Wet Tropics community has been a trailblazer in the landcare movement for the past 40 years, with many individuals and organisations committed to protecting and restoring our landscapes. But the threats to our biodiversity and ecosystems are accelerating and we need to work together to maximise our impact.
The Wet Tropics Management Authority has established the Wet Tropics Restoration Program to scale up restoration efforts across the Wet Tropics bioregion so that we can support future climate adaptation.
A number of projects funded through the Wet Tropics Restoration Program will be delivered in collaboration with key stakeholders and partners including Terrain NRM and James Cook University.
Key activities for the program throughout 2022–2024 include:
- quantification of climate benefits of World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics forests as carbon sinks and major carbon stores
- development of people, purpose place-based plans in priority climate refugia catchments
- design and implementation of an investment prospectus to attract and target initial landscape investment
- development of landholder extension tools
- identifying markets investments options to support upscaling of restoration.
The program builds on the successful outcomes from the Wet Tropics Landscape Restoration Symposium (held in September 2021—see below) and the recommendations from the 2020–21 State of Wet Tropics Report: Growing opportunities—landscape restoration for biodiversity and ecosystem recovery.
At the symposium, many participants indicated interest in establishing a Wet Tropics Restoration Alliance to move landscape restoration and repair in the Wet Tropics beyond business as usual scaling up efforts that will expand the sector and allow restoration support to move beyond sporadic and grant funding. Find out more details about the Wet Tropics Restoration Alliance and how you can be involved.
Wet Tropics Landscape Restoration Symposium
The Wet Tropics Management Authority’s Wet Tropics Landscape Restoration Symposium was held on Tableland Yidinji and Ngadjon-Jii Country (Atherton Tableland) 13–14 September 2021. Over 160 participants—including regional land managers, restoration practitioners, innovators, Rainforest Aboriginal Peoples and community members—came together to celebrate achievements, commitment and expertise in landscape restoration across the Wet Tropics.
The symposium was an opportunity to share knowledge and information about
- best practice restoration in theory and practice
- connecting culture, community and land conservation
- innovations in landscape repair and resilience
- the future of ecosystem restoration and the opportunities in carbon and biodiversity markets.
The presentations from the symposium will soon be available online.