Wet Tropics Restoration Alliance
In the Wet Tropics of Queensland, a new alliance dedicated to accelerating tropical rainforest restoration is expanding its membership and activities.
Background
Acknowledging the challenge of retaining and restoring the environment, the United Nations (UN) has declared 2021–2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, focusing on preventing, halting and reversing the degradation of ecosystems worldwide.
The Wet Tropics Restoration Alliance (the Alliance) is a coalition of organisations dedicated to ensuring the survival of the Wet Tropics of Queensland forests—some of the world’s oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforests—amidst a changing and unstable climate. The Alliance aims to upscale restoration in the region while supporting a resilient green economy to protect the region’s natural assets.
Commencing in 2022, members work across the region to reverse the decline of the Wet Tropics’ unique biodiversity and use nature-based and traditional ecological solutions, including revegetation and conservation outside protected areas, to address our climate emergency.
Alliance membership is open to any organisation or individual interested in working together to ensure the survival of Wet Tropics forests under a changing and unstable climate.
Currently, the Alliance membership includes over 28 organisations and individuals, including:
- Landcare groups
- farming groups
- Traditional Custodians
- landscape restoration practitioners
- research organisations
- conservation organisations
- investors.
To secure the future of the Wet Tropics, the Alliance invites anyone committed to contributing to this mission to join.
Outcomes
The Alliance holds events throughout the year to share experience and technical skills and enhance restoration action across the region.
In September 2024, the Alliance held a Restoration Methods Workshop and field trip on the beautiful Ngadjon-Jii Country in Malanda. The event brought together over 60 passionate individuals to explore different approaches for reinstating and restoring native vegetation.
The event included:
- a series of talks by local experts on diverse restoration methods, including natural regeneration, woodland restoration, direct seeding, and restoration tools and trials
- field trips to nearby restoration sites supported by landholders, Malanda Landcare, Tablelands Regional Council and Terrain NRM.
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