The best time to protect our rainforests was 25 years ago. The second best time is today — especially when it comes to the world’s oldest rainforest.
This is the premise for Rainforest Rescue, an organisation that works to forever protect the ancient rainforests of the Daintree in Far North Queensland. Though these rainforests have evolved over 180 million years, the last 150 years have seen them subjected to the harsh impacts of invasive species, climate change, logging, and land clearing.
Daintree National Park was declared a World Heritage Site in 1988, but much of the lowland areas remained unprotected, leaving them open to land subdivision. Conservation work was left to non-profit organisations like Rainforest Rescue, founded in 1999. Rainforest Rescue purchases land to safeguard it, while engaging in restorative and regenerative efforts in partnership with Traditional Owners and other conservation groups.
‘Our regular activities involve buying back vulnerable rainforest that isn’t part of the protected Daintree National Park’, explains Rainforest Rescue CEO Branden Barber. ‘ Sites that then require rehabilitation undergo restoration to transform them back into lush rainforest habitat.’
The habitat in the Daintree is one-of-a-kind: the rainforests include almost complete records of the evolution of plant life on earth, and have more families of flowering plants than anywhere else in the world.
It’s also home to many rare or threatened species, including Bennett’s tree kangaroo, Southern cassowary, and Tapping green eyed frog. Many of these species are endemic, meaning Daintree is their only home on the planet.
For Branden, the role of leading Rainforest Rescue is a continuation of his lifelong mission of advocating for the health of our planet.
‘It all started a long time ago when I was at university. I was just about to fall asleep, when I sat up and said out loud: ‘The planet, I have to help the planet!’ My roommate, Ted, told me to shut up, and the next day I changed my major to environmental studies. That led me to Greenpeace, then Amazon Watch and others until Rainforest Rescue called.’
In the past six years, he’s witnessed the organisation complete big and impactful projects, like the restoration and protection of Kurranji Bubu, 28 hectares of rainforest now protected for life under the Nature Conservation Act 1992.
Another achievement is the building of Native Nursery, the largest nursery in the Daintree, with the goal of ultimately producing 150,000 trees ready for the replanting of almost 25 hectares of rainforest habitat every year.
So far, the organisation has rescued 44 properties in the Daintree and one in Tasmania — making up more than two million square metres — and protected them forever, as well as planted more than 373,000 trees to repair damaged rainforest.
Rainforest Rescue relies on the help of volunteers to keep their work going. Branden says in recent years they’ve also expanded their partnerships program.
‘When I started, we had no partnerships at all beyond our business partnerships. We’ve worked hard to change this and now have several active partnerships that have extended the scope and reach of our organisation, and helped the others as well. There’s a lot to be said for being stronger together, it’s so true.’
A little bit of help goes a long way in rainforest restoration. Just $12.50 contributes towards the ten stages of caring for a rainforest seedling for around two years until the canopy closes and nature takes over. Five dollars gives forever-protection for one square metre of threatened rainforest.
As our climate rapidly changes, rainforests play a crucial role in storing carbon and helping to stabilise global temperatures. Branden says he’s committed to finding new ways to grow the organisation’s impact.
‘Being able to steer and support Rainforest Rescue at this existentially urgent moment in our evolution as a species, I couldn’t be in more of the right place or the right time. Rainforest Rescue is all about restoring and protecting rainforests forever. I’m personally committed to that outcome.’
‘There’s no time to waste and every tree, every forest, is precious.’
You can find out how to get involved with Rainforest Rescue here, and donate here.
