NAB Foundation is supporting Greening Australia and World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia’s signature partnership Climate-ready Restoration with a grant that tests how to reduce Australia’s natural disaster risk.
This is the inaugural project funded from the NAB Foundation’s Environmental Resilience Fund, which is part of the NAB Ready Together program, that supports practical projects that build environmental resilience to natural disasters and climate change.
The NAB Foundation grant provides $2 million to the partnership over the next three years, enabling fire experts and local communities in south-eastern Australia to test green firebreaks to manage natural disaster risks. The project will also restore ecosystems by improving biodiversity, as well as engage with First Nations peoples to assess the feasibility of cultural burning and other Indigenous-led land management practices.
NAB Group Chief Operating Officer, Les Matheson, said the grant partnership with Greening Australia and WWF-Australia filled a growing need to fund projects that future-proof nature and communities against disaster risk.
“As our climate changes, Australians need to better grasp how to build our natural defences to disasters like fire and floods.
“Philanthropic entities such as the NAB Foundation are perfectly placed to do this because we can support the long-term, science-led testing needed to figure out how Australia can become more resilient to natural disasters.”
Science and Impact Manager at Greening Australia, Elisa Raulings, said climate change was an ‘all hands-on deck’ scenario that requires philanthropists, conservationists and business to work together.
“To deliver the speed, change and innovation needed to solve this global crisis, we need to bring businesses and research together to leverage their expertise, ideas and practical knowledge.
“We’re pleased to be partnering with the NAB Foundation alongside WWF-Australia to promote effective, nature-based solutions that can help create a future where people and nature thrive.”
Program Manager, Landscape Restoration and Protection, WWF-Australia, Christopher Ewing, said the partnership was vital to help test different approaches to addressing biodiversity loss.
“Collaborations like this are necessary to ensure the Australian environment is climate-ready and our flora, fauna and communities are resilient to the changing climate,” Mr Ewing said.
About NAB Foundation
The NAB Foundation is the philanthropic arm of NAB. Through granting and investments, the Foundation aims to be a catalyst for positive social and environmental change in Australia by using philanthropic capital for greater social impact. At a time when Australia’s communities and the environment face increased disaster risk because of our changing climate, the NAB Foundation focuses on initiatives helping Australians before, during and after natural disasters, including via our Community Grants and Environmental Resilience Fund. The Foundation also undertakes discrete impact investments and invest underlying corpus assets with a socially responsible investment position.
About Greening Australia
Greening Australia has been restoring Australia’s unique landscapes and protecting biodiversity at scale through collaborative, science-based programs for 40 years. Greening Australia is committed to tackling Australia’s greatest environmental challenges in ways that work for communities, economies, and nature; planting millions of native trees and plants, protecting hundreds of native species, and supporting Traditional Owners’ aspirations for restoring country. For more information, visit www.greeningaustralia.org.au.
About WWF-Australia
WWF-Australia is one of the world’s largest and most experienced independent conservation organisations, with over five million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries. WWF-Australia’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
