Individuals can now contribute to conserving parcels of land permanently, thanks to land covenant platform Wilderlands.
The platform facilitates the purchase of ‘biological diversity units’ which operate like carbon credits, but which aren’t ‘offsets’, and can’t be traded in a secondary market.
The units represent a promise to both conserve and regenerate high-value land, aiming to contribute to the Federal Government’s commitment to protect 30% of nature by 2030. This is in line with the targets of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
It’s an additional financial incentive that can help farmers shift their decision-making towards conservation, rather than continued degradation.
“We are giving people the ability to protect vulnerable Australian land for biodiversity and engaging leading conservation organisations to help you preserve it forever; that’s what we’re making possible when people purchase these units,” says Paul Dettmann, Wilderlands co-founder.
“We’re taking the complexity of conservation covenants, management and permanent biodiversity protection and unitising the impact to make it simple, easy and affordable for anyone to start proactively preserving nature today.”
Paul is a sixth generation farmer with over 20 years experience in land conservation, and he’s also the CEO of Cassinia Environmental, the conservation organisation that will be the key partner for operationalising the Wilderlands program.
An initial project will see the unitisation of the conservation impact of protecting 5 million sqm of land being offered to customers. The projects will come from a range of Cassinia’s biodiversity protection projects, across tall forests, wetlands, woodlands and grasslands.
Packages can be bought for as little as $30 for 10sqm, with each section uniquely geo-tagged, so individuals can see the specific path of land they’re funding.
Since launching, the company has secured commitments to protect over 12,000sqm of vulnerable ecosystems, and generated over $30,000 in revenue.