As a supporter you’ll be purchasing Biological Diversity Units (BDUs), which secure the permanent protection of a specific square metre(s) of high conservation significance land at risk of biodiversity loss and receive certification from an independent registry authenticating your purchase.
As a supporter, you will have your own profile page, receive regular updates from ecologists and managers on the ground, and read stories about threatened species and issues relating to the ecosystems you are supporting.
Via an interactive map, you will be able to zoom into an aerial photo for a closer look at the land you’re helping to protect (feature coming soon).
We’ve created these bundles to provide a taste of the different ecosystems you’ll be able to support, initially ranging from Tall Forests, Woodlands, Wetlands and Grasslands.
The projects you’ll be helping protect when you purchase one of these bundles are Crowes Lookout, Coorong Lakes, Budgerum and Alleena.
In the near future you’ll be able to customise your bundles to select exactly which projects you wish to support, however this feature is not available as yet.
In the near future you’ll be able to customise your bundles to select exactly which projects you wish to support, however this feature is not available as yet.
If you would like to protect more land than the current bundle limit of 200 square metres in one transaction please email [email protected] and we will be in touch with you to facilitate your request asap.
Every Wilderlands project includes legal permanent protection over the project land. This is achieved by the landowner entering into an on-title conservation agreement (known as a covenant) with a state government authority under an Act of Parliament (law or statute). Attached to a land title forever, any change of ownership of the land does not revoke or diminish the conservation covenant, ensuring continual management of the land for nature conservation. Effectively, the covenants create lasting sanctuaries for our wildlife on private property. The legal deed of covenant sets out the land-use restrictions, which may include the foregoing of future rights to subdivision and development. A conservation management plan is associated with the covenant to provide prescriptions to positive land management.
Compliance of a landholder with a conservation agreement (covenant) is monitored and enforced by the covenanting body (ie. Trust for Nature in Victoria, Biodiversity Conservation Trust in NSW, Tasmanian Land Conservancy, Native Vegetation Council in SA, etc.) This includes periodic reviews of the management plan, which may include the adoption of additional activities to improve the condition of the land.
Management progress of each Wilderlands project is reported on the Wilderlands website, including results of formal ecological assessments that measure change/improvement to the project site. Regular updates are also provided to supporters of management progress, including weed control efforts and successes, revegetation works, threatened species monitoring, pest control, soil stabilisation, and other activities.
A Biological Diversity Unit (BDU) represents the protection of one square metre of high strategic value conservation land. Each BDU will comprise a unique and verified unit in respect of a defined area (georeferenced), that will be permanently protected and managed to maintain and enhance the integrity of its biological diversity. A BDU can only be issued and assigned once and encompasses funding for 20 years of management plus the permanent protection afforded by a legal, on-title conservation agreement (covenant) as well as in-perpetuity protection.
Our approach is an evolution of current biodiversity compliance programs in Australia, which are broadly founded on the concept of ex-ante biodiversity “gain” compared with Business as Usual (i.e. what would happen without protection and management). Gain is derived from protection (the legal restriction of existing and future land uses that threaten biodiversity), maintenance (active management to prevent a decline in condition) and improvement (activities that improve the condition of habitat over time).
Unlike compliance markets, BDUs are not designed as a direct offset for biodiversity or habitat loss. Rather, they are a mechanism to support net biodiversity gain and contribute towards the global 30×30 target.
No, each unit has a different price reflecting the cost of biodiversity protection and management works on that project.
These costs take into consideration the price of land that has been protected, and include the extent of conservation work required, the development and implementation of the management plan, monitoring and other elements as described in the Wilderlands Whitepaper.
The price of Biological Diversity Units for current projects range from $2 to $7 per unit.
Yes. You’ll receive certification verified by our third-party registry Vegetation Link proving you’ve purchased unique Biological Diversity Units. This certificate will be downloadable via your personal profile page on the Wilderlands website and can be printed for display.
You can see an example of the certificate you’ll receive here.
In time the registry will be live on-line and all BDUs will be publicly viewable.
No, BDUs are not transferable or assignable once allocated.
We’ll be introducing a new feature in the coming months which will enable you to send these Biological Diversity Units as a gift and help others start protecting their own plots of land within these projects.
At this point the best way you can support Wilderlands is by sharing the concept with your friends and helping them take action today.
It’s critically important that you have confidence in the conservation projects you’re supporting, which is why we’ve secured an initial partnership with Cassinia Environmental, an Australian leader in landscape restoration, regenerative agriculture and biodiversity protection.
Established in 2002, Cassinia Environmental have delivered over 105 landscape scale projects across Australia for a diverse range of stakeholders, including State and Federal Governments, international corporations, NGOs, and Traditional Owners. With strong connections across the Victorian landscape, Cassinia Environmental is the largest covenanting partner of Trust for Nature, Victoria’s conservation covenanting body of private land.
Cassinia Environmental were recently featured in a mini-documentary commissioned by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales on RE:TV detailing their work at Coorong Lakes in South Australia, a project you’re able to support through Wilderlands.
Our vision is Wilderlands will become a marketplace to support many landholders and conservation organisations to deliver conservation projects throughout Australia and around the world.
Ambitious and innovative concepts like Wilderlands take resources to get off the ground, but ultimately our success will be measured on impact and this is reflected in how we spend your money.
Right now between 74.5% and 80.5% of your contribution goes directly to biodiversity protection projects (costs vary depending on the size of your contribution).
The remainder covers everything else including spreading the word, partnership development, project monitoring, technology enhancements, hosting and licenses.
Our goal is to continually increase the percentage of funds raised through Wilderlands going directly to biodiversity protection.
Whilst each unit is affordable (ranging from $2 – $7 per unit), it is the accumulation of these units that makes biodiversity protection and on-going management possible. By selling tens of thousands of units for each project (some projects will exceed 1 million units), we can ensure conservation organisations have enough funds to support the on-going protection and management of these important ecosystems and their threatened species.
Wilderlands aims to be highly strategic in its selection of projects and has therefore developed a rigorous and scientific assessment methodology. This assessment identifies the biodiversity and ecological features of a proposed property to determine eligibility for a Wilderlands project. Not all land with natural values will be eligible and not all eligible properties will be recommended. The assessment process identifies the ecological values, including the conservation status of ecological communities, rare and threatened species that require a greater level of protection, overall pest plant and animal threats that can be reduced to enhance biodiversity, landscape context, connectivity to existing core remnants, and opportunities for revegetation. Ecological attributes are scored to provide an overall measure of a site’s conservation significance and contribution to the protected area network.
For the benefit of communication with supporters, Wilderlands has adopted a list of broad ecosystem types that can describe a variety of habitats found across the Australian continent (and, in many cases, across the planet). The ecosystems described are adapted from the Australian Government’s Major Vegetation Groups (MVG), taking into account vegetation structure and biogeographic environments.
Wilderlands Ecosystems
Tall Forests, Grasslands, Wetlands, and Woodlands are currently being supported by the four Wilderlands projects. In the near future, further ecosystems will become available for supporters to protect with Wilderlands.
Through conservation covenants, an agreement that is permanently fixed to the title of the land, we ensure that that land is managed exclusively for conservation. These covenants are able to be enforced by state and federal government and the Biological Diversity Units (BDU’s) are maintained on a third-party register. We have detailed the process in ‘how Wilderlands works’.
Each project has land management plans which are legally binding and subject to regular reporting, site visits, and surveys ensuring these conservation practices actually happen.
We don’t just leave things there though. Delivering conservation work is costly so we’ve created an innovative approach which pays a portion of the Biological Diversity Unit sale to the conservation manager directly, with the remaining amount placed into a trust to be paid as an annuity to ensure works continue to happen every year.
So what we’re really leveraging is existing well established conservation management across a whole new suite of properties. What Wilderlands unlocks is the ability to unitise this impact and bring it to you at an affordable price so you can start being part of this change.
Not at this point.
We want to make it possible for project supporters to see their impact first hand and are working with our conservation partner Cassinia Environmental to find ways to enable you to visit the projects you’re supporting.
This will take some planning and may not be possible for some time.
However as a way of experiencing your ecosystem – we are looking to make a list of ecosystem types similar to those which can be supported, which are on public land and which can be visited and experienced.
Great question! For a start most natural disasters are exactly that ‘natural’ and many species actually require disturbance such as fire to begin their lifecycle. However, there is the risk of non-natural events which are outside our control so we need to be able to manage this risk.
Twenty per cent of all Biological Diversity Units generated will be retained by Wilderlands (i.e., not sold) to be held as a “loss buffer” (similar to some risk management approaches in the carbon market). This buffer will account for systemic program risks such as unplanned, unforeseen and irreversible habitat degradation within a project area.
To find out more about the loss buffer we suggest you read the Wilderlands Whitepaper.
Wilderlands is not a registered charity, and therefore your contribution is not tax deductible.
Business customers should consult their financial advisors regarding GST and tax implications.
One-time purchases are processed immediately. Monthly purchases are processed on the same day of each month.
Currently payments can only be made using a credit card or debit card.
You can cancel your monthly-contribution at any time by altering the settings within your account.
If you’re part of a business who wants to explore how you can work with Wilderlands then we’d love to speak to you.
You can connect directly with our team via email or live chat and we can share more about opportunities to partner, engage your staff and community, and help you have the impact and start protecting the planet today.