NAB Foundation is supporting Climate-ready Restoration, the signature partnership between Greening Australia and World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia, with a grant to reduce natural disaster risk and respond to climate change.
The NAB Foundation will provide $2 million to the partnership over the next three years, enabling fire experts and local communities in south-eastern Australia to test green firebreaks, restore ecosystems by improving biodiversity, and engage with First Nations peoples to assess the feasibility of cultural burning and other Indigenous-led land-management practices.
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.
Les Matheson, NAB Group COO, said the company’s support of the partnership 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,” Matheson said. “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.”
Elisa Raulings, science and impact manager at Greening Australia, said climate change was an “all hands on deck” scenario that requires the cooperation between philanthropists, conservationists, and business.
“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,” Raulings said. “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.”
Christopher Ewing, program manager of landscape restoration and protection at WWF-Australia, 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,” Ewing said.
