Innovative conservation solutions for Australia — and beyond
Founded in 2020, Conservation International-Australia is one of our newest country offices, supporting innovative financing and science to drive conservation locally and throughout the region.
In Australia, Our team is working to draw more attention, funding and opportunities to the country’s coastal ecosystems — areas that, despite years of poor development planning, are rich in biodiversity, store vital carbon, and hold immense cultural and economic value. We are supporting the participation of Indigenous Peoples and unlocking funding streams for the long-term care of Australia’s “sea country.”
We also operate as a key fundraising arm for Conservation International’s Asia-Pacific and global programs. Via partnerships with the private sector, government and individuals, we actively support the protection of nature in Asia-Pacific — from revitalizing ocean custodianship among Samoa’s schoolchildren to helping improve conservation planning in Indonesia by funding tiger monitoring.
Our mission is to provide urgent and innovative conservation solutions that support both people and nature.
2020
YEAR FOUNDED
3.1B
METRIC TONS
of irrecoverable carbon in Australia1
1,767
VERTEBRATE SPECIES
that are endemic to Australia2
4.3M
SQUARE KILOMETERS
of marine protected areas within Australia’s waters3
The successful conservation and restoration of nature in Australia is of paramount importance. Not only because of Australia’s astounding ecosystems, ‘megadiverse’ status and capacity to contribute to global climate targets, but also because of Australia’s role in supporting the conservation and restoration ambitions of our neighbors in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.”
Areas we work
Partnering to restore seagrass in Shark Bay
Remote, vast and wildly beautiful, Shark Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Area on the western-most tip of Australia. The region was granted World Heritage status in part due to the significance of its seagrass meadows, which shelter a huge diversity of marine life and lock vast stores of ancient carbon beneath their roots. This is the home of the Malgana people, who have a 30,000-year connection to this, their “sea country.”
Conservation International is partnering with Tidal Moon, a Malgana-owned and crewed company, to restore seagrass lost in a huge heatwave in 2011. An estimated 25 percent of Shark Bay’s seagrass meadows perished in the heatwave — much of which has not recovered — directly impacting biodiversity. Of additional concern is the release of carbon as the seafloor erodes without the seagrass to hold it in place.
Tidal Moon is integrating seagrass replanting with their budding sea-cucumber business, partly in recognition of the co-dependent relationship between seagrass and sea cucumbers. The restoration is of global importance, but it is an expensive undertaking. Conservation International-Australia is working with Tidal Moon to build their scale and capacity to the point where they may be able to sell carbon and biodiversity credits to the market to fund their restoration work well into the future.
Success in Shark Bay will be a national win from a climate and biodiversity standpoint. Equally importantly, it will blaze a trail with a new, nature-positive business model for other communities and Indigenous-led projects to follow.
References
- Conservation International (2021, November). Irrecoverable Carbon. Retrieved January 2025, from https://www.conservation.org/irrecoverable-carbon
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. (2024). Table 8a: Total, threatened, and EX & EW endemic species in each country [Fact sheet]. https://www.iucnredlist.org/resources/summary-statistics#Summary%20Tables
- 30x30 SkyTruth. (2024, October). Marine Conservation Coverage. https://30x30.skytruth.org/progress-tracker?layers=6,144,7,145&settings=%7B%2522bbox%2522:%5B-167.96,-61.4,167.96,61.4%5D,%2522labels%2522:true%7D