The Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor and how WA is becoming more ‘nature positive’

Among the numerous existential threats we know many of you think about on a daily basis, it’s hard not to feel the current climate crisis front-and-centre.

Governments and organisations around the world love to at least talk about commitments to reduce carbon emissions with a goal of net-zero by 2050, but is it too late? And is simply achieving net-zero all we need to do to fix things?

As it becomes increasingly clear that merely ‘doing less damage’ isn’t an adequate goal, attention has turned towards attempting to reverse the effects by repairing and restoring our natural environments.

This is the ethos behind ‘nature positivity’, and the world’s G7 leaders have even come together to sign the 2030 Nature Compact i.e. the global mission to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, in the hope the biosphere will fully recover by 2050.

Essentially, while carbon emission reduction is a crucial step in slowing the effect of climate change, addressing biodiversity loss is just as important.

Conserving and protecting natural habitats, reducing pollution and revitalising damaged ecosystems is an important step in addressing the earth’s biodiversity, and one way organisations in Australia can become more nature positive is by ensuring any carbon offsetting is being put towards biodiversity projects.

Enter Australian-based reforestation and carbon advisory provider Carbon Neutral, who also happen to be responsible for one of the country’s most successful biodiversity restoration projects, the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor.

This 200km-wide stretch of land north of Perth had been drastically cleared for farming for most of the last century before Carbon Neutral began the project in the mid-2000s to transform large swathes of dry, degraded landscape into a flourishing landscape for flora and fauna.

With the help of hundreds of partners, that land has now grown into over 16,000 hectares of coverage, resulting in a biosphere that has seen Carbon Neutral becoming the first and only organisation in Australia to be awarded a Gold Standard certification for climate interventions. 

Since the mid-2000s, a 2014-15 ecological study found over 50 bird species living in the corridor, while a more recent study identified more than 100 species of ants.

The Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor has now grown to become Australia’s largest biodiverse, reforestation carbon sink and the envy of similar projects throughout the country. Moreover, Carbon Neutral have set about connecting with organisations who specialise in conservation sanctuaries to maximise the protection of endangered and threatened species throughout Australia.

In the grand scheme of things, it may feel small, but it’s important early steps like these that put Carbon Neutral in an incredible position to continue increasing and improving revegetation projects, with carbon credits endorsed by the UN Gold Standard, as well as a range of other products and services to help fight climate change and increase biodiversity right here in Australia.

It’s the combination of carbon offset and conservation that makes the endeavour one of many important cogs in our fight against the global climate crisis, and Western Australian’s can be proud that this impressive project is right here in WA.

Here at Perth is OK! we have looked at ways that we can become a more sustainable and responsible organisation and to begin this journey, we have asked Carbon Neutral to plant over 2,000 trees in the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor on our behalf.

If you’re interested to learn more about Carbon Neutral or how your business or organisation can get involved, head to the Carbon Neutral website.

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This article is sponsored in part by Carbon Neutral and endorsed by us. Please see our Editorial Policy for more info.