BIG BIRD RESCUES THE RAINFOREST

Let’s start with a question: what does a large flightless bird have to do with saving the rainforest?

And this very large bird — only the emu and ostrich are taller and only the ostrich is heavier — plays a major and integral role in the dispersal of seeds to several rainforest plant species.

Your support for Rainforest Rescue provides food and a safe habitat for the Cassowary and other threatened and endangered species. And as a direct result, the rainforest re-grows. And your support could not be more timely.

That’s because this B1G1 Worthy Cause Partner has just started its “Save the Cassowary” campaign. It’s a major initiative that marks the first time that an Australian NGO has partnered with government departments, traditional owners, zoo partners and private businesses to present a national campaign with a focus on one species.

Current estimates are that fewer than 4,600 of the birds are left in the Australian wild, with rapid development eliminating 85% of its habitat. The new national awareness campaign is being delivered through 19 zoos. It promotes more scientific research into the Cassowary, and trains local Aboriginal people as community conservation workers to care for injured Cassowaries in a newly re-furbished rehabilitation facility.

Grant Binns, Managing Director of Rainforest Rescue, explains the unprecedented nature of the project:

Rainforest Rescue has developed a campaign to bridge the conservation gap. Cassowaries play not only a vital role in rainforest biodiversity, but also a significant cultural role in Indigenous traditions. We invite everyone to join the race to save this ‘living dinosaur’ through your B1G1 contributions.

Rainforest Rescue is a not-for-profit organisation that has been protecting and restoring rainforests in Australia and internationally since 1999. They have ‘bought back’ and protected more than 769,377 square metres in the Daintree on the northeast coast of Queensland, 809,400 square metres in Tasmania and contributed to the purchase of 1,761 hectares in Ecuador.

And to date, Rainforest Rescue has planted more than 282,040 trees in Australia, with 151,685 in the Daintree rainforest alone, and an additional 33,000 trees in Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Grant Binns also told us

We buy back rainforest habitat and restore degraded rainforest to create wildlife corridors. It’s great to work with B1G1 to bring our Australian-based projects to the attention of business people from all over the world, people who have found the time to care about saving the rainforest.

So… go to it. Help B1G1 and Rainforest Rescue do three rewarding things: ‘Protect Rainforests Forever’. It is really important work.

You can find out more about Rainforest rescue projects at B1G1 here.