We have been carefully considering a charity to partner with and have made the decision to support Rainforest Rescue as they have a mission that is close to our heart.

At Byron Bay Gifts we deeply care about our environment and try our best to ensure our packaging is eco-friendly and the products we include in our hampers align with our ethics and beliefs surrounding environmentally friendly products. 

Rainforest Rescue has been protecting and restoring rainforests in Australia and internationally since 1998. They have done this by purchasing properties with high conservation value rainforest and protecting their biodiversity. They also restore rainforest through planting, maintenance and weed removal.

The mission is ‘To Protect Rainforests Forever’ through a conservation strategy which includes five ‘pillars’:

1.     Preservation
Rainforest Rescue’s cornerstone activity and ‘point of difference’ from many environmental organisations, is its ‘buy back’ program. 135 hectares of Australian rainforest – mostly zoned for development – has been purchased for preservation from the donations made to this charity.

 

2.     Restoration
Rainforest Rescue works with and through organisations in Queensland, New South Wales, North Sumatra and Ecuador. It has its own community nursery in Far North Queensland where it propagates around 180 species of rainforest plants from collected seeds. These are planted to restore degraded rainforest land to high levels of bio-diversity. Camera traps in Sumatra and the Daintree prove that when rainforest flora is restored, fauna returns.

 

3.     Species conservation
Efforts to conserve threatened and endangered plant and animal species are integral to Rainforest Rescue’s work. ‘Keystone’ species such as the Southern Cassowary and Sumatran Orangutan are vital to rainforest eco-systems and protecting them is important if rainforests are to survive.

4.     Research
Rainforest Rescue works with academics, universities and other research institutions on scientific research and evaluation projects that help to better understand the ecology and functions of the rainforest and the biodiversity within them.

 

5.     Education
Campaigns such as Save the Cassowary and regular newsletters, volunteer events and media updates continue to spread the message that rainforests and the biodiversity within them are critical to human life and urgently need our attention and protection.

Rainforest Rescue is an Australian company, managed by a board of directors who contribute their services on a voluntary basis. Five dedicated staff raise funds to deliver the conservation strategy from the head office in Mullumbimby, Northern NSW. Four project staff manage the property portfolio, restoration program and nursery operations in the Daintree and a dedicated group of volunteers undertake a myriad of tasks from sorting mail to planting trees.

 

Find out more about their mission including current, past and ongoing projects on the 

Rainforest Rescue

 website.