The Earth’s last great wildernesses are critical for societal well-being, for biological diversity and the planet's evolutionary potential. However, protecting these places requires urgent changes to our economic interactions with nature.
The Forever Wild initiative has been designed to try to solve this problem.
What is Wilderness?
A natural landscape larger than 10,000km square with limited impact from modern technology, and largely ecologically intact. It is a misconception that wilderness excludes people. Rather, it is a place where people and nature co-exist. As such, the Forever Wild initiative proactively works with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LCs).
What is the Forever Wild Initiative?
In 2018, the Forever Wild initiative was launched with a registered Australian charity to drive an ambitious social and ecological mandate. The Initiative now comprises innovative investment vehicles and co-designed profit-for-purpose structures, all designed to enable tangible, non-detrimental returns from natural capital. These structures attract private investment and are opening the door to significant finance for nature, and for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.
The Forever Wild charity sits at the core of the Initiative, providing governance and transparency.
We are one of the few organisations worldwide that have successfully created the opportunity for private & institutional investment to support nature on a large scale.
"Only by linking the natural and human values of the remaining wilderness on our planet will we have any chance of protecting these remarkable landscapes and ensuring they play a key role in human well-being a thousand years from now". Fiachra Kearney, CEO.
How do we do work?
- We create landscape investment structures and instruments to enable equitable finance.
- The Initiative engages in long-term relationships with communities and co-designs nature-based, profit-for-purpose enterprises to unlock finance.
- We provide advice to communities and investors who want to engage in genuine nature finance. Contact us to learn more.
- The Initiative's investment structures acquire or co-manage land where we explore how to alter the economic drivers of degradation and produce genuinely sustainable revenues.
- We work with governments in Public-Private Partnerships, generating revenues for conservation land management.
- We work in environmental markets to tackle inequity and to create new methodologies.
- Property are managed to be community assets in various ways. This can include supporting community-driven events and enabling cultural reconnection.
