Earlier this year, we were excited to launch the Australian Geographic Awards for Nature, our new flagship conservation program. This awards program has replaced the former grants process that delivered funds – capped at $5000 each – to multiple conservation and adventure projects. To increase the conservation impact of the Australian Geographic Society, the Awards for Nature will now provide $100,000 in tiered funding to three selected projects.

The funds that drive this program are raised through Australian Geographic subscriptions, automatically making subscribers members of the Australian Geographic Society. Thanks to their support, we will be offering continuing, financial and practical assistance to courageous changemakers who are spearheading scientifically informed, local solutions to problems that tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, habitat degradation, feral invasive species and pollution. If you’re not already a subscriber, you can sign up to receive the Australian Geographic magazine here.

The three winning projects were selected during a two-stage process that began with a call for entries in February. Sixteen finalists were selected for review by a panel of conservation experts and Australian Geographic staff.

These finalists’ wonderful projects included rewilding programs for at-risk snake and amphibian species, post-bushfire survival shelters for mammals, various programs aimed at empowering Traditional Owners to manage Country for climate change mitigation, collaborations to increase avian diversity on agricultural land, and more.

All projects were driven by strong leaders. Reading about their heroic efforts to address environmental issues through scientific research, traditional knowledge, advanced data collection and analysis was very encouraging. All of our shortlisted projects deserved recognition and support, but after much deliberation and research, we settled on three projects to receive the first year’s awards.

We are thrilled with the calibre and quality of the winning projects, which endeavour to preserve coral biodiversity, tackle marine pollution and create pollinator corridors in urban areas. Headquartered in Port Douglas, Dunsborough in Western Australia and Sydney, these projects span Australia, with exceptional leaders at the helm. Between them, they encompass community capacity-building, including within First Nations communities, children’s science education and safeguarding the future of Australia’s greatest natural asset, the Great Barrier Reef.

The winners were announced on 17 October at an event at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney.

Rewatch the evening of hope, inspiration and entertainment:

Tier One – Gold Winner, $50,000

Forever Reef Project

Dr Dean Miller is a man on a mission. He’s hell-bent on preserving the volume and diversity of coral species found on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) for future generations.

The reef is a powerful indicator of the effects of climate change because of its sensitivity to changes in ocean temperature, acidity and weather patterns. Coral bleaching is a visual signal of the reef’s declining health, caused when heat-stressed corals expel their resident algae (zooxanthellae), with which it enjoys a mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationship. The GBR has experienced five large-scale bleaching events in the past eight years. These are becoming more frequent and severe, and we face the real threat of extinction for many coral species and, ultimately, the loss of Australia’s most globally significant natural asset.

The Forever Reef Project is an initiative of Great Barrier Reef Legacy, a not-for-profit for which Dean is the managing director and co-founder. Its mission is to collect samples of all 415 known coral species and preserve them in a living coral biobank, or ark, as insurance against extinction.

The ark currently holds 200 coral species. The Forever Reef Project will use this $50,000 grant to finance a major coral-collecting voyage to the northern GBR. Another 50 coral species are expected to be added to the ark from this expedition, which Dean hopes will embark in late 2025.

Forever Reef worked beside Dr John ‘Charlie’ Veron – the ‘godfather of corals’ – to establish a state-of-the-art facility at Cairns Aquarium in Far North Queensland. This facility houses corals for their conservation, and makes live fragments, tissue samples and genetic material available to other reef researchers.

“Corals are the perfect organism to keep in a living biobank as they effectively live forever under the correct conditions,” Dean says. “In our facility we don’t just provide, but also carefully control the conditions, so our corals will thrive.”

The facility was named in honour of the late John Rumney, founder of the Great Barrier Reef Legacy and recipient of the 2019 Australian Geographic Lifetime of Conservation Award. John was a pioneer of ecotourism on the GBR, and believed that well-managed, responsible tourism could benefit the reef. He died suddenly in 2020, and the baton has passed to son-in-law Dean, who is a marine biologist and filmmaker.

Forever Reef’s methods include careful identification and collection of wild living stock, processing samples to museum catalogue standards, and preserving living fragments, tissue samples and genetic material for conservation and future reef research. “We know once corals enter our system, their health and vitality is our number one priority,” Dean says.

In the launch year of the Australian Geographic Awards for Nature, we’ve decided to kick off the program with a long-term, sustainable project that’s addressing the impacts of climate change at one of Australia’s most iconic natural wonders. What’s more, this world-first initiative is housed in a facility that’s open to the general public.

“This is an exciting project and gives Australian Geographic the opportunity to be part of a world-leading conservation effort. It has a real element of urgency, given the recurring bleaching events causing mass coral death,” says Dr Tony Friend, WA ecologist and review panel member.

Tier Two – Silver Winner, $30,000

Australian Marine Debris Initiative, Tangaroa Blue

I first met Heidi Tait and her husband, Brett Tait, on the cliffs above Maroubra Beach in Sydney on a warm morning in August. We chose this location for our film shoot because it was close to where they’d parked their caravan for the night. The pair were making their way from their home in Airlie Beach, Queensland, to Margaret River in Western Australia, where the Tangaroa Blue Foundation – a not-for-profit dedicated to marine debris removal and prevention – is headquartered. Heidi is its co-founder and CEO.

It’s no surprise that the leaders of this hands-on, community-focused organisation are taking the long road to WA. Heidi and Brett (the organisation’s business development manager) will be visiting some of its outreach project hubs and checking in with key personnel along the way. Today, however, they’ve made time to catch up with Australian Geographic to capture a short video,in which Heidi talks about one of their most important initiatives – the one that attracted our $30,000 silver tier funding award.

The Australian Marine Debris Initiative (AMDI) is a network of volunteers, communities and organisations who contribute data to an online hub that records detailed information about marine debris collected during clean-ups. Armed with this knowledge, they then work towards solutions to identify
the origins of various types of litter. The AMDI database is the Southern Hemisphere’s largest database of marine debris, with more than 27 million litter items recorded at 4700 clean-up sites since 2004. The database has contributed to 350 source reduction plans, which identify patterns and common litter sources to create effective prevention strategies.

“AMDI helps communities look after their own coastal environments by providing resources and support programs,” Heidi says. “We collaborate with industry and government to create change on a large scale. Ocean health is under siege from marine debris, and a coordinated response is often missing, resulting in duplication of effort between organisations and inefficient use of resources.”

Tangaroa Blue addresses this gap by utilising AMDI data to produce data-driven research that can initiate clean-ups and source reduction programs, inform public campaigns and ultimately influence policy. The whole cycle harnesses people power, transforming them into citizen scientists who are heavily invested in the outcomes of their efforts, as they collect and record information locally and add it to the global database.

Tangaroa Blue has plans to roll out AMDI workshops in local communities across every state and territory. These workshops will upskill participants to implement the AMDI framework in their local community, beginning with clean-ups and monitoring and recording of the debris recovered. The $30,000 silver tier funding award will go towards running four workshops across four states in localities where they have yet to initiate programs.

Tier Three – Bronze Winner, $20,000

B&B Highway

Bees, bats, butterflies and birds might not tug at our heartstrings the way fluffy koalas and wombats do, but these animals form the cornerstone of terrestrial ecosystems because of their important role as pollinators. Through efficient pollen transfer and seed dispersal, pollinators allow plants to reproduce, which in turn provides food and shelter for other wildlife. Pollinators also help systems recover from disturbances such as droughts and bushfires, and even contribute to Australia’s agricultural economy by pollinating crops. Despite their importance, pollinator populations are in decline, threatened by urban sprawl, habitat degradation, pesticide use and climate change.

Dr Judy Friedlander is optimistic that teaching future generations of leaders and decision-makers about the role of pollinators is key to arresting their decline. She founded PlantingSeeds Projects and its flagship program B&B Highway to do just that.

The B&B Highway – Bed and Breakfasts for Birds, Bees and Biodiversity – initiative has been deployed in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne to create pollinator corridors in urban areas, including schools. Creating regenerative pollinator corridors in schools teaches students biodiversity knowledge and skills, while restoring pollinator habitat for local insects and birds. 

“We know cities are biodiversity hotspots so what we do within cities matters and it makes sense because in Australia, most of us live in urban areas. The research shows if we plant properly, if we plant for pollinators, we can actually help them,” Judy says.

Judy’s educational programs empower people to create pollinator corridors in their gardens, schools and businesses. “We talk about how it’s important to learn about the tiers of gardens. We need ground covers, we need ground as well, just plain clean soil. We need shrubs, and we need trees,” Judy says.

Since its inception five years ago, B&B Highway has delivered its program to about 200 sites. Its school program introduces students to locally native flora and fauna species and teaches them about the role of pollinators, including the methods used by each species to transfer pollen and disperse seeds.

“Then we head outside and do a biodiversity hunt,” she says. “The kids get really excited. We give them each a plant to put into the ground. It gives them a real sense of ownership. The third part is data collection, and that’s super important. They go out and take photos and make observations, which are uploaded to iNaturalist and the Atlas of Living Australia through various smart devices. And then we share inspirational stories of how children have actually discovered new species!”

The students’ pollinator observations meet research grade standards and can be used to track biodiversity and species distribution through the Atlas of Living Australia. The program also explains how installing artificial habitats, such as bee hotels or nesting boxes, can attract more pollinators into an area. Students learn about the sheer variety of bees that live in Australia – more than 2000 species – and how many solitary species lay eggs on the open ground. Urban development and the spread of concrete surfaces are driving these ground-dwellers to the brink.

“Unfortunately, we know that many children are experiencing eco-anxiety,” Judy says. “They know there’s a problem with species loss, but they don’t know what to do. So when we go in and educate them, they feel much more empowered because they’re learning valuable facts, and they’re actually doing something positive. They’re learning skills that they can go home and implement. They can tell their parents and know they’re contributing to the regeneration of the urban environment.”

The $20,000 Award for Nature will enable the B&B Highway program to be rolled out into five new schools across Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The program’s biodiversity resources were co-developed by the NSW Department of Education and CSIRO’s Atlas of Living Australia, which supports citizen science and STEM initiatives.

 “We’re in 200 schools right now,” Judy says. “But just imagine if we were in every school in Australia. That would be 10,000 B&Bs. Just imagine how powerful that would be.”

The Australian Geographic Awards for Nature will open for entries for the 2025 round on 6 January 2025. Details will be made available on the Australian Geographic website and in the January–February 2025 issue (AG 184) of Australian Geographic magazine. You can also email the AGS administrator for application details after that date: [email protected]

If you would like to donate funds to the program to help efforts like those described in this article, please visit Australian Geographic Society’s GiveNow page. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.