Why do we need nature restoration?
Restoring nature is one of the most obvious ways to combat climate change. A tree not only sequesters CO2 emissions, but it also cleans our air, water, provides habitats and builds rich soil. One-fifth of all species may face extinction in the coming decades. So it is more important than ever to restore the world's 2 billion hectares of degraded land. This will require science and technology to understand how to plant the right tree in the right place for the most effective benefits.
How has the nature tech sector developed?
It started with transparency and accountability related to the impact our companies and consumption were having on the environment. From there, product developers were hired to navigate regulations, resilience engineers to learn how to plant species for multiple climate scenarios, operations leads to lead teams in the field and business developers to bring the product to market.
What are the solutions to restoring nature?
1. Utilisation of technology
A remote sensing dashboard allows the ability to analyse if site restoration is possible from a desk, saving weeks of work on the ground. A carbon capture and nature analysis model allows the ability to predict the impact of planting technologies which are designed to make planting in arid regions a possibility.
2. Communication the importance to investors
Transparently communicating to investors the benefits of nature tech can unleash waves of funding. Carbon capture can be calculated in real time, changing the current carbon offset market.
How have Land Life managed to restore land in Australia?
Their partner buys the property in need of nature restoration. Then they determine the restorable area and what should remain agricultural land and what should be converted back to nature. Carbon financing not only makes the project happen to fund the reforestation operations, but also compensates for the loss of land value for the landowner. They then work with local aboriginal communities to work with and understand their history of that land, as well as their goals and hopes for the restoration. They have restored thousands of hectares using this model and are developing a public-private partnership to replicate the results across Victoria.