Since 2004, Cassinia Environmental has been at the forefront of restoring nature here in Australia, with our hope to see 30% of landscapes restored, reconnected and protected. The core of this mission is that the flourishing of people and nature are deeply interconnected, but it’s a truth that doesn’t stop at our shores.
We’re excited to announce that our impact is expanding. We’ve joined forces with ProPurpose to support the Regreen project, connecting our local conservation efforts directly to global restoration.
Facilitated by World Vision Australia (who Paul worked with for 10 years), the Regreen project is working to restore land and renew hope in impoverished African communities through sustainable regeneration.
The project aims to restore one billion hectares of degraded land and in doing so, to slow climate change and lift families out of poverty, because the connection between land and people is intrinsic.
Our pledge
We’ve made a financial commitment to ensure our success in Australia translates into tangible change in Africa. Our pledge is simple:
For every 10 hectares we protect or revegetate in Australia, we’ll fund the protection and regeneration of an additional hectare in Africa.
“Giving matters to Cassinia because it connects us to the wider world and helps shape the kind of future we want to share. Through support for communities in Africa, places I know and love, we’ve seen how generosity unlocks possibility, strengthens dignity and builds hope. Charitable impact isn’t about us, it’s about creating the better world we want to live in.”
Paul Dettmann, Founder
This commitment includes projects revegetated through the BushBank Program, of which Cassinia is the key delivery partner.
How will the land be restored in Africa?
The Regreen project uses a technique called Farmer Manage Natural Regeneration (FMNR). Championed by Tony Rinuado AM, a hero in the environmental space, FMNR is, in his words, “embarassing simple” yet incredibly powerful.
Tony and his team have helped introduce FMNR in 29 countries across Africa and Asia, already contributing to the regeneration of millions of hectares of land.
Traditional tree planting often faces struggles with low survival rates in harsh climates, so FMNR instead regrows trees from stumps with living roots through careful pruning and protection. Combined with other land restoration techniques, FMNR has demonstrated to be more effective than planting trees.
How will FMNR benefit local communities?
- Climate change mitigation, due to increased capture and storage of carbon dioxide
- More firewood, small amounts of timber and wild food will be available from the new trees which families can use or sell for income in drought years.
- More food for livestock due to better grass growth from increased tree and shrub cover
- Improved soil fertility for crop production
- Increased land resilience, reducing the severity and impacts of disasters like droughts and floods
The connection between land and people
There’s an inextricable link between the health of the soil and the health of the community. In many African nations, land degradation is a direct driver of extreme poverty. It leads to more frequent and intense droughts and floods and more failed crops and starving livestock.
Restoring soil fertility through Regreen will assist farmers to grow more food, help families unlock sustainable income streams and improve livestock health, effectively breaking the harmful cycle that land degradation produces.
Regreen’s goal to regenerate one billion hectares of land will remove up to 25 percent of carbon from the atmosphere, preventing mass species loss and ending extreme poverty for millions of people.
It’s an ambitious target that we are proud to support through our efforts here in Australia.
The ProPupose vision
ProPurpose is a movement of Australian businesses that believe success is about people and social impact. Their vision is to see 70,000 businesses unite to contribute $1 billion toward alleviating poverty by 2035. With all administrative costs covered by charity partners, 100% of funds Cassinia gives through ProPurpose go directly to Regreen’s work on the ground.
As Zoe from our team shared during our recent launch…
“What we’re doing here can actually have a much further reach than just what’s going on in our local projects”.
We’re honoured to play a role in bridging the gap between local conservation and global restoration, and we invite you to follow along as we track the real-world outcomes of this partnership here.
