LIBERATE NATURE...
Human ingenuity has made us healthier, wealthier, and more connected. But it has done so at terrible cost: Planet Earth is suffering. The story of our progress has been a story of nature’s collapse.
But what if it didn’t have to be this way? What if we could feed 10 billion people, while rewilding the Earth? What if we could produce plentiful energy, while cooling our heating climate? What if we could lift humanity up, while setting nature free?
Today, for the first time in history, we have the tools to do all of this. If we’re brave enough to use them, something magical could be about to happen.
ELEVATE HUMANITY...
The key is a radical change in our relationship with land. We must concentrate our footprint to provide space for abundant nature.
We must prioritize policies and technologies that enable this shift, and bring the wilderness back into the world’s ecosystems and habitats.
At the same time, we must affirm the rights of all humanity – especially in the Global South – to prosperity and wellbeing.
We acknowledge and support the ambitions of hundreds of millions facing poverty to enjoy the benefits of modern life.
WHAT WE WANT
We fight for a thriving world for both nature and humanity. Radically better land use allows for this. We must do many things at once. Employ clean energy and reverse climate change. Reform food production and spare the land. Bring back lost species and rewild. Work to reduce inequality and poverty both in Australia and globally.
GLOBAL PROSPERITY
One in ten people live in extreme poverty. Yet, we all deserve a good life. Governments may talk about ensuring human welfare, but many policies entrench inequality and prevent prosperity among disadvantaged communities, especially in the Global South. That’s not just a disgrace for people living in those communities. Poverty hurts the natural environment. Prosperity allows for protecting it.
We want all humans to be able to enjoy prosperity and wellbeing. So let’s end poverty now.
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Provide abundant and affordable energy supplies to the poor. Make increased access, low costs, and reliability top priorities in low-income countries.
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Make zero-carbon energy feasible. Wealthy countries should work to ensure disavantaged communities and emerging countries have access to all clean energy technology.
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Support the modernisation of agriculture to improve food security, eradicate poverty, promote economic development, and preserve nature.
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Strengthen resilience against extreme weather, as people in poverty are especially vulnerable due to lack of resources to protect themselves.
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Focus international development cooperation on ending poverty and improving quality of life.
CLEAN ENERGY FOR ALL
More than two thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions come from energy production and use. This primarily comes from burning fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil, harming our health and our environment. Australia has failed to implement a rapid and orderly transition away from fossil fuels. We must do better.
Human wellbeing depends on the availability of affordable and reliable energy. So, let’s create an abundant, clean energy system with a small environmental footprint!
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Reduce CO2 emissions to a level compatible with the Paris Agreement. Policies should focus on outcome, not technology.
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Australia should adopt a carbon tax to ensure the worst polluters pay and encourage a clean energy transition.
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Avoid “carbon leakage” and set up a system of taxing imported goods and services at Australia's borders from countries with higher emissions.
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Stop discriminating against nuclear energy, an effective and proven way to phase out fossil fuels and reduce emissions.
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Support new clean technologies and innovation in a smart and efficient way.
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Avoid energy poverty and ensure a just transition, especially for those most affected.
REBOOT FOOD
More than half of all habitable land is used for agriculture – growing crops, providing pastures, producing feed for livestock. If we continue expanding current farming practices and meat-heavy dietary patterns, we could soon run out of wilderness. There’s no escaping it: the greatest threat to wildlife is farming.
Yet, we can feed a growing world population while creating space for ecosystems to recover and flourish. Let’s transform the way we produce food!
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Stop agricultural expansion. Embrace new protein sources, support diets rich in vegetables, and encourage smarter use of agricultural land.
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Abolish meat subsidies. Invest in alternative proteins to alleviate animal suffering and reduce both emissions and the use of land and water.
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Streamline regulations so we can partake in food innovation and use modern genomic methods with environmental benefits.
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Concentrate farming on the most productive lands and allow for sustainable intensification. Give marginal lands to low-yield farming or return them to nature.
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Rewild and protect half the globe. Use land spared from agriculture for conservation and restoration of ecosystems aimed at increasing biodiversity.
SET NATURE FREE
Too much land is given to produce food or energy. Despite our worsening ecological crisis, current policies force farmers and landowners into outdated practices that leave our ecosystems under constant threat. Today, conserving nature is nowhere near enough. We need to restore nature.
By finding ways to produce energy and food on far less land, we can create restore lost and damaged ecosystems, reintroduce missing species and rewild the land!
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Redirect the billions spent annually subsidising animal agriculture to support rewilding and nature restoration instead.
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Restore nature on a large scale. Make a nationwide rewilding plan. Decision-makers must plan for and fund landscape-scale nature restoration projects.
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Aim for climate restoration. At scale, natural climate solutions could draw down enough carbon to make our emissions net negative, helping restore our climate.
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Fund a just transition. Generously support workers and communities – not legacy industries – to ensure an ecologically restored Australia that leaves people better off.
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Enhance democracy. Empower local stakeholders to engage in rewilding through consultation or forms of participatory democracy.