Five Rivers Reserve In the remote Central Highlands of Tasmania, Australia, an innovative global partnership between Conservation International and BHP Billiton has facilitated the conservation and ongoing management of 11,000 hectares of land by environmental NGO, the Tasmanian Land Conservancy. This is the Five Rivers Conservation Project. Image: Grant Dixon, Serpentine River, Five Rivers Reserve. Conservation International and BHP Billiton have provided critical expertise and financial support to protect the Five Rivers Reserve, and the land is owned and managed by the Tasmanian Land Conservancy. The Tasmanian Land Conservancy’s vision is for Tasmania to be a global The Five Rivers Reserve incorporates data to inform conservation leader in nature conservation open grassland valleys, old-growth management using simple, and sustainability. Its goal is forests and woodlands, native repeatable and robust methodologies. grasslands, cushion plants, In the future, the Five Rivers Reserve to create a network of endangered sphagnum moss beds will become one of a network of protected natural areas on and five natural river systems. It is national sites for long-term ecological habitat for endangered wildlife monitoring across Australia. private land that give long- including the Tasmanian devil and term security for Tasmania’s Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle and This unique global partnership creates a world class, financially unique and threatened important endemic species, such as the Clarence galaxias fish, not found sustainable, effective nature species and ecosystems. in any other region on earth. conservation management model at a landscape scale and in doing so The Tasmanian Land Substantial areas of the land are in contributes towards meeting and adjacent to the Tasmanian Australia’s international obligations Conservancy, or TLC as it is Wilderness World Heritage Area, and and the Convention on Biological fondly known, is a not for a neighbouring landscape-scale Diversity (established by the United protected area is owned and Nations Environment Program) Aichi profit, non-government, managed by Tasmanian Aboriginal Target 11. science-based organisation people for its natural and cultural values. During 2013 and 2014, the Five established in 2001 with $50 Rivers Conservation Project A critical component of the Five completed the design of its long-term in the bank and a handful of Rivers Conservation Project is the financing mechanism, which has now committed volunteers. Since establishment of an efficient but been endowed. In addition to effective long-term ecological achieving formal conservation status, then, the TLC has grown to monitoring program. This program the project also sold its first carbon protecting over two percent has been designed to gather scientific credits. of Tasmania’s private freehold land for nature. Find out more: www.tasland.org.au www.conservation.org www.bhpbilliton.com Image: Matthew Newton, Skullbone Plains aerial, Five Rivers Reserve. .