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Gifting land for conservation and leaving environmental bequests in personal wills are part of a quiet but rapidly growing revolution in environmentalism in Australia – motivated by individual efforts to address the climate and biodiversity crisis head on.

As a result, Australia now boasts one of the largest networks of privately protected and managed areas in the world, with gifted land now covering over 10m hectares. Between 2019 and 2024, leading Australian environmental charities saw a 150% increase in bequest revenue, according to data from the 2025 Benchmarking Project report.

From little things

In 1990, then Tasmanian Greens MP Bob Brown became aware that two bush blocks adjoining his own property in Liffey, about 55km south west of Launceston, had come on the market.

Despite not having the finances, Brown sent a bidder to the auction and successfully bought them for $250k, outbidding the Northern Woodchipping company, which had intended to buy the land for logging.

Brown’s former schoolmate and friend Judy Henderson recalls getting a phone call from Brown that set in motion what was to become Australian Bush Heritage. “I asked him how he was going to pay for them. He said: ‘I don’t know, Judy.’”

They quickly established a Bush Heritage management committee, ran fundraisers in Sydney and brought onboard patrons including broadcaster Phillip Adams and former Western Australia Greens senator Jo Vallentine. Bush Heritage Australia, with Brown and Henderson as co-founders, went on to become one of the most successful environmental endeavours in recent Australian history.

Over three decades later, Bush Heritage today owns and protects 45 bought or gifted bush reserves around Australia – covering more than 1.4m hectares of land and providing habitat for over 9,000 native species. Working with First Nations communities and farmers, it supports the management of an additional 20.5m hectares beyond what it owns directly.

“Some of Australia’s most threatened and fragile ecosystems and wildlife sit outside of the national reserve system,” says Rachel Lowry, Bush Heritage Australia’s chief executive officer. “They’re found on private land or pastoral country, and they may have deep cultural and ecological values, but they’re not protected from threats such as land clearing, mining or invasive species.”

The organisation reports a rise in the number of personal bequests, from 2,500 in 2022 to more than 4,600 bequests last year. Lowry puts the increase down to a personal desire to have a meaningful impact on the worsening global climate and biodiversity crisis.

Bush Heritage’s model has inspired other groups around Australia to acquire and conserve lands and forests of significant ecological value. One such example is the North East Tasmania Land Trust (NETLT), which secretary Dr Christine Hosking describes as “a microcosm of Bush Heritage”.

Formed in 2009, the organisation manages donated land through weed control and regeneration of the native environment.

“Currently, we have 10 acres [4 hectares] of endangered eucalyptus forest in Binalong Bay that adjoins the Bay of Fires Conservation Area, and a smaller patch of coastal habitat for the endangered swift parrot,” she says.

Hosking says groups like hers embrace a different but equally vital path of direct protection compared with larger environment organisations.

“With a paucity of government support, philanthropy … has become an invaluable enabler for people dedicated to working for the environment.”

Leaving a meaningful legacy

In December 2024, Bob Croser, a former Adelaide taxi driver and member of the Adelaide University’s Hughes Society, bequeathed $1.1m to the university. The funds were used to establish the Bob Croser Woodland Recovery Project, which identifies optimal locations and planting designs to support bird populations in the Mount Lofty Ranges.

The bequest stipulated that the project would be facilitated through Adelaide University’s Environment Institute, in collaboration with local government and community groups.

The Environment Institute’s Prof Andrew Lowe says the project – which monitors and protects bird populations in the Mount Lofty Ranges – would make a massive difference by supporting research to help reverse biodiversity decline. There are 76 threatened bird species in the region, including the southern emu-wren, hooded robin and Bassian thrush.

“By working on research with partners we can answer questions like what type of vegetation we should put back, where it should go, is it going to be good food or shelter for birds, will it help support endangered species?”

Lowe says the role of private landholders, charities and philanthropy is increasing in the land conservation sector because governments don’t have the money, capacity or expertise. “Projects like these often involve a broad range of government, community and industry partners to maximise our leverage but also uptake and translation of research into solid conservation outcomes.”

If you wish to make a land donation or bequest, many groups are happy to outline the process – including Bush Heritage Australia and the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife. Alternatively, for those seeking to make a meaningful impact in a specific region, local groups such as the NETLT in Tasmania and the Trust for Nature in Victoria can help.

Checking that the organisation you choose has accredited Deductible Gift Recipient status will allow you to make tax deductions from the donation.

“The environmental movement needs many hands,” says Lowry. “Governments to set ambition, communities to demand action, traditional custodians to lead with knowledge and generations of experience sustainably managing Country, and not-for-profits like Bush Heritage to act with speed, trust and long-term purpose.”

“Our purpose is simple: we are here to protect the most vulnerable and important ecosystems, for ever.”