‘The environmental movement needs many hands’: saving Australia’s biodiversity is getting personal

Powered by individual donations and bequests, the country now has one of the world’s largest networks of privately protected and managed land Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com 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. 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 th