Bangalow Koalas turns 10 this year, so it is timely that its work has been recognised on the world stage – with an invitation to attend the Conference of the Parties (COP17) at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
COP17 will to be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 17-28 August, and Bangalow Koalas co-founder and president Linda Sparrow is getting ready to attend, alongside vice-president Saul Goodwin.
“This whole experience is going to be a huge learning curve for us,” Linda says. “We are so proud and humbled as a small community group punching well above our weight to be recognised for our work and the importance of it on a global level.”
The invitation came as a result of Bangalow Koalas’ membership of the Restor.eco hub, an online platform that supports hundreds of thousands of community-led restoration projects around the world. Developed by British ecologist Thomas Crowther through the Crowther Lab at the Swiss university ETH Zurich, Restor connects conservation efforts, provides ecological insights and high-resolution satellite imagery for global nature restoration.
Last August Restor suggested the koala group, part of its Early Adopter program, to apply for accreditation with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
In February they were notified as being a provisionally accredited organisation, pending a final decision to be taken during COP17.
As part of the preparation for COP17, Bangalow Koalas has taken part in Zoom meetings run by the Civil Society Organisations (CSO)panel, “with guest speakers covering topics from communications, understanding policy engagement, lobbying strategies, advocacy, pitching our cause”, Linda says. There are 203 CSOs across the globe, including the local group.
CSOs play a broad and institutionalised role at UNCCD COP17, Linda says – “operating as official observers and active stakeholders, shaping negotiations, policy and field-level implementation. And as primary liaison with the UNCCD secretariat”.
The door is open for further exposure within the international entity. There are two zones within COP events: The Blue Zone is the official UN negotiation area, where the official work happens; the Green Zone is for public engagement and exhibition. “Events and accredited organisations participate in official negotiations in the Blue Zone and host exhibits or side events in the Green Zone,” Linda says. “We will be taking particular interest in how these are run so in two years’ time at the next UNCCD COP meeting we will apply to have an exhibit.”
She is also hopeful of meeting Professor Crowther as well as CSO colleagues from across the globe.
Since its founding in 2016, Bangalow Koalas has planted more than half a million koala habitat trees across the Northern Rivers, work made possible by the volunteers from the community, from schoolchildren to pensioners.
The group has a goal of 850,000 trees planted by 2030.
Digby Hildreth