Rewilding

Our ambitious rewilding strategy targets soil restoration using new tools and technologies, nature-based solutions and Indigenous stewardship principles. Our approach is designed to rehabilitate degraded lands at scale, halt biodiversity decline and promote healthy, self-sustaining ecosystems.

The nature-based dividends of our strategy – healthier soil and water supply and enhanced capacity to absorb damaging carbon – will support a flourishing environment, help tackle climate change and deliver opportunities for biodiversity stabilisation, cultural experiences and economic development for regional Australians.

Biomimicry is the practice of learning from and mimicking the strategies found in nature to solve challenges. It involves studying plants, animals, and ecosystems to understand how they work and then applying those insights to create sustainable solutions. Essentially, it’s about using nature’s best ideas to innovate and improve human-made products and systems.

We are applying those principles to restore degraded land using technology to mimic the largely extinct marsupials in arid areas of Australia, as a first step.

Using solar-powered, lightweight, autonomous rovers to do the soil pitting which is a crucial technique for creating small holes in the soil crust where nutrients, plant litter, seeds, and water can collect, providing a favourable environment for the germination and growth of seedlings. This natural process, known as bioturbation, was historically carried out by millions of native Australian marsupials. Unfortunately, these marsupials have been severely diminished or entirely lost from the landscape due to overstocking, leading to habitat loss and increased predation by invasive species such as cats and foxes.

While several man-made techniques exist and have achieved significant results, they are often too costly to implement on a broad scale. For instance, Zai pits, a similar but manual technique, have been effectively used in the Sahel of Africa and Kenya to reduce desertification and improve farm productivity (Danjuma et al., 2015). However, Zai pitting is impractical in Australia due to the high costs associated with manual labour in remote, degraded rangelands.

Another technique, mechanical rangeland pitting, used in the Middle East, Western and South Australia, and the USA, involves creating furrows by towing an implement over the soil behind a tractor (Rangelands NRM, Western Australia, n.d.). This method is also impractical in remote rangelands due to the high capital equipment requirements, operating expenses, and the potential for environmental damage caused by the heavy machinery.

Numerous studies have documented the essential role of native burrowing animals in bioturbation. We aim to emulate this natural process by drilling shallow, angled holes or soil pits in patterns. These pits capture nutrients, plant litter, seeds, and rainfall runoff, creating optimal conditions for seed germination and establishment. This process increases biodiversity and initiates a return to the original ecological cycle (Palmer et al., 2020; Fleming et al., 2014). Additionally, the accelerated plant growth above and below ground facilitates the natural sequestration of CO₂.