AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRES

Thank you for joining us on the front line to help wildlife, restore what was lost, and protect and future-proof Australia.

It was a year we’ll never forget. Even before the challenges of COVID-19, Australia was hit hard by bushfires during summer 2019-20 - the most catastrophic bushfire season ever experienced in the country’s history. So much was lost, and the impacts will be felt for years to come.

Up to 19 million hectares were burnt, with 12.6 million hectares primarily forest and bushland. 33 lives were lost and around 3,094 homes destroyed.

Early in January 2020, WWF estimated that at that time, 1.25 billion animals had been killed. As the fires raged well into March, and destroyed even more habitat, we had a scientific duty to update that figure to understand the true impact on our wildlife and natural landscapes.

An interim report was released six months on from the fires that we commissioned from a team of scientists from Australian universities, and the findings are shocking. Nearly 3 billion animals were impacted by the bushfires. At the peak of the fires, our focus was to get emergency support to the amazing front line organisations, rescuing and caring for injured and fire-affected wildlife. We then focused on the long road to recovery and future-proofing our country for the fire seasons ahead. We’ve worked hard to make sure the money our generous supporters donated made an impact where it was needed most. Over the past five years, we’ve funded 256 projects and collaborated with over 190 partners. Thank you for making all this work possible.

Thanks to your support, when Australian nature needed us, we responded together – saving and restoring habitats and species across the country.  Let’s keep building on this incredible action together. Join the movement for a Nature Positive future, where we halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.