Subak Australia welcomes our 3rd cohort of climate change makers
Back in 2021, Subak Australia realised we needed a new approach to tackle the climate change crisis. To borrow from one of the world’s wisest minds, we knew we couldn’t ‘continue to do the same thing and hope for a different result!’
As a FOAK, ‘first of a kind’, we work with and help ‘not-for-profit’ start-ups scale. They have to be laser-focused on climate change and nature repair. As not-for-profits, they will be unconstrained by confidentiality and commerciality. They are agile and flexible, and can avoid the normal ‘red-tape’ of commerce. They share openly, and use data and insight to develop and deliver innovative approaches to market - fast.
That’s their difference. Their secret sauce. Our purpose, and theirs, is to provide solutions to assist policy-makers, business, and communities tackle the climate crisis and enact change at pace and scale.
But Rome wasn’t built in a day…
Like all good innovators, we also listen and learn. We know we need to keep iterating. Now in our third year of operation, with the successes of eight amazing member organisations and eight terrific fellows behind us, we realised that we built a village. No longer just an accelerator and incubator, we have evolved into a village of collaborative change-makers.
As a long-term collective, we are united in our purpose to ‘tackle the climate crisis, and make change happen at pace and scale’. And we collaborate to collectively steward the environmental ecosystem more efficiently and effectively.
With that in mind, this year’s cohort has a specific nature-aligned theme. Inspired by our acceptance as an associate partner of the Nature Positive Economy CRC, we are combining First Nations’ know-how, regenerative knowledge, a further focus on the value of our oceans, land, and wildlife, with best practice governance and environmental sustainability expertise.
We have recently confirmed the following Cohort 3 members:
Altiorem https://altiorem.org/
Balu Blue Foundation https://balubluefoundation.org/
Regen Melbourne https://www.regen.melbourne/
Queensland Indigenous Women's Ranger Network https://qiwrn.com.au/
People and Parks https://peopleandparks.org/
Altiorem is the world’s first community-built sustainable finance library. As an Australia-based registered charity, it also has a global platform dedicated to supporting advocates for sustainable finance. Concurrently it engages and educates the next generation of business and finance leaders on critical sustainability issues including climate change and sustainable development. Altiorem contributes to sustainable finance by assisting finance students and employees understand the role finance must play in addressing sustainability challenges, to build a better future for all. Altiorem also supports finance professionals to drive change from within organisations through internal advocacy and quality implementation of new and enhanced approaches to financial decision-making and stewardship practices.
Balu Blue Foundation’s mission is to safeguard and nurture their habitats, both on land and sea. And to pave the way for enduring solutions and a more sustainable climate future. Balu Blue advocates three strategic interventions - Rehabilitation, Education, and Preservation. It provides crucial care to injured wildlife and animals while fostering collaboration among caretakers nationwide to preserve the environment, rehabilitate it and create lasting change. It uses comprehensive awareness initiatives and training programs, and potentially support centres, to educate and cultivate a conscientious community committed to environmental stewardship.
People and Parks Foundation is an Australian climate, environment, and health charity that recognises the critical nexus between planet and health through its ‘One Planet, One Health’ programs. Founded on the premise that ‘Healthy People need Healthy Habitats’, its task is to ensure all people have the opportunity to access and engage with thriving natural environments, now and into the future. People and Parks Foundation works in partnership to develop and resource transformative projects that benefit the health of people, places, and planet – particularly where those benefits are needed most. It also raises awareness that it is in people’s own health, wellbeing, and economic interests to care for nature.
Queensland Indigenous Women’s Rangers Network (QIWRN) is delivered by Yuku Baja Muliku Landowners and Reserves, a Cooktown-based Traditional Owner group who were the successful recipients of a joint State Government and WWF Australia grant to establish a state-wide women’s land and sea ranger network. Yuku Baja Muliku’s Ranger Coordinator, Larissa Hale, is a trailblazer for Indigenous women. She was the first female Indigenous ranger coordinator in Queensland and is Managing Director of Yuku Baja Muliku Landowner and Reserves. QIWRN is co-designed by Indigenous women, government and non-government agencies, land councils and other stakeholders as a collaborative program that delivers lasting support, opportunities and security for Indigenous women rangers across Queensland. Larissa Hale, won Prince William’s 2nd annual Earthshot prize - a million dollar grant over 10 years to share empirical knowledge and First Nation’s climate and nature science globally. As Director of the burgeoning Queensland Indigenous Women Ranger Network, and in association with the First Nations’ Partnership director for the Great Barrier Reef, the women’s rangers network will bring wisdom and add great value to all our members and fellows.
Regen Melbourne is an ambitious collaborator with bold climate-focused projects to regenerate the City of Melbourne. Powered by an alliance of more than 200 organisations, Regen Melbourne is working towards a thriving future for people and the planet. As part of our hub, it will add to our climate change platform of knowledge and activities. This reciprocal relationship will assist us to shape the most suitable place-based actions that we can undertake. As we in turn assist it with its decision-making and stewardship practices.
To get in contact with any of our members, please email australia@subak.org