By Luke Voogt
Koala habitat restoration in Lara has caught the eye of Lonely Planet, with Australia winning the world-renowned travel guide’s community restoration award.
Koala Clancy Foundation president Janine Duffy starred as spokeswoman for Australia in a video celebrating koala habitat restoration efforts following the January bushfires.
“I’m felt so honoured and a bit overcome even,” the Anakie local told the Independent yesterday.
“I’m so thrilled. Lonely Planet is hugely-respected around the world, particularly in Europe.”
The award would provide a massive boost for wildlife tourism in Geelong and across Australia post-COVID-19, Ms Duffy said.
Koala Clancy Foundation primarily plants trees for koalas, with help from local farmers, in parts of Lara and Little River more affected by drought than bushfires in recent years.
But this year the foundation also supported rehabilitation efforts in bushfire-devastated koala habitats across Victoria, Ms Duffy said.
“It’s a testament to the Geelong farming community that we’re being contacted by Gippsland groups to plant trees over there.”
In the video, Ms Duffy describes the bushfires as the worst in human history, which the World Weather Attribution consortium has attributed to climate change.
She speaks passionately about “enriching” travellers’ experiences through tree-planting programs to save the beloved and internationally-famous marsupials.
“We figure if you’re going to a place to see the animals, you may as well help them while you’re there,” she says in the clip.
“How would a traveller feel if they planted a tree next year and then in four years came back and saw a koala in it, knowing they helped save this threatened species?
“We love it when travellers come and help our wildlife, and we’re going to need them to plant all these trees.”
