Tasmania's Tarkine
The stunning 370,000-hectare Tarkine region in north-western Tasmania is Australia's largest temperate rainforest area and contains one of the world's last remaining Gondwanic old-growth rainforests.
Home to numerous threatened or endangered plant and animal species and with almost no introduced predators, the Tarkine has long held a special significance for Indigenous communities, said to have inhabited the area up to 10,000 years ago.
Its lichen-encrusted rainforests, spectacular coastal dunes and heathland, marshes and wild rivers make it a jewel in the crown of the Tasmanian forests, one of WWF's 'Global 200' priority ecoregions.
WWF-Australia's Tarkine campaign
In May 2005, the Australian Government announced more than 80% protection for this magnificent region, effectively halting state government plans announced two years earlier to log the 20,000-hectare Tarkine Rainforest Corridor at the heart of the wilderness area.
This followed an 18-month campaign by WWF-Australia - including the release of the groundbreaking Blueprint for the Forest Industry and Vegetation Management in Tasmania in July 2004 - which offered a solution to the key environmental problems facing Tasmania while still allowing for a vibrant forest industry.
River in the Tarkine
© Eddie Safarik
This incredibly successful campaign brought together Australia's best scientists and economists to determine the best way forward for both the landscapes and people of Tasmania.
WWF's campaign involved working with local communities and industry partners in the region to promote realistic solutions to the threat of logging the Tarkine and taking our solutions to political and industry leaders in Tasmania and nationally.
We identified land clearing as the greatest threat to biodiversity in Tasmania and pushed for a reduction in broadscale clearing of vegetation in the state.
Whilst an end to logging in the Tarkine has been secured, WWF's work to reduce land clearing in Tasmania continues.
