We have the power to have a disproportionate impact on nature

Lutruwita/Tasmania split from the mainland 12,000 years ago, but there is evidence of Aboriginal settlement dating back 35,000 years. 

This history is huge — and so are the banksia trees that call The Quoin home. These trees are so old, and so broad, that your hands don’t meet when you hug their trunks.

However, while The Quoin’s history might eclipse our own, the way we manage the land now will determine its future. 

If our banksia trees were felled, for example, there’s nothing we could do to grow them back in our lifetime. 

The oldest recorded human lifespan is 122, which, though astounding, is nothing compared to the millennia for which trees can stand tall. There’s something staggering, unsettling and rousing the fact that we humans, with our relatively short lifespans, can disproportionately impact landscapes to such a degree. Whether we destroy, conserve or enhance is up to us, but whatever we choose, our legacy lives on in the soil, in the height of trees, in the air future generations breathe. 

We have the power to have a disproportionate impact on The Quoin’s ecosystems. Our actions will outlive us, which is why we see ourselves as the property’s temporary custodians. We intend to figure out the best way to be part of and work with the land until we pass along this responsibility to the next generation. 

Our mission is to reimagine how ecosystem regeneration is financed, executed and protected in the long term, and share our learnings widely so they can be replicated and reimagined around the world. 

Ditching binaries and reframing conservation

When you think of conservation, you likely imagine national parks and reserves, which are public land. These conservation sites are often selected for their unaffected natural values, the landscapes spared from significant logging and grazing. 

When prompted to imagine conservation, it’s less likely you imagine private properties. 

It’s too simple and binary to associate conservation with public estates and modified ecosystems with private land. The reality is far more complex. 

Private landowners have long had their feet on the ground, hands in the soil, listening to the needs of the land, and conserving and enhancing ecosystems on their properties. But the landowners we speak with say this conservation work is rarely financially incentivised or rewarded. For too long, private landowners have been hindered by the business models and subsidies available to them. 

The nature-positive revolution

But a new era is dawning. 

Now, there’s an emerging business case for private properties putting regeneration at their heart. A slew of new natural capital products and policies have emerged with the potential to make private conservation and regeneration work financially sustainable.

This shift is as important as it is overdue. 

Did you know that just 14.9% of Australia’s land is listed as publicly managed (the category parks and reserves fall into), in comparison to the 54.5% that’s listed as privately managed or under a pastoral lease? 

In other words, more than half of Australia’s land is under private management. Empowered by these new products and policies, private landowners are best placed to support the restoration of key ecosystems across Australia. 

The Quoin is a demonstration of a different path forward

Of course, these products and policies are emerging… which is where The Quoin comes in. 

We’re on a mission to derisk, validate and simplify the adoption of these new regenerative models. We’re blending conservation and regeneration alongside sustainable commercial activities. We’re undertaking research, testing technology and launching pilot projects. 

The Quoin is dedicated to demonstrating that business, nature and people can thrive in harmony. 

The Quoin — like other private properties — is uniquely placed to undertake conservation and regeneration work because we can move fast and experiment. 

And we need to move fast — because we’re collectively working to a deadline. 

We have until 2030 to shift our global economies from nature-negative to nature-positive, or we’ll push our planetary boundaries beyond reversible limits, and face the costs. 

As we approach 2030, The Quoin will be a beacon for landowners. 

Success to us is healthy and regenerated land. It’s financial sustainability. It’s people looking to The Quoin as a demonstration of a different path forward. 

It's a thriving future for all species.