Deforestation | Wilderness Society
Our solution:
We drove the strategic move to call this tree clearing problem what it is: Deforestation. To qualify this strong language, we had to expose this hidden crisis so real people could see it with their own eyes.
Our challenge:
The tree clearing campaign had been running 20 years. Meanwhile, clearing rates in Queensland had skyrocketed - on par with the Amazon and the Congo. With a state election around the corner, we had to urgently persuade everyday Australians to demand tough new laws.
Step 1
Google built us an app to detect unapproved clearing by satellite. We crowdfunded a fleet of drones to film smoking gun evidence. We dubbed the program SkyScout.
Step 2
We deployed a suite of content to raise campaign funds, spread awareness and neutralise lobbyist spin. We partnered with our on-the-ground organising teams to target the messages that were working to social media users in the electorates we needed to win.
Step 3
With just two weeks to go, we dropped a bomb. A drone pilot had delivered us the most shocking deforestation footage ever filmed in Australia - and right in a Great Barrier Reef catchment area.
The media ran our story, adopting our hardline language, right up to polling day.
"Queensland farmers suspected to have defied tree clearing controls in deforestation frenzy."
- The Guardian
Step 4
Now scrambling, our opponents descended on the newly-elected Government. But so did we – by driving a billboard through the middle of their event, hijacking their media coverage.
"Queensland is one of the world’s worst places for deforestation."
- The Economist
Our result:
By the time the laws came before Queensland Parliament, many mainstream publications had adopted our 'deforestation' language.
In May 2018, Queensland got tough new laws to curb Australia’s deforestation crisis. The working model we established will now roll out in other states.
