The Impact of Giving

Often times, many do not realize the importance of a company’s involvement within surrounding communities. KBR employees make many commitments to ensure the communities in which they live and work are vibrant and successful. Annually, KBR’s Corporate Giving department supports a variety of non-profit organizations within the focus areas of education, environment and health. The invaluable feedback received from recipients detailing how the funds were used is a clear indication of why business and community involvement go hand in hand.

KBR’s Corporate Giving sponsored a multi-year grant for The Nature Conservancy beginning in 2012. The Nature Conservancy’s mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. In Australia, they played a lead role in the creation of the Karrkad-Kandji Trust, whose mission is to provide leadership, management, and financial support for two Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs), Djelk and Wardekken.

Karrkard-Kandji refers to the widely varied landscape of the protected areas. The two IPAs have a combined area of approximately 5 million acres in a region that is of global significance for its natural and cultural values. The Nature Conservancy is now helping the Trust raise AUD$10 million to provide a perpetual source of funding for conservation management of the two IPAs. According to the Nature Conservancy, their long-term vision for the Trust is to enable the Warddeken and Djelk people to achieve self-sufficiency in the management of their country. The vision will then serve as a funding model for other IPAs throughout the country.

In the past year, growth and awareness were unrelenting, multiple positions were filled, and meetings were held to educate personnel close to the project. Special guests included leaders from Warddeken Land Management and Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation. They are the entities overseeing the Warddeken and Djelk Indigenous Ranger Programs, which carry out conservation management activities on the IPAs and other Traditional Owners and Rangers. The meetings provided the opportunity to plan fundraising, begin developing granting policies and guidelines, and engage key Indigenous leaders about their views and priorities for support of conservation.

With such a large project affecting members of more than 137 Indigenous clans in the region, it provided a great opportunity for Indigenous Rangers to work alongside the elders and receive their deep traditional ecological knowledge, along with important cultural and life skills.

Indigenous Australians were successful stewards of their lands for millennia before European settlement. The Wardekken and Djelk IPAs are able to allow displaced communities to return to their country and follow their cultural traditions while caring for their land through a combination of traditional practices and modern science. For example, rangers are effectively assisting IPA communities apply to the trust, and they lead core conservation management activities, such as fire management and feral animal removal. By establishing the Trust, a stage is being set to ensure that these activities are funded long term.

Learn more about The Nature Conservancy at: www.nature.org