Champion of rainforest conservation Nicky Swan
Do it in Douglas
As part of the ‘Do it in Douglas’ campaign, Douglas Shire Council, Tourism Port Douglas Daintree (TPDD) and Douglas Chamber of Commerce have launched a new series of storytelling videos that shine a light on the unique local business scene in Douglas.
Do It In Douglas is about encouraging growth and prosperity in the Shire’s small business community.
The launch of nine videos will take people into the lives of those that have realised success in business and life. It also gives an inspiring and equally realistic insight into what it’s like to do business in Douglas.
This week’s video features Nicky Swan, CEO of the Mossman Botanic Garden and a champion for rainforest conservation.
The Mossman Botanic Garden (MBG) will deliver a state of the art garden with a focus on publicly conserving and showcasing plants from Australia’s Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.
In the video Ms Swan highlights the importance of rainforest conservation, and the significance of the Daintree Rainforest as the oldest living rainforest in the world. "We’ve got about ten years to get our act together, it’s real, it’s palpable”, she says.
“Australia has a huge reputation globally for being clean, green and safe. This area really now has the capacity to have a garden of this nature, and we have to work absolutely authentically and honestly with first nations peoples all the way from Cardwell to Cook - throughout the wet tropics.”
As a world-class scientific facility, the Mossman Botanic Garden will provide a platform that shares stories around regeneration, climate change adaptation, traditional knowledge and how historically, indigenous peoples have managed their land.
The MBG will deliver the Mossman community with a garden to cherish that helps create social cohesion and a sense of inclusion around sustainability in an ever-changing world.
The Mossman Botanic Garden will represent Far North Queensland as a tropical rainforest conservation champion, whilst also creating a world-renowned tourism destination.
Nicky sums it up beautifully, ”we have to stop taking and taking from the planet. We actually have to stop and start putting back.”
For more info about Do it in Douglas visit the website here.