Corporate wetlands restoration partnership: Banrock station

Abstract

Banrock Station is a major global wine brand that is also one of the fastest growing across major wine drinking nations. In 1994, Banrock Station purchased a 1,750 ha (4,200 acre) property 200 km north-east of Adelaide, Australia, to establish a vineyard supplying premium grapes. The property comprises river frontage, mallee woodland, wetlands, and previously cereal cropped areas. A significant part of the success of Banrock Station is built upon its close relationship with the environment, including wetland sponsorships around the world. The idea of wetland sponsorship arose from observation that the Banrock property had been intensively farmed for approximately a century with a range of negative impacts upon the fragile environment. Conservation group Wetland Care Australia had carried out some wetland restoration work to restore the Banrock Lagoon prior to the purchase by Banrock Station, this conservation work serving as a catalyst for environmental involvement by Banrock Station sponsored on the basis of donation of part of the proceeds from sale of wine. Banrock Station Wines has become an exemplar of a private sector company taking a wide range of measures to benefit wetland conservation and wise use - locally, nationally, and abroad - for a linked set of self-beneficial and publicly beneficial outcomes.