How mangroves save Australians billions of dollars every year

Mangroves are protecting about 175,000 Australians from the impacts of natural disasters according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The ABS has just released experimental information on some of the benefits Australia’s oceans provide for the first time and have revealed that mangroves protect about 30 percent of Australia’s coastline, amounting to 85,000 homes around the country, from the ravages of floods and storms.

The National Ocean Account revealed that there was more than one million hectares of mangrove forests and up to three million hectares of seagrass meadows in 2021.

Director of Environment and Satellite Accounts, Jonathan Khoo, said without the benefits that mangroves offer, the cost of protecting the 18,0000km coastline that they cover would be considerable.

“Using means other than mangroves to protect 85,000 homes could cost the community over $200 billion up front and up to $8 billion annually,” said Mr Khoo.

The National Ocean Ecosystem Account is a joint project between the ABS and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Hot on the heels of the launch of View Media Group last year, Australia’s newest proptech digital media company has gone live with its consumer-facing real estate site, view.com.au.

The new site offers a ‘freemium’ model allowing vendors to list their properties for free while having the option of further upgrades for agents looking to enhance their listings.

VGM executive chairman Anthony Catalano said the model was a ‘game changer’ in the digital real estate space.

“While VMG is much more than a portal play, it’s critical that we have a consumer-facing brand that will act as the front door to attract consumers and in turn allow us to offer products and services in a range of verticals across the property ecosystem,” Mr Catalano said. “Our plan is to create a digital real estate superstore under the new View brand that will play in the $300 billion adjacency categories rather than solely focus on the $1

billion of digital property advertising.”

“We’ve listened to the industry and the time is right for an offer to come to market with an alternative model that addresses the real estate industry’s concern at the continually

escalating price of advertising.”

The View portal is available through app stores and will include properties across the country, not just those on the market right now.

“That means view.com.au will showcase more than 11 million properties in Australia compared to some of the portals which feature around 140,000 properties for sale,” Mr Catalano said. “From Day 1 we will provide consumers with a complete view of the market.’’

View has worked with mapping partner Nearmap to create the ability to have a comprehensive overview of all properties.

“We’ve had a look globally at best practice search for property and we’ve consumer tested a range of options and without doubt the preferred experience is map-based search,” View CEO Toby Blazs said. “So unlike others in the market who default consumers to a list view, we’ll default our search results via a map.”

Mr Catalano said the innovative site was designed to be a true disruptor in the proptech sector.

“VMG continues to grow and tick off the key parts of its strategic plan,” he said. “We are well on the way to forming a global-first conglomerate of proptech assets including portals, ad tech, lead generation, lead management solutions, media planning and buying, AI services, data and connections all under the one roof.”

How mangroves save Australians billions of dollars every year

A new digital real estate site promises a full view of the housing sector, even those places not on the market