Friends

Lion Guardians

Lion Guardians is a conservation organization dedicated to helping people live peacefully alongside wildlife. Since 2007, Lion Guardians have trained and supported hundreds of local conservationists to monitor lion populations and mitigate human-wildlife conflict. This innovative approach has helped reduce lion killing by more than 90% at the core site in Amboseli, Kenya, where the organization is proud to protect one of the few free-roaming and rapidly growing lion populations. Lion Guardians continues to grow their impact both globally and across wildlife species by answering key scientific questions that drive innovative solutions and by systematically sharing knowledge with others.

WOTCH

WOTCH is a volunteer-run grassroots organization dedicated to protecting Victoria, Australia’s native forests through the use of citizen science, community engagement and advocacy. They survey in the Central Highlands of Victoria, from Toolangi in the west all the way to Baw Baw in the east.  They use thermal and infrared video technology to search for threatened species in areas of forests earmarked for logging in order to have the area protected. In this way, WOTCH has managed to protect over 1500 hectares (3700 acres) from logging since it was established in 2014.

Kerulos Center for Nonviolence

The Kerulos Center for Nonviolence is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, established in 2008 upon the discovery of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in wild elephants. They are committed to animal self-determination and seek to inspire radical change in human culture by translating the understanding of animal sentience into everyday practice and ethics. Kerulos’ work in sanctuary, education and research is rooted in the philosophy and concept of nonviolence.

Save the Manatee Club

Save the Manatee Club is a national nonprofit and membership-based organization established in 1981 by singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett and Bob Graham, former Florida Governor and U.S. Senator. Our mission is to protect manatees and their aquatic habitat for future generations. We concentrate our efforts on reducing the negative impacts to manatees and their aquatic habitat caused by human activity through increasing public awareness and education; sponsoring research, rescue, rehabilitation, and release efforts; advocating for strong protection measures, such as boat speed zones and sanctuaries; and taking legal action when appropriate.

Friends of the National Parks Foundation

Friends of the National Parks Foundation (FNPF) is an Indonesian nonprofit organization working to protect wildlife, restore habitat and improve the well-being of local communities. FNPF is a grassroots, front-line, conservation organization, and works closely with local communities, customary and cultural groups, government, researchers, volunteers and the global conservation community. FNPF employs, educates and improves the social and economic well-being of the local communities in the vicinity of each project. Their mission is to develop and implement best management practices to reach the goal of sustainable conservation that integrates local community well-being with the environment.

Clinch River Valley Initiative

The Clinch River Valley Initiative (CRVI) is a collaborative effort in Southwest Virginia, focusing on the Clinch River Valley—one of the most biodiverse river systems in North America. Working at a watershed scale with many local partners, CRVI builds upon the unique cultural and ecological assets of the Clinch River Valley to create new possibilities in rural communities along the Clinch, particularly around environmental education, economic development and entrepreneurship.

Maji Moto Maasai Cultural Camp

Maji Moto Maasai Cultural Camp supports vulnerable girls and women to empower them with education and employment, and is dedicated to preserving the natural environment where the Maasai people have thrived for generations. Salaton Ole Ntutu's cultural camp is just outside Maasai Mara, and a visit there supports health, education and conservation efforts that honor local wisdom and practices, including wildlife guiding. You can stay at the camp set within a traditional Maasai village, where you’ll experience traditional warrior training, music, food and dance. Add transportation from Nairobi and a safari into Maasai Mara, and you’ll have a great adventure while sustaining culture and nature.

Peregrine Fund

The Peregrine Fund changes the future for nature and humanity by conserving birds of prey worldwide. Whether the threat is poisoning, habitat loss, human persecution or any other cause, they use sound science to tackle the most pressing conservation issues head-on.  They accomplish high impact results by preventing raptor extinctions, protecting areas of high raptor conservation value and addressing landscape-level threats impacting multiple species. As a catalyst for change, they inspire people to value raptors and take action, and they invest in tomorrow's conservation leaders.  By working with communities around the world to protect the wildlife and habitats on which they depend, The Peregrine Fund is able to create lasting conservation results while improving people’s ways of life.  Support for their work comes from individual donors, corporations, foundations and government grants.

Western Environmental Law Center

The Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) uses the power of the law to safeguard the public lands, wildlife, and communities of the American West in the face of a changing climate. They envision a thriving, resilient West, abundant with protected public lands and wildlife, powered by clean energy and defended by communities rooted in an ethic of conservation.

WELC works every day to ensure those who would harm our public lands, drinking water, wildlife and communities are held accountable to U.S. law. Without watchdogs like them, the laws meant to protect our values would be powerless. They are playing a key role in the future of the American West by identifying and advocating for forward-thinking environmental policies and through targeted, vigilant legal advocacy. WELC has provided pro bono legal services to hundreds of conservation groups and individuals.

Mpala Research Centre

Mpala Research Centre is situated on 48,000 acres at the core of the Ewaso Ecosystem, a large, geographically diverse region of central Kenya defined by the Ewaso Ng’iro River and its tributaries. Established in 1994, it is a scientific hub for experimental and manipulative research by visiting scientists and students. Mpala offers a “living laboratory” without the restrictions of a national park, allowing scientists to manipulate the environment and conduct landscape-level, controlled experiments to explore basic science, address real-world problems, and ensure that sustainable livelihoods and economic advancement are synonymous with wildlife conservation.

SEE Turtles

SEE Turtles was launched in 2008 as the world's first effort to protect turtle species through ecotourism. Since then, SEE Turtles has generated more than $1 million in benefits to conservation and local communities, helped save more than 1 million endangered hatchlings, and launched a worldwide campaign to end demand for turtleshell products. For these efforts, they received the World Travel & Tourism Council’s 2019 Changemakers Award.

Project Coyote

Project Coyote is a national non-profit organization based in Northern California whose mission is to promote compassionate conservation and coexistence between people and wildlife through education, science and advocacy. Our representatives, advisory board members and supporters include scientists, educators, ranchers and citizen leaders who work together to change laws and policies to protect native carnivores from abuse and mismanagement, advocating coexistence instead of killing. We seek to change negative attitudes toward coyotes, wolves and other misunderstood predators by replacing ignorance and fear with understanding, respect and appreciation.

Christo and Wilkinson Photography

Christo and Wilkinson Photography has been photographing and interviewing indigenous, place-based people throughout eastern and southern Africa for more than a decade. Wildlife became an integral part of their work as they came to appreciate how such people survived and thrived in a seemingly inhospitable environment. Expanding on years of documentary photography, still images naturally evolved to moving images to give voice to those who might not otherwise be heard.

Christo and Wilkinson Photography created the documentary film “Walking Thunder: Ode to the African Elephant,” which strives to be a poetic, intimate documentary focusing on a remarkable being, the elephant, and underscoring the essential role of “the other,” which the non-human plays in the mind and spiritual ecology of humankind. A child’s eyes and wonder allow us to reconnect with our own childhood awe and respect for the wild while helping to remind us of the legacy we will leave to future generations.

Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance

At the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance (CBA), our mission is to promote swimmable, fishable waterways in our community through monitoring, education, restoration and research.

Healthy local waterways are the foundation of our economic security and identity. We are driven to provide a sustainable Choctawhatchee Basin for future generations. CBA inspires water stewardship, continually growing a network of supporters to protect our precious natural resources.

We collaborate with our stakeholders to: collect data for informed decisions; engage residents to become active stewards; promote healthy shorelines, wetlands and waterways; and to identify and execute projects to solve specific problems.

Adventure Scientists

Adventure Scientists is a nonprofit organization based in Bozeman, MT that equips partners with data collected from the outdoors that are crucial to addressing environmental challenges. By leveraging the skills of the outdoor adventure community we are able to gather difficult-to-obtain data at any scale, in any environment. These partnerships have revealed the extent of microplastic pollution, led to discoveries that are improving agricultural efficiency, provided key information to guide climate change decision-making, and helped protect threatened wildlife habitat around the world.

Unlocking Silent Histories

Through an engaged critical and creative process, Unlocking Silent Histories inspires Indigenous youth to create documentary films that capture and illuminate their cultures, languages and customs. The voices of the youth lead the process, deciding which traditions and heritages to preserve and which methods are best to apply. Our goal is to collaboratively foster a learning and leadership model for younger generations as well as create business ideas that support their communities.

Save the Giraffes

Save The Giraffes is a 501(c)(3) organization, chartered in May 2017. The IUCN Red List categorizes giraffes as “Vulnerable” to extinction. Save the Giraffes’ mission is: “To guarantee that giraffes are protected and preserved in their natural habitat”. Using an ecosystems approach, we support conservation science and education programs that recognize giraffes as one component of the “economy of nature.”

We focus on a three-pronged strategy: support naturalistic studies of giraffe ecology and behavior among the subspecies threatened with extinction; support detailed studies of giraffe biology, physiology, genetics, and behavioral ecology of non-endangered subspecies to collect information that assists in saving threatened subspecies; and promote conservation education programs – especially among school children in host countries – that will train the children of today to become the conservation leaders and advocates of tomorrow.

Amigos Bravos

Amigos Bravos, headquartered in Taos, New Mexico, has a 30-year history of successfully protecting and restoring waters across the state. Our major victories include: Superfund cleanup of the Red River from impacts of the Chevron/Molycorp Mine; permanent Congressional protection for the 100,000-acre Valle Vidal from oil and gas development; the mandated clean-up of over 400 toxic dumpsites at Los Alamos National Laboratory; and reintroduction of the native river otter to New Mexico.

Turner Endangered Species Fund

The Turner Endangered Species Fund (TESF) and Turner Biodiversity Divisions (TBD) are dedicated to conserving biological diversity by ensuring the persistence of imperiled species and their habitats with an emphasis on private land. Our activities range from single species conservation actions to restoration of ecological communities and functional ecosystems. We are unique in our efforts to bring the role of private lands to the forefront of ecological conservation. We aim to use the best science to effectively conserve biodiversity and disseminate reliable scientific and policy information. We are determined to establish a new level of effectiveness for private-public efforts to redress the extinction crisis.

Marine Conservation Without Borders

Marine Conservation without Borders (MCwB) believes that biodiversity and linguistic diversity are intimately intertwined, and supports this by engaging Indigenous groups in the fishing communities of the greater Caribbean basin in discussions about the significance of ecosystem literacy in their daily lives. Prior to endangerment by global demand, these communities supported their region’s biodiversity by practicing peaceful and complementary relations within these complex ecosystems. MCwB supports the renewal of these relations, in part through a series of textbooks devoted to protecting these fisheries’ future by contextualizing conservation biology within the traditional ecological knowledge of these Indigenous fishing communities — enabling both linguistic and biological diversity to thrive together. MCwB has begun publishing eBooks on mangrove ecosystems in multiple home languages of the region. Others on a range of topics related to sustainable tropical marine ecosystems, such as climate change, macro-plastics and marine protected areas, are soon to come. Their eBooks are available free in MCwB’s Digital Library and are also on record at the Archive of Indigenous Languages of Latin America.

Himalayan Stove Project

Himalayan Stove Project (HSP) is a humanitarian program founded by George Basch — also their “chief cook” — in 2010. Its mission is to donate and distribute clean-burning, fuel-efficient EnviroFit cook stoves to Nepalese families living in remote Himalayan villages. These stoves reduce indoor household air pollution by 70% to 90% over the traditional, rudimentary stoves or open fire pits inside their homes.

EnviroFit stoves not only reduce deadly smoke and carbon monoxide, they also reduce fuel consumption by 60% while still allowing the Nepalese families to use their traditional fuel sources, be it wood or dung. Families who collect wood for fuel spend an average of two hours a day collecting wood. Families who purchase wood can spend up to a third of their household income on it.

The stoves they distribute are made by EnviroFit, a highly regarded social enterprise that has manufactured and delivered over one million modern, improved and clean-burning cook stoves worldwide since 2003.

HSP has transformed the lives of more than 40,000 Nepalese since 2010 with its clean cook stove program and is committed to continuing this humanitarian work.

Cultural Survival

Cultural Survival has been advocating for Indigenous Peoples' rights, and supporting Indigenous communities’ self-determination, cultures and political resilience since 1972. We envision a future that respects and honors Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights and dynamic cultures — deeply and richly interwoven in lands, languages, spiritual traditions and artistic expression, and rooted in self-determination and self-governance. 

Earth Law Center

Earth Law Center works to transform the law to recognize, honor, and protect nature’s inherent rights to exist, thrive and evolve. We do this by building a force of advocates for nature's rights at local and international levels. We partner with local organizations create new laws that recognize rights of rivers, oceans, coastal and land ecosystems. 

Cheetah Conservation Fund

Cheetah Conservation Fund is the world’s leading organization dedicated to saving the cheetah in the wild. Founded by Dr. Laurie Marker in 1990, CCF has created a set of integrated programs aimed at addressing the principle threats to the cheetah.

Animal-Kind International

Animal-Kind International raises much-needed funds for their partner Animal Rescue and Protection Organizations. Their partners in resource-poor countries work in their communities to help animals and to change attitudes and behaviors toward them. Animal-Kind International partners have the necessary experience, drive, skills and knowledge, but need financial support as it's difficult to raise money for animal rescue and protection in their countries.

Ecological Citizen

The Ecological Citizen is a peer-reviewed, free-to-access journal that provides a forum for inspiring and mobilizing discussion with an Earth-centered perspective. Published online twice a year by a small team of volunteers, it has no financial affiliations and no publication charges. The journal's core aims are: to advance ecological knowledge; to champion Earth-centered action; to inspire ecocentric citizenship; to promote ecocentrism in political debates; and to nurture an ecocentric lexicon.

Earthfire Institute Wildlife Sanctuary and Retreat Center

Earthfire Institute’s mission is to serve as a small but powerful seed center, generating new perspectives on our relationship with nature to change the way that people see, and therefore treat, wildlife and nature. It strives to accomplish this by developing deep relationships and insights with the rescued animals of the Earthfire Institute Wildlife Sanctuary that they can then share with others through conversation and storytelling. Earthfire is at the forefront of integrating wild animals’ voices into our awareness, considerations and decisions, resulting in an expanded sense of community that truly includes all living beings, and opening the door to a richer and more sustainable future.

Elephant Voices

Elephant Voices works to advance the study of elephant cognition, communication and social behavior, and to promote the scientifically sound, ethical management and care of elephants. Elephant Voices accomplishes these through research, conservation, advocacy and the sharing of knowledge.

E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation

The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation fosters a knowing stewardship of our world through biodiversity research and education initiatives that promote and inform worldwide preservation of our biological heritage. The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation believes that by enhancing the public’s understanding of biodiversity, they can nurture a culture in which people are inspired to conserve and protect the natural world.

Hands Across the Sea

Hands Across the Sea seeks nothing less than the transformation of the child literacy landscape in the Eastern Caribbean. Every year, they send thousands of great new books — over 247,000 since 2007 — that have been requested by educators through their Hands Wish Lists. They help schools (from pre-school to high school), reading programs, and community libraries to create or rejuvenate lending libraries. 

Kalahari People’s Fund

The Kalahari Peoples Fund (KPF) is a nonprofit organization formed for the benefit of the San and other peoples of the Kalahari Desert region in southern Africa. KPF is a non-government advocacy group composed of anthropologists, development workers, and other interested individuals who have worked closely with the San or are familiar with the situations they are dealing with. KPF’s function is to act as a channel of communication between southern African peoples and the wider world, bringing information about their hopes and needs to interested individuals, groups, and agencies who are able to help them.

Kiliii Yüyan Photography

Kiliii Yüyan is an indigenous Nanai photographer whose award-winning documentary work has been published by National Geographic China, The Nature Conservancy and Der Spiegel, and exhibited around the world. On assignment, he has fled collapsing sea ice, weathered botulism from fermented whale blood and found kinship at the edges of the world. He is based in Seattle.

Kiliii works to understand and promote the lessons of indigenous and subsistence cultures — those who live close to the land. Against a backdrop of ecological upheaval, Kiliii has found hope. He carries that hope through his photography, showing us the essential connection to nature that has kept traditional cultures alive for millennia. His work offers an alternative vision of humanity’s greatest treasures — community, culture and the earth.  

Leopold Writing Program

The Leopold Writing Program builds on Aldo Leopold’s legacy as a writer by inspiring the next generation to participate in the evolution of environmental ethics through the written word. The Program creates an intergenerational network of leaders who, by virtue of their writing talent, have the potential to change the cultural story about the relationship between humans and nature.

Friends of Bonobos

Friends of Bonobos is the only organization in the world providing lifetime care to bonobos orphaned by the illegal trade in endangered wildlife. They are on the front line of the battle to protect bonobos in the only country they are found — The Democratic Republic of Congo.

Reza Visual Academy

Convinced that the language of images can help create a sense of resiliency, renowned photojournalist Reza created the Reza Visual Academy to implement photo-training workshops for youths living in precarious civil societies such as refugee camps and disadvantaged suburbs all over the world, including France, Iraqi Kurdistan, Mali, Italy and Argentina.

Photography is used as a tool to empower youth by training them to become active witnesses of their destinies. They learn how to express themselves using the latest information and communication tools. The overall aim is to promote self-esteem and self-sufficiency in order to develop a stable and peaceful society.

Saving Nature

At Saving Nature, we restore links between fragmented habitats to help rescue endangered and threatened species from extinction. In addition, the forests we create help fight climate change. As the native trees in our wildlife corridors grow back, they absorb carbon dioxide and create oxygen. Importantly, we work with local conservation groups who have the knowledge and experience to effectively restore forests, engage with local communities, and monitor results.

The team at Saving Nature selects strategic parcels of land that offer the greatest leverage in connecting habitat fragments to create viable areas to support biodiversity and preserve critical ecosystems. Notably, these connections unlock the potential for species recolonization, promote genetic diversity, expand access to resources, and reduce human-wildlife conflict.

SEEtheWILD

SEEtheWILD is a leading channel for responsible wildlife conservation experiences. SEEtheWILD promotes tour operators and non-profit organizations that balance strong records of sustainable operations with a commitment to conservation. Their partners are committed to: unwavering support of wildlife conservation efforts; offering strong educational and applied learning programs; and reducing environmental impact in the course of the operations and patronage of local businesses.

Science Debate

Science Debate asks candidates, elected officials, the public and the media to put more focus on science policy issues of vital importance to modern life. As a registered 501(c)(3), Science Debate is nonpartisan. They encourage everyone to ask candidates to discuss and debate science and technology policies for the well-being of our nation and society. 

Snow Leopard Trust

The Snow Leopard Trust aims to protect this endangered cat through community-based conservation projects that improve the scientific understanding of snow leopard behavior, needs, habitats and threats.

Field Institute of Taos

Based in the Taos, New Mexico, area and beyond, Field Institute of Taos has been connecting youth with the natural world and encouraging healthy, active lifestyles since 1996. Their vision includes developing a strong sense of place and building community connections. Unique, outdoor education programs include summer day camps, camping/backpacking trips, school experiential education (on and off campus), conservation education, after-school programs, an inclusive, family-oriented cycling team, a high school mountain bike team and FIT Neighborhood camp. Field Institute of Taos is active in collaborative efforts within the community, working with other nonprofit organizations as well as local schools and public land managers.

By providing positive, healthy opportunities for experiencing hands-on nature exploration and outdoor skills development, these programs help youth develop good mental and physical health while connecting with the local environment. A strong mentorship component runs through all Field Institute of Taos programs, where youth and adults are encouraged to share their knowledge and support each other.

San Youth Network

San Youth Network (SYNet) is a non-governmental organization for young San peoples living in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Its aspiration is to bring together San youth to share their experiences and their diversity. San groups face common problems even though they live in different political, economic, societal and geographical regions. SYNet is a platform where youth of different dialects can freely advocate for and share ideas with each other. This creates a strong and sensitive environment that helps them display their common interests, and their desire to change the status quo in their respective countries and be respected members of society. San peoples have historically been marginalized in regions that oppose the concept of their indigenousness, and are often among the poorest. SYNet advocates for their rights to access and inclusion, placing them in a better position to make informed decisions and be strong leaders who look out for the best interests of all San peoples.

Web of Life Foundation

Web of Life Foundation is a non-profit organization aimed at encouraging dialog and fresh thinking on pressing questions related to society, politics, business and the environment. Their purpose is to find ways to break out of conventional thinking and unleash imagination. They act as a catalyst for anyone who has fresh ideas on how to improve well-being — sustainably.

Species Alliance

Species Alliance is a nonprofit organization committed to raising public awareness of the mass extinction and its implications for humanity and the rest of the living world. They are dedicated to exploring and facilitating creative, effective responses. Their aim is to stimulate changes in public policies and human behavior that will assure a healthy future for life on Earth.

Western Landowners Alliance

The Western Landowners Alliance (WLA) was established by landowners to improve the ecological health and economic prosperity of working lands in the American West.

WLA recognizes that economic vitality and conservation go hand in hand. In the American West, private lands encompass some of the most productive and biologically diverse landscapes, including the majority of water resources. They also provide crucial habitat, wildlife corridors and harbor the majority of imperiled species. Private landowners thus play pivotal role in shaping the future.

WLA provides a collective voice, a peer network and a shared knowledge base for landowners striving to keep the land whole and healthy. We bring the perspective of landowners to bear on the major issues of the day, advancing pragmatic, common-ground solutions that sustain working lands, connected landscapes and native species.

Through our individual stewardship and collective action, we are committed to leaving the world a better place. 

Terralingua

Terralingua's mission is to sustain the biocultural diversity of life — the world’s invaluable heritage of biological, cultural and linguistic diversity — through an innovative program of research, education, policy-relevant work and on-the-ground action. Its vision is a just, equitable, sustainable world in which the biocultural diversity of life is valued, protected and perpetuated for generations to come. Terralingua's goal is to bring about a profound shift in human values through a deeper understanding and appreciation of the vital importance of biocultural diversity for the survival of all life on earth, so that individual and collective action is taken to care for it and sustain it in this rapidly changing world. Terralingua's main outreach tool is its flagship publication, Langscape Magazine.

Long Run

The Long Run is one of the world’s largest business-led sustainable development initiatives. The Long Run brings together a global community of like-minded individuals committed to conserving nature and improving people’s lives through their tourism businesses. Collectively, members aspire to conserve 20 million acres of biodiverse land and improve the lives of two million people by 2020. The Long Run is driven to support sustainable and ecologically and socially responsible tourism destinations around the world.