NEW YORK (February 12, 2019) - WCS has announced 13 new grants to nonprofit organizations implementing on-the-ground, science-driven projects that will help wildlife and ecosystems adapt to climate change. These grants are made through the award-winning Climate Adaptation Fund, part of WCS's Conservation Solutions division, which provides a total of $2.5 million in grant awards between $50,000 and $250,000 to conservation non-profit organizations annually. The Fund's work contributes to WCS's mission to protect wild places across our globe and connect communities to nature. Funded organizations for 2018 are as follows:
With funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF), the WCS Climate Adaptation Fund has awarded almost $17 million to 91 conservation projects since its inception. This year's grant selection process widened the applicant pool and for the first time, invited projects using joint mitigation and adaptation (JMA) strategies to apply. Further, there was a renewed focus on adaptation efforts occurring in urban environments. These urban adaptation projects provide a unique opportunity to communicate the importance of conservation and climate adaptation with diverse audiences. This year's JMA and urban adaptation projects include:
These solutions serve a purpose beyond climate adaptation within their respective ecosystems. The Fund encourages grant recipients to dedicate a portion of the funds to strategic communications, which serve to inform conservationists of successful methods, garner public and funder support, inspire regulatory change, and engage new audiences to bring greater awareness to climate change adaptation for biodiversity. Such actions have helped scale funded projects, leading to enhanced benefits for wildlife in a changing climate and climate adaptation knowledge.
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For detailed descriptions and videos of projects previously supported by the WCS Climate Adaptation Fund, visit our web site: http://wcsclimateadaptationfund.org
For a copy of our newly released report, "Embracing Change: Adapting Conservation Approaches to Address a Changing Climate," click here.
Stay updated on the Climate Adaptation Fund and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @WCSAdapts
About WCS Conservation Solutions: Conservation Solutions partners with over 3,000 field staff across 60 countries around the biggest challenges facing WCS's long-term conservation efforts: climate change, sustainable financing, economic and food security, and data and science gaps. Leveraging WCS's 100-year leadership in science and field conservation, Conservation Solutions is also home to some of our newest, most innovative partnerships that transcend boundaries, including the MacArthur-funded Intact Forests initiative to protect the world's vital carbon stores, the European Union-funded WILDMEAT Initiative, the USAID Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group, the Science for Nature and People Partnership, and the Doris Duke Climate Adaptation Fund. Working at multiple scales-- from indigenous engagement to global policy fora--Conservation Solutions helps WCS and its partners deliver on a mission to save the world's wildlife and wild places, for all people and for generations to come. For more information, email cssnyc@wcs.org .
WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society)
MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in nearly 60 nations and in all the world's oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: 347-840-1242.
About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation : The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people's lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke's properties. The foundation's Environment Program seeks to enable communities to protect and manage wildlife habitat and create efficient built environments. An awareness of climate change as the greatest emerging threat to biodiversity--and the need to aggressively mitigate it without unnecessarily sacrificing wildlife habitat--shapes the Environment Program's grant-making priorities. For more information, visit ddcf.org .