Wildlife & Landscapes

Akashinga (the Brave Ones) is a community-driven conservation model, empowering disadvantaged women to restore and manage a network of wilderness areas as an alternative to trophy hunting.

The Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) is a conservation organization offering funding, media training and recognition to support the work of proven grassroots conservation leaders in developing countries.

LDF grantee, the Turtle Conservancy (TC) is working to save the vulnerable Bolson Tortoise from extinction. With the support of LDF, the TC secured 40,000 acres within the Mapimí reserve to create the Bolson Tortoise Ecosystem Preserve.

Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust funds and operates a range of programs aimed at protecting wilderness and wildlife in Eastern Africa.

California Wildlife Center takes responsibility for the protection of native wildlife through rehabilitation, education, and conservation.

A study by the National Park Service has demonstrated that a crossing can help save the Santa Monica Mountains cougar population, which their published research shows is threatened by imminent extinction within the next 50 years.

This initiative helps support and connect conservation capacity around the globe to achieve ambitious ends.

The Quick Response Fund for Nature – launching in partnership with RESOLVE and the Weeden Foundation – is providing a solution-oriented approach towards saving the world’s most important sites.

Fund for Wild Nature provides support for a network of the boldest and most effective grassroots groups working to protect wildlife and wild places throughout North America.

Sequoia ForestKeeper is the only on-the-ground advocacy organization in the southern Sierra Nevada working to protect the ecosystems and wildlife in the region, including the Giant Sequoia National Monument.

Global Conservation protects endangered UNESCO World Heritage and national parks in developing countries through the deployment of Global Park Defense systems against wildlife poaching, illegal logging, and land clearing.

The Jane Goodall Institute’s proposed work in Mali is part of the Institute’s 30-year goal to protect Africa’s wild chimpanzee populations across the natural chimpanzee range.

The Congo Basin Institute at UCLA is a new network that drives research in Central Africa through technology development, science, capacity building, and local participation.

LDF’s support of the Wild Foundation will help increase the capacity for the Kayapo to monitor and defend their lands from illegal activity.

The Botswana Predator Conservation Trust conducts wildlife behavior and communication research on free ranging wildlife in Northern Botswana.

Africa Wildlife Foundation seeks to improve anti-poaching operations and leverage the use of adaptive technologies to further habitat and wildlife protection in the Bili-Mbomu forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

LDF was instrumental in the creation of the Leuser Ecosystem Action Fund (LEAF). The Fund will invest in a range of conservation strategies to secure the long-term preservation of this ecosystem.

American Prairie Reserve plans to create the largest nature reserve in the continental U.S. by stitching together a protected area five thousand square miles in size, or 3.2 million acres.

Founded by Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, the Amazon Biodiversity Center is a conservation research project in the Brazilian Amazon that studies the impacts of fragmentation on rainforest ecosystems.

LDF has partnered with the National Park Service on their GPS collar tracking study to conserve and protect the threatened mountain lion population in the greater Los Angeles area.

LDF has partnered with the Pacific Wolf Coalition and Defenders of Wildlife to help in the recovery of the iconic Mexican Gray wolf. Both groups are proactively working with ranchers and other stakeholders to reduce wolf-livestock conflict and provide real and practical solutions so wolf populations can continue to grow and thrive.

Over the last four years, LDF has been actively working with a team of creative and strategic partners to permanently protect 30 Hills, the last and largest remaining block of lush, lowland tropical rainforest that earned Sumatra its name – the “Emerald of the Equator."

One of the most essential ecosystems for tigers is the Terai lowlands of Nepal. LDF has provided long-term support for World Wildlife Fund and their government and community partners in Bardia and Banke National Parks, drastically increasing tiger populations.

IFAW’s Animal Action Education program engages more than 5M students and educators in dozens of countries each year with educational materials to educate, inspire and empower young people to respect and protect animals and the environment.

Led by Saving Specieis, this grant will support the development and implementation of multi-year restoration projects in the Pacific lowland forests of Ecuador, one of the most threatened and biodiverse ecosystems on Earth.

This grant supports Goldman Prize winner Rudi Putra’s efforts to create a wildlife sanctuary in the Leuser Ecosystem of Aceh on the island of Sumatra, the last place where orangutans, rhinos, elephants, and tigers still roam together in the wild.

Led by SavingSpecies, this grant will support the acquisition and restoration of wildlands in Brazil’s Atlantic Coastal Forest (Mata Atlântica) so that rare plants and animals can flourish once again in a region known for its incredible biodiversity.

Due to increased poaching in Tanzania, African Black Rhino populations have been reduced by 96% in the past 50 years, making them nearly extinct. This grant will expand one of their last refuges – the Mkomazi Rhino Sanctuary – and increase breeding efforts.

Supporting a coalition effort of 37 organizations dedicated to protecting the wolves of the Pacific Northwest by providing them with protection across suitable habitat in Washington, Oregon, and northern California, supporting the recovery of this critical species.

This IFAW initiative preserves critical elephant habitat, securing migration corridors to protected areas in Tanzania, while supporting surrounding Maasai communities to participate in community scouting using high-tech data analysis.

Working with Conservation Land Trust, this project will restore a critical ecosystem in northeastern Argentina -- the 3.2 million acre Iberá wetlands -- reintroducing jaguars and other mammals and birds that have been extinct locally for many years.

A project to protect the lowland gorillas of Virunga National Park in central Africa from extinction. The project introduces 17 rescued gorillas and expands existing habitat by 22% through land purchases from the local community, supervised by trained rangers.

Led by implementing partner NRDC, this project provides an in-depth review of China’s ivory trade policies and domestic ivory market, providing guidance to the CITES Management Authority of China and the country’s State Forestry Administration.

A campaign led by IFAW to support business and media influencers in pressuring governments to enact a ban on ivory sales. This includes a U.S. campaign with 450,000 signatures on a petition asking Obama to ban the domestic ivory trade.

Using cutting-edge DNA testing and other forensic analysis, this investigation by WildLife Direct tracks the movement of elephant tusks through Kenya, establishing entry points, routes and exit points of ivory, as well as the modus operandi of dealers and cartels.

Expansion of a project led by The Christensen Fund in Central Asia (Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, Mongolia and Russia) dedicated to working with a wide array of local community organizations to protect snow leopards from extinction.