Environment

Protecting biodiversity and vulnerable ecosystems

SELECT GRANTS

Around the globe, and here in the Pacific Northwest, marine and terrestrial ecosystems are facing extreme challenges due to human-driven impacts. We are inspired by frontline organizations protecting biodiversity and ecosystems with a focus on the application of science and technology to improve our understanding of the natural world and advance conservation efforts.

National Science Foundation Partnership to Advance Conservation Science and Practice

The National Science Foundation and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation are partnering to support a new program, to be administered by NSF, that will support conservation science and science-informed conservation practice in the United States. Together, this partnership anticipates providing up to $8 million for science-based solutions to environmental challenges.
Partners:  National Science Foundation

The Earthshot Prize

The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation is a Global Alliance Founding Partner of The Earthshot Prize, launched by Prince William, which will incentivize change and help repair our planet over the next ten years. Each year, the prize will fund five ambitious efforts to restore our planet.
Partners:  (Global Alliance Founding Partners) Aga Khan Development Network, Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Breakthrough Energy, Coleman Family Ventures, DP World, Expo 2020 Dubai, Holch Povlsen Foundation, Jack Ma Foundation, Legacy For Youth, Rob & Melani Walton Foundation

Global Fund for Coral Reefs

The Global Fund for Coral Reefs is a blended public and philanthropic funding effort to catalyze private investments in coral reef conservation and restoration. These initial contributions will be used to operationalize the fund, develop a pipeline of investable projects, and implement promising early projects.
Partners:  Canada, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, Green Climate Fund, Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, UN Development Programme, UN Environment Programme, UN Capital Development Fund, BNP Paribas, Pegasus Capital Advisors, Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Wildlife Fund, and IUCN

Puget Sound Integrated Modeling Framework

Researchers from the Puget Sound Institute are leading a $4.8M collaborative project to integrate existing environmental models to provide a cohesive picture of the entire Sound ecosystem under future conditions of climate change and population growth. Human populations and stressors originating from land development and climate change threaten freshwater, nearshore, and estuarine ecosystems. The connections between these areas are poorly understood, and these systems should not be studied one-by-one. Comprehensive data and analyses are needed to make informed conservation, restoration, and development decisions.
Partners:  UW's Salish Sea Modeling Center, NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center, EPA's Office of Research and Development, Long Live the Kings, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization

Puget Sound Kelp Monitoring: Ecological Index Sites

The Kelp Monitoring Program builds on our 2016 four-year grant with Puget Sound Restoration Fund. The program will engage and train professional and volunteer diver networks, expand monitoring platforms and deploy robotic systems to keep "eyes on kelp" and accumulate important data that leads to better protective measures for this critical and vanishing ecosystem.
Partners:  Puget Sound Restoration Fund, Reef Check, Marauder Robotics, The Bay Foundation

Operation Pangolin

Operation Pangolin launched in Cameroon and Gabon to generate much-needed data to inform conservation strategies in Central Africa. The team, led by Florida International University, will develop monitoring and data collection toolkits that will be distributed to local researchers and conservation stakeholders to deploy. The main threat to Pangolin populations in both Africa and Asia is poaching for international wildlife trafficking. Enough pangolin scales have been seized in the past decade to account for at least 1 million pangolins, yet little is known about the trafficking supply chains. The project is being supported by four academic institutions, the Zoological Society of London and a global network of 189 pangolin technical specialists.
Partners:  Florida International University, Arribada Initiative, University of Oxford, University of Maryland, University of Southern California, Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux, Zoological Society of London, IUCN Pangolin Specialist Group

Planning for Climate Resilient Forests that Support Canada Lynx

Canada lynx habitat in Washington state has increasingly burned in wildfires over the past 20 years, and there is concern that the remaining habitat will be destroyed before the previously burned habitat can regrow. The foundation's investment will help biologists learn more about how lynx are adapting to and responding to disturbances to their current habitats, and how we can respond to ensure their future in the North Cascades.
Partners:  Home Range Wildlife Research

KAZA Aerial Surveys, Data Management and Community Engagement

We are funding an aerial wildlife survey that will count elephants and other wildlife in the five KAZA countries; Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The data will inform regionally integrated approaches aimed towards harmonizing policies, strategies, and practices for managing the shared natural resources that straddle the international borders of the KAZA partner states. In addition to the aerial survey, we support efforts to modernize wildlife surveys through machine learning and assist the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with the development of a new African Elephant Status Report. We are also piloting a year-long community development project to educate and activate communities around the benefits of wildlife and best practices for harmonious co-existence.
Partners:  World Wildlife Fund, KAZA Secretariat, Eco-Exist, WildMe, IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group, Save The Elephants

Coral Research Grants

Coral reef research is essential in our race against time to increase coral heat tolerance and find new ways to restore degraded reefs. We support coral research projects that elevate a range of resilience, adaptation, and conservation efforts. Grants include supporting researchers' efforts to boost genetic diversity, assist thermal tolerance, study and improve restoration techniques, and understand coral heat resilience.
Partners:  Australian Institute of Marine Science, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Mote Marine Laboratory, Southern Cross University, Konstanz University, Old Dominion University, Institute for Systems Biology, Pennsylvania State University

CITES

The foundation funded a network of experts in the science and policy arena to leverage current research and data and convince global decision-makers at the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species' (CITES) CoP19 to give a range of shark species Appendix II status, resulting in better protection for almost 90% of all shark species.
Partners:  Wildlife Conservation Society

Oceans 5

Oceans 5 comprises 22 funding organizations with a common inspiration for grantmaking that delivers tangible improvement in global ocean health, establishes marine reserves, and constrains overfishing.
Partners:  Oceans 5