With partner ProAves, Rainforest Trust has helped purchase 80,000 acres of habitat in Colombia.  ©ProAves

In Peru, Rainforest Trust has helped protect millions of acres of rainforest © Rainforest Trust

In the last 25 years, Rainforest Trust has protected nearly 8 million acres for wildlife. © Jeff Zack

November 25, 2014

Rainforest Trust has launched a major new initiative to expand its successful model of protected area establishment.

The Rainforest Ark Initiative will provide partnership and funding opportunities to conservation organizations across the tropics that are committed to establishing or expanding protected areas for endangered species. It will target projects in developing countries where protected areas suffer most from insufficient funding.

“Rainforest Trust shares a common mission and sense of urgency with conservation organizations around the world,” said Christine Hodgdon, International Conservation Manager for Rainforest Trust. “The Ark Initiative is our way of building new and lasting partnerships with these organizations that will collectively improve our ability to meet fast-growing challenges to threatened wildlife.”

Applicants for the initiative must be well-established not-for-profit entities or non-governmental organizations representing local stakeholders.

“In the last 40 years the world has lost half of its wildlife,” said Hodgdon. “Adequately protecting what remains is not the job of a single government or organization. Constructive partnerships are indispensable if we are going to successfully expand wildlife conservation efforts.”

To date, Rainforest Trust has protected nearly eight million acres of critical habitat. The goal of the Ark Initiative is to protect an additional 12 million acres, for a total of 20 million acres, by the year 2020.

To join the Rainforest Ark Initiative, candidate organizations can submit a project proposal for either a land purchase or protected area designation. The project must save habitat for IUCN endangered or critically endangered species. There are no funding request limits; applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.

Please visit the ARK Initiative page to learn more or to apply.