With funding provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the WCS Climate Adaptation Fund will provide up to $3.1 million in competitive grants in 2012. Grants will be 1-2 years in length. Awards will be made to non-profit conservation organizations for applied, on-the-ground projects focused on implementing priority conservation actions for climate adaptation at a landscape scale.
Learn more about grants awarded through the Climate Adaptation Fund in 2011
To receive program updates join our e-newsletter list: Sign up Here
Curious about the Climate Adaptation Fund and wondering if your project is a good fit? Learn more through our Guidance Document for Applicants designed to assist potential applicants in both understanding the programmatic priorities of the WCS Climate Adaptation Fund and in determining the key elements of a strong proposal.
The Nature Conservancy, Virginia was granted an award in 2011 for their work to demonstrate climate change adaptation strategies on Virginia's Eastern Shore. This project will inform the expansion and restoration of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. Their work will inclue restoring a functional oyster reef, improving 300 linear feet of living shoreline, creating 7,000 square feet of tidal salt marsh and enhancing more than an acre of existing, emergent wetlands. Once demonstrated, these types of interventions can be readily replicated along the Eastern seaboard. Photo: Hal Brindley.
WHY THE CLIMATE ADAPTATION FUND?
Due to changing climate, high-elevation whitebark pines have become hospitable to outbreaks of mountain pine beetles, destroying entire stands of these trees critical to many species. Grizzly bears depend on these pine nuts to help them gain weight for winter and a decline of the whitebark pine means less nutrition during the critical months before hibernation begins. A warming climate is also contributing to the decline of western trout populations. Grizzlies may soon find another favorite—spawning cutthroat trout—off the menu. These impacts are being felt by humans, as well. Recreational anglers spent more than $3 billion in the eight Rocky Mountain states in 2006. A reduction in cutthroat and other cold water fish species could translate into a major economic loss for tourism, the fishing industry, state wildlife agencies, and the local communities that depend on these revenues.
This rise in temperature of just a few degrees has broad implications for wildlife. Without action to preserve functional ecosystems and assist wildlife in adapting to varying habitat conditions, climate change could prove devastating. Through the WCS Climate Adaptation Fund, we hope to help overcome the odds.
HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM
In 2006, thanks to the support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the WCS Wildlife Action Opportunities Fund was launched. Over these past four years, the Opportunities Fund awarded more than $7.2 million for 81 wildlife conservation projects in 46 states, working to restore habitat, protect movement corridors, incorporate wildlife into land-use planning decisions, reintroduce endangered species, and implement priorities of State Wildlife Action Plans. We are proud of the conservation outcomes achieved by all of these projects and grateful for the on-going support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Read more about the history of our grantmaking program from 2006-2010