Fatu in front and Najon in back are the last two known northern white rhinos alive on the planet. Photo credit: Ami Vitale.
Rewilding is happening now all over the world, both on land and at sea, bringing back key species and restoring entire ecosystems at all scales. This week we are delving into three incredible rewilding organisations that each have a global reach. One is providing us with hope by reversing extinction, another pioneers indigenous-led action to restore magnificent Colombian ecosystems, and another is bringing abundance back to our oceans. We are part of a growing, global and hopeful movement.
In this article, we introduce you to three rewilding organisations from our network so that you can hear about some of the exciting success stories, challenges and ambitious aims.
We warmly welcome three new Alliance Partners: The Colossal Foundation, Ofrenda A’bunna and Blue Marine Foundation.
A Colossal Vision: Saving Critically Endangered Species from Extinction
Partner Organisation: The Colossal Foundation
Location: Global
How can we protect the world’s most endangered species? Is it possible to ‘de-extinct’ animals and plants once they have disappeared from the wild? And how can we use cutting-edge technologies to assist in rewilding? These are the questions that Colossal Biosciences and its sister non-profit the Colossal Foundation seek to answer; the Foundation was launched on 1st October and joined the Global Rewilding Alliance on that date.
The northern white rhino is the most endangered mammal on Earth – only two individuals (both female) remain – and is seemingly destined for extinction. Our new Alliance Partner, the Colossal Foundation, believes it’s possible to save this species and many others from the brink, restoring their populations to rewild the world.
With $50 million in funding, the Colossal Foundation aims to halt the extinction crisis through three core focuses: Saving Today’s at Risk Species, Ensuring Tomorrow’s Biodiversity and R&D for Conservation.
Saving Today’s at Risk Species
Colossal Foundation’s partner, BioRescue, collected oocytes from the last remaining northern white rhinos including Fatu, one of the last two northern whites alive today, and created 29 northern white rhino embryos that will one day be implanted into surrogate southern white rhinos. For the first time, the Colossal Foundation will assess genetic diversity of historic northern white rhino specimens from museum and private collections and engineer lost genetic sequences. This approach would increase the genetic diversity of the embryos BioRescue has created, boosting the hopes of one day seeing a self-sustaining, wild population. Similar genetic rescue efforts are also underway for the Mauritian pink pigeon with Colossal’s on the field partner, the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation.
R&D for Conservation
The vaquita is the world’s smallest cetacean (about the size of a large dog) and the most endangered marine mammal, with approximately 10 individuals remaining. It plays an important role in the Gulf of California as a regulator of prey populations and a food source for killer whales. The Colossal Foundation is providing its partners in the region with advanced monitoring technologies, such as drones and underwater acoustic sensors, to track the vaquita’s movements and behaviours, gathering critical data to inform conservation of the remaining wild individuals.
Vaquitas, a species of porpoise endemic to the northern end of the Gulf of California. Photo credit: Colossal Foundation.
Ensuring Tomorrow’s Biodiversity
The Colossal Foundation has committed to building the world’s largest distributed biobanking initiative in the world, The Colossal BioVault. With fellow alliance member Re:wild and other local partners, Colossal is identifying what it calls the “Colossal 100”: a list of the world’s most threatened species that are not currently represented in biobanks. By cryopreserving tissues and reproductive cells as well as sequencing reference genomes, or digital blueprints for a species’ genetic make-up, his initiative builds up a valuable safeguard of genetic data should an endangered species go extinct.
Photo credit: Ami Vitale for the Colossal Foundation.
The Colossal Foundation’s work ensures that we retain as much biodiversity as possible, giving us the best chance to return global ecosystems to health. In the words of Colossal’s CEO, Ben Lamm, “Every time we lose a species within an ecosystem, that ecosystem loses stability. Much like a Jenga puzzle, the loss of that species creates an unstable base that is unable to support the structure. De-extinction, species restoration, and species conservation offer solutions to improving the stability of the ecosystem to perform its key function in the global system.”
Indigenous-led rewilding in Colombia
Partner Organisation: Ofrenda A’bunna
Location: Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia
Ofrenda A’bunna, meaning “Offering to Creation,” is an Indigenous-led initiative by the Arhuaco people, focused on rewilding and protecting their ancestral lands in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. This region is historically one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth and is home to the charismatic Keel-billed Toucan.
Photo credit: Ofrenda A’bunna
Each piece of land purchased through Ofrenda A’bunna is entrusted to young Arhuaco families, ensuring that it is rewilded and preserved according to ancestral traditions. Their approach to purchasing and rewilding land, translated as “recollectivisation,” reflects the Arhuaco belief that land should be respectfully shared by all the life that calls that place home, rather than private property. They see their role as caretakers of the Earth, viewing all elements of nature as sentient beings they have responsibility towards, including rocks, water and minerals.
Ofrenda A’bunna’s stewardship of newly purchased land leaves over 70% to naturally regenerate to native forest, while they farm the rest organically. This approach to reforestation through natural regeneration has been found elsewhere to sequester 40 times more carbon than conventional tree planting projects!
Since 2008, they have overseen the restoration of nearly 8,000 acres of land, previously degraded by decades of cattle ranching and agriculture. A study of 2,800 acres saw forest cover increase over 12 years by an impressive 63%. They aim to purchase a further 5,000 acres by 2028.
Photo credit: Ofrenda A’bunna
As their ancestral territory heals and flourishes, the Arhuaco community only gets stronger. Their belief that “the health of our culture is directly connected to the health of the land” is a timely reminder and an ethos from which we can all draw inspiration!
Making Waves with Blue Marine Foundation
Partner Organisation: Blue Marine Foundation
Location: Global
Our newest partner is a tidal force to be reckoned with. The Blue Marine Foundation has a wide reach spanning 24 countries, with 50 projects on 5 continents. They are one of the lead partners behind the “Solent Seascape Project,” now a United Nations-endorsed project, one of its kind in the UK. Not only do they make waves in actionable ocean protection, but one of their founders, Charles Clover, has written two books on overfishing and Rewilding the Sea.
Blue Marine played an instrumental role in the Great Blue Ocean coalition, which promoted the Blue Belt which protects over 4 million sq km of ocean, an area that hosts a huge range of unique and endangered species, and ensures Ascension Island is one of the most effectively monitored no-take Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the world.
In August this year, they had a great victory, gathering 30,000 signatures on a digital petition in less than two weeks. The pressure that scientists and local fishers showed through the #AgainstLonglining campaign was a key element in stopping the reopening of the long line in the Maldives. Central to this was the coordination and support from an alliance of organisations, as well as an open letter from 160 scientists expressing their concern for the Maldives’ ocean biodiversity should longlining re-commence. This decision allowed for the continued protection of the shark sanctuary. An impressive case of advocacy with a very quick turnaround!
Photo credit: Beto Bormann from Getty Images
If you want to take action now, they have a campaign for you. The African Penguin could be extinct in 10 years if we don’t act today. You can support this iconic species and urge the South African government to effectively protect the breeding colonies by signing this online petition. Blue Marine is looking to reach 30,000 signatures. They have already reached more than 13k, but they need your help.
This petition is calling on the South African government to:
- Establish effective no-take zones around the six key African Penguin colonies, where commercial purse-seine fishing for anchovy and sardine occurs, to help ensure that there is enough prey to sustain the species.
- Adequately enforce existing marine pollution regulations and close legal loopholes that currently enable pollution, including noise pollution, to interfere with penguin breeding.
Photo credit: Sasha Hobson from Getty Images
Here’s why the survival of this species is crucial:
- To protect our ocean: African Penguins are key indicators of healthy marine ecosystems. As specialised predators, they play a pivotal role in the marine food web, and their disappearance signals fish stocks falling below critical thresholds required to sustain other marine predators such as whales, dolphins, seals and linefish.
- To support livelihoods and public education: African Penguins are a major draw for tourists, providing opportunities for people to learn about the species and the marine environment. Protecting them not only supports the South African ecotourism industry and livelihoods of local communities, but also helps raise awareness of the importance of conservation.
- For global ocean advocacy: Defending African Penguins goes beyond saving a single species — it’s about taking a stand for ecologically sustainable fishing practices and ocean conservation worldwide. By protecting African Penguins, we’re also protecting our planet.
Lastly, if you are ever in need of some uplifting ocean-focused positive news, look to their Weekly Ocean News.
We hope that you enjoyed getting to know a handful of our Alliance Partners. More to come!
See their websites here: