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Arcadia donates $72m to eight new seascape restoration projects
Arcadia – which is a charitable foundation that works to protect nature, preserve cultural heritage and promote open access to knowledge – has offered a new philanthropic donation of $72 million to the University of Cambridge for the implementation of the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Program.
The new funding – which brings its total support for the program to over $138 million – will buttress up to eight new seascape restoration projects that will start the process of restoring damaged marine ecosystems.
The Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Program supports the large-scale restoration of Europe’s most treasured but endangered ecosystems, enriching biodiversity while revitalizing local economies.
The work recognizes humanity’s dependence on healthy, functioning ecosystems – for example in preventing urban flooding, and reducing the impacts of climate change.
The Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Program is managed by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, a partnership between the University of Cambridge and ten of the world’s leading international biodiversity conservation organizations.
The Program supports partners across Europe to deliver ambitious, large-scale restoration projects, aiming to inspire an inclusive and impactful approach. Through partnerships between local communities, policy makers and landowners, projects work to reverse environmental declines to create places where people and nature can thrive.
The new funding includes over $30 million dedicated specifically to efforts to restore Europe’s seas. This will be reflected in the retitled ‘Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Program’.
Seas regulate the Earth’s climate, generate oxygen, and provide livelihoods and food for hundreds of millions of people. But Europe’s seas are suffering from pollution, biodiversity loss, seabed damage, overfishing, underwater noise, ocean warming, acidification, and spread of invasive species.
In the EU, 46% of coastal waters suffer from eutrophication – a process that causes excessive plant and algae growth leading to oxygen depletion, and 79% of the coastal seabed is disturbed due to bottom trawling.
Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin, founders of Arcadia, said “The Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Program has become a vibrant network of nature-restoration projects and practitioners across Europe. We are inspired by the commitment of the projects’ teams, and are grateful to them, to the program’s panel and to the coordinating team, for their invaluable role in realizing the program’s vision.
“As the program launches its third phase, we look forward to seeing new projects join the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Program network, helping to create resilient, self-sustaining and biodiverse ecosystems that benefit nature and people.”
Dr David Thomas, Director of the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Program, said “Restoring ecosystems at scale is urgent if we are to address the linked biodiversity and climate emergencies. This new funding from Arcadia will allow a significant expansion of the projects supported by the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Program.”
“It’s especially exciting that we will now be able to fund more projects focused on Europe’s seas, where many habitats are in poor condition and species are in decline. Experience shows that with the right interventions, marine ecosystems can recover.”
Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor of the University, said “It is now widely accepted that reversing the damage humans have done to our natural landscapes and seas is vital for our future prosperity. With this magnificent gift from Arcadia, the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Program can increase investment in projects that help restore ecosystems on a large scale.”
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