Revive & Restore has announced the inaugural cohort for its Climate Resilience Fund, supporting conservation efforts.
Revive & Restore announced the first cohort of its Climate Resilience Fund on Earth Day, awarding $3.4 million across ten projects that apply genetic rescue technologies to marine and coastal ecosystems threatened by climate change. The organisation received 160 Letters of Intent requesting approximately $52 million — more than fifteen times the available funds — of which 24 proposals advanced to full review before a ten-person external panel, and ten were selected. The portfolio covers mangroves (2), kelp forests (2), marine microbes (2), seagrass meadows (1), salt marshes (1), fucoid macroalgae (1) and sea turtles (1), spanning the US Atlantic and Pacific coasts, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and Australia. Revive & Restore describes the fund as a strategic expansion into the climate space and deeper into genetic rescue for marine species including plants, algae and microbial life. Dr Liv Liberman, Director of Ocean and Climate and programme manager for the fund, said the projects are intended to demonstrate that genetic rescue is 'a powerful lever for the blue carbon ecosystems that underpin both ecological and human communities'. Co-founder and Executive Director Ryan Phelan stated the organisation plans to 'build on that momentum and bring the same approach to terrestrial ecosystems next'.