Habitat
Protecting, connecting, or restoring habitat in a named place.
Focus — Natural Resources & Regenerative Systems — Biodiversity
BIODIVERSITY
IDEAS WE SUPPORT.
World Seed Fund supports people whose ideas improve habitat and species survival for the communities living alongside the habitat.
Why this area
BIODIVERSITY
IN CONTEXT.
Biodiversity persists where people have reason and means to keep it. Ideas qualify when they name the species or habitat, the pressure on it, and the people whose decisions determine whether it stays.
Scope of the area
WHAT THIS AREA
INCLUDES.
Illustrations of scope, not a fixed list. If your idea belongs here but is not described below, introduce it anyway.
Coexistence
Reducing conflict between wildlife and livelihoods.
Monitoring
Recording what is present, by people who are there.
Local stewardship
Rights, incentives, and governance that sustain care.
Criteria to qualify
WHAT A BIODIVERSITY
IDEA MUST SHOW.
All five criteria apply. An idea does not need to be complete or proven — it needs to be specific enough that we can judge it, and grounded enough that a next step is possible.
A defined problem, in a defined place
We need to understand exactly who is affected, where, and how they cope today. General statements about a global challenge are not enough to qualify.
- Names the place, community, or system where habitat and species survival fall short.
- States the situation today in plain terms — species presence, habitat condition, or conflict incidents.
- Explains what the communities living alongside the habitat do now, and what it costs them.
Human insight behind the idea
The idea should come from knowledge of the situation — technical, scientific, operational, cultural, or lived — rather than from an assumption about it.
- Draws on direct knowledge of habitat and species survival in that place.
- Accounts for why earlier protected-area and conservation projects did not hold here.
- Was shaped with the communities living alongside the habitat, not only for them.
A credible next step
There must be a specific thing that can be attempted next, at a scale that can be observed honestly, with a stated way of judging whether it worked.
- A defined pilot with a stated size — hectares, corridors, or monitored sites.
- A stated measure of success — species presence, habitat condition, or conflict incidents.
- A timeframe within which the result can be judged honestly.
Value for people and place
The benefit should be meaningful to the community or system the idea serves, and describable in terms they would recognise.
- Improves livelihood security and habitat that holds for the communities living alongside the habitat.
- The benefit is described in words the community itself would use.
- Does not shift cost, risk, or harm onto neighbouring people or systems.
A path to keep working
Ideas qualify when someone can plausibly own, operate, fund, and repair the result after the first phase of support ends.
- A named conservancy, community trust, or wildlife authority able to carry the work after the first phase.
- Running costs, materials, and skills obtainable near the work.
- Ownership, permission, or agreement that lets the work continue.
Evidence & boundaries
WHAT HELPS,
AND WHAT DOES NOT.
Evidence can be modest. A careful account of a small trial is worth more than a projection.
Evidence we look for
- Any observation, record, or measurement of habitat and species survival in that place.
- Costs, materials, or time recorded from a small trial, however modest.
- Notes, letters, or agreements from the communities living alongside the habitat or the conservancy, community trust, or wildlife authority.
Usually outside this area
- Broad proposals about biodiversity with no named place and no named people.
- Equipment or funding requests with no operator and no running cost.
- Work that transfers cost, risk, or harm to neighbouring people or systems.
Submit an idea
INTRODUCE YOUR
BIODIVERSITY IDEA.
There is no application window and no required format. Answer these four questions in your own words and we will read them.
Who is affected, where, and how do they manage today?
What do you know about habitat and species survival that others working on it may not?
What could you attempt next, and how would you judge whether it worked?
Who continues the work afterwards, and what keeps it running?
Human potential is everywhere. Opportunity should be too.