The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a charitable environmental organization, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States.

This article is about the charitable organization in the United States. For the Canadian organization, see The Nature Conservancy of Canada. For the former UK government organization, see Nature Conservancy (UK).

The Nature Conservancy
Founded1951 (1951)[1]
Typecharitable environmental organization
FocusEnvironmental conservation
HeadquartersArlington, Virginia, United States
Area served
Global
MethodConservation by design
Members
More than 1 million[2]
Key people
Revenue
US$1.29 billion (2018)[3]
Websitewww.nature.org

Founded in 1951, The Nature Conservancy has over one million members, and has protected more than 119,000,000 acres (48,000,000 ha) of land and thousands of miles of rivers worldwide.[4] The largest environmental nonprofit by assets and revenue in the Americas,[5] The Nature Conservancy ranks as one of the most trusted national organizations in Harris Interactive polls every year since 2005.[6][7][8][9] Forbes magazine rated The Nature Conservancy's fundraising efficiency at 88 percent in its 2005 survey of the largest U.S. charities.[10] The Conservancy received a three-star rating from Charity Navigator in 2016 (three-star in 2015).[11]

History
The Nature Conservancy at 2017 Capital Pride.

The Nature Conservancy developed out of a scholarly organization known as the Ecological Society of America (ESA).[12] The ESA was founded in 1915 and two years later formed a Committee on Preservation of Natural Areas for Ecological Study, headed by Victor Shelford.[12][13] Whereas the Society primarily focused on promoting research, in the course of the 1930s Shelford and his colleagues increasingly sought to advocate for conservation.[12] The divide in viewpoints regarding scholarship or advocacy led the Society to dissolve the committee, and, in 1946, Shelford and his colleagues formed the Ecologists' Union.[12][13] The latter group eventually took the name "The Nature Conservancy", in emulation of the British agency of that name, which pursued a mission of conserving open space and wildlife preserves. The Nature Conservancy was incorporated in the United States as a non-profit organization on October 22, 1951.[13]

Nature Conservancy of Tennessee's William B. Clark, Sr., Nature Preserve on the Wolf River at Rossville, Tennessee

The Nature Conservancy's expanding international conservation efforts include work in North America, Central America, and South America, Africa, the Pacific Rim, the Caribbean, and Asia.[14]

The Nature Conservancy and its conservation partner, Pronatura Peninsula Yucatán, are working to halt deforestation on private lands in and around the 1.8 million acre (7,300 km²) Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, along the Guatemala–Mexico border. In November 2004, 370,000 acres (1,500 km²) of threatened tropical forest in Calakmul were permanently protected under a historic land deal between the Mexican federal and state government, Pronatura Peninsula Yucatán, four local communities and the Conservancy.[15]

The Nature Conservancy's programs in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are working together to build partnerships and enhance the profile of the conservation needs in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem by supporting voluntary, private land conservation of important wildlife habitat. In 2007, the Nature Conservancy made a 161,000-acre (650 km2) purchase of New York forestland from Finch Paper Holdings LLC for $110 million, its largest purchase ever in that state.[16][17] In June 2008, The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land announced they reached an agreement to purchase approximately 320,000 acres (1,300 km2) of western Montana forestland from Plum Creek Timber Company for $510 million. The purchase, known as the Montana Legacy Project, is part of an effort to keep these forests in productive timber management and protect the area's clean water and abundant fish and wildlife habitat, while promoting continued public access to these lands for fishing, hiking, hunting and other recreational pursuits.[18][19][20] As a follow-on, in 2015 The Nature Conservancy made a $134 million transaction to purchase 165,073 acres – 257 square miles – of forests, rivers and wildlife habitat in the Cascade Mountain Range of Washington and in the Blackfoot River Valley in Montana. The Conservancy also acquired this land from Plum Creek, including 47,921 acres in the Yakima River Headwaters in Washington and 117,152 acres in the Lower Blackfoot River Watershed in Montana.[21][22]

In December 2015, The Nature Conservancy announced the finalization of the first ever debt swap in Seychelles aimed at ocean conservation. The new protected area increases the country's marine protected waters from less than 1 percent to more than 30 percent including support for the creation of the second largest Marine Protected Area in the Western Indian Ocean.[23] The debt swap deal was made possible through a partnership with the Seychelles Ministry of Finance, support of debt-holding nations including France, and grants from private organizations led by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.[24]

Financing for this effort was organized by The Nature Conservancy's impact investing unit called NatureVest.[25][26] NatureVest was created in 2014 with founding sponsorship from JPMorgan Chase & Co. with the stated goal of sourcing and putting to work at least $1 billion of impact investment capital for measurable conservation outcomes over three years.[27][28] For their work on the Seychelles debt restructuring, The Nature Conservancy and JPMorgan Chase were given the FT/ITC Transformational Business Award for Achievement in Transformational Finance[29] The award is given by the Financial Times and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) for ground-breaking, commercially viable solutions to development challenges.[30]

Plant a Billion Trees campaign

The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees campaign is an effort to plant one billion trees by across the globe in forests with the greatest need. Each donation results in the planting, protection and restoration of our world's forests.[31]

Environmental benefits

The Plant a Billion Trees campaign has also been identified as a tool to help slow climate change, as the Atlantic Forest – one of the biggest tropical forests in the world – and other forests being restored help regulate the atmosphere and stabilize global climate. The reforestation of the Atlantic Forest has the capability to remove 10 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The Nature Conservancy states that this is equivalent to taking two million cars off the road. The Atlantic Forest's restoration could help to slow the process of climate change that is affecting the Earth.[32]

The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees campaign also aims to protect 10 critical watersheds in the Atlantic Forest that provide water and hydro power to more than 70 million people, create 20,000 direct jobs, and an additional 70,000 indirectly as part of this effort.[33]

Involvement in the community

The Nature Conservancy also features e-cards through their gift a tree program. You can view videos and detailed information about the tree planting on their website.[34] The website also features a news feed and an interactive map of the regions being protected, as well as information on many of the plants, animals, and people that are impacted by the plight of the forest and who may benefit from its restoration.[34]

Tree planting

The Nature Conservancy plants trees for every contribution donated by supporters.[35] Some of the seeds being planted in Brazil consist of:

  • Guapuruvu Tree (Schizolobium parahyba) – An indigenous plant of Atlantic Forest, this has one of the fastest growth rates of all the native species.
  • Golden Trumpet Tree (Handroanthus chrysotrichus) – According to popular belief, when this tree's yellow blooms appear, no more frosts will occur. The wood of a Golden Trumpet Tree has the same fire rating as concrete and is denser than water. Illegal logging activity has grown due to this tree's growing popularity.
  • Ice-Cream Bean Tree (Inga edulis) – Leafy and abundant, this tree controls weeds and erosion. Its popular fruit is a long pod up to a few feet, containing a sweet pulp surrounding large seeds.
  • Capororoca Tree (Myrsine ferruginea) – Birds like the Rufous-bellied Thrush enjoy the fruit off of this tree.[31]

History of the campaign

The Nature Conservancy launched the Plant a Billion Trees campaign in 2008.

As a part of this launch, The Nature Conservancy pledged to plant 25 million trees as part of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)'s Billion Tree Campaign.[36] This campaign encourages individuals and organizations to plant their own trees around the world and record this action on the website as a tally.

On Earth Day 2009, Disneynature's film Earth debuted, promising to plant a tree for every ticket sold to the film in its first week. This resulted in a donation of 2.7 million trees to the Plant a Billion Trees program.[37]

Partnerships

The Plant a Billion Trees campaign has followed The Nature Conservancy's approach of partnering with larger organizations (such as Disneynature, Planet Green, Penguin Books, Payless Shoesource, AT&T, Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, and Visa) to leverage donations from supporters and increase efficiency and effectiveness of the campaign.[31]

  • Penguin Classics sponsored a Penguin Walk[38] to benefit the Plant a Billion Trees Campaign on June 6, 2009 as well.[39]
  • Payless Shoesource sponsored the Plant a Billion Trees campaign[40] by giving $1 to The Nature Conservancy for every Plant a Billion Trees reusable bag sold between April 13, 2009, and December 31, 2009 (sold at a retail value of $1.99) and $1 from each zoe&zac branded product sold between 4/13/09 and 5/4/09. Payless guaranteed a minimum total contribution of $100,000 in 2009 from these sales and the sales of other merchandise during 2009.
  • Panasonic has been involved by planting a tree for each customer who selects The Nature Conservancy in its "Giving Back" program.[36]
  • Organic Bouquet donated ten percent for every flower and gift purchased during the month of April 2008 at www.organicbouquet.com/nature.[36]

The Nature Conservancy and its scientists also work with other conservation organizations, local landowners, state and federal officials, agencies, and private companies to protect, connect, and our forests.[36]

Criticism

Over the years, The Nature Conservancy has faced a number of criticisms. They fall into the following main categories:

Nearness to big business

The Nature Conservancy has ties to many large companies, including those in the oil, gas, mining, chemical and agricultural industries.[41] Its board of directors currently includes the retired chairman of Duke Energy, and executives from Merck, HP, Google and several financial industry groups.[42] It also has a Business Council which it describes as a consultative forum that includes Bank of America, BP America, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, Duke Energy, General Mills, Royal Dutch Shell, and Starbucks.[43] The organization faced criticism in 2010 from supporters for its refusal to cut ties with BP after the Gulf oil spill.[44][45]

Writer and activist Naomi Klein has strongly criticized The Nature Conservancy for earning money from an oil well on land it controls in Texas.[46] Klein has also criticized The Nature Conservancy and other large environmental NGOs in an article by The Nation for their continued engagement with fossil fuel companies.[47]

Questionable resale

There have been allegations of The Nature Conservancy obtaining land and reselling it at a profit, sometimes to supporters,[48] who have then made use of it in ways which many perceived as being insufficiently environmentally friendly. The Nature Conservancy argues that the profit from such sales allows The Nature Conservancy to increase its preservation of what the Nature Conservancy claims are more important locations.[49] The Conservancy has established a no-net-profit policy that has been in effect for years for all transactions of this type, and a policy of ensuring that its disbursements offset any illicitly-generated revenues.[50]

Hunting

Like many large environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the World Wildlife Fund, the Conservancy has also been criticized for including allowances for hunting within its management policies. The organization does not totally ban hunting by their staff nor do they ban it on properties they own.[51] Retired General Norman Schwarzkopf, the Commander of coalition forces during the First Gulf War, and a member of the Nature Conservancy's President Conservation Counsel,[52] was also a member of the trophy hunting organization the Safari Club International.[53]

Sexual harassment controversies

In mid-2019, The Nature Conservancy was enveloped by controversies over issues of gender inequities and sexual harassment. Five senior executives left their positions within two weeks.

On June 7, 2019, Mark Tercek, CEO since 2008, announced his resignation following public disclosure of an internal investigation on sexual harassment and the subsequent resignation of President Brian McPeek.[54] The Nature Conservancy's President for one year, McPeek had resigned on May 31, 2019 after a report on the internal investigation was revealed by POLITICO and after two other senior executives were dismissed based on its findings.[55] And on June 10, 2019, Luis Solorzano, executive director of The Nature Conservancy’s Florida-based Caribbean chapter, became the fifth senior official to depart the organization.[56] On June 11, 2019, The Nature Conservancy’s board chairman Thomas J. Tierney announced that board member and former Secretary of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell will serve as interim CEO effective in September 2019.[57] On July 7, 2019, POLITICO reported that the Conservancy’s internal investigation “offered just a glimpse at the problem(s)” within the group.[58]

Publication

The organization publishes The Nature Conservancy magazine (ISSN 1540-2428; six issues per year).

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See also

References
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Bibliography
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