ANNUAL REPORT 2016 The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund provides financial support to species conservation projects worldwide. In 2016 the Fund supported 172 projects in 69 different countries with $1,523,118. We must also remember that each of us can make a contribution to conservation in our own way. We are all potential conservationists; you do not need to risk life and limb in a far corner of the world to play your part. We are all conservation. Printed on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper The Fund provides grants directly to conservationists in the field, and in doing so hopes to provide these individuals and their projects with the necessary exposure to win further financial and material support from other donors. We are glad to report that many of our grant recipients have attributed their progress in attracting further financial support directly to their successful application to the Fund. Efforts to understand and preserve This report presents a selection of the the environment around us come in a projects the Fund has recently supported, We are also delighted to reveal that two of the projects featured multitude of forms. Whether it is conducting featuring species as diverse in their biology herein report the re-discovery of species not seen alive in the a multi-million dollar conservation and scale as the mighty Asian elephant wild for decades: Cropan’s boa in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil programme, providing funds to support and the humble Red-finned blue-eye. It also (missing for 64 years) and the tiny, coin-sized Cave squeaker species conservation projects, or the aims to celebrate the people behind these of Zimbabwe’s Chimanimani mountains (not seen for 50 years). simple act of learning something new unique endeavours to defend and preserve about nature, we are all contributing to global biodiversity — the grant recipients Yet again, we have been amazed to learn what an intrepid group building awareness of the natural world who dedicate their lives to the study and our grant recipients are, be they dashing through Vietnamese and the multiple threats it faces; we are preservation of our flora and fauna. forests on motorcycles to save the Pinus cernua pine; studying all part of the process of conservation. grasshoppers deep within the top secret confines of a sports car UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa testing ground in France; or tracking the elusive Okapi in the Nurturing this interest, passion and knowledge bin Zayed Al Nahyan declared 2017 as the dense forests of the conflict-ridden Congo. is vital in ongoing efforts to conserve threatened Year of Giving, and the Fund is honoured to species around the world, and is a key of be in a position to finance those who are These are the individuals living at the sharp end of species the Fund’s approach. By issuing targeted committing their time and effort to projects conservation; but we must also remember that each of us can grants to projects of all sizes, we aim to draw which give back to nature in their own make a contribution to conservation in our own way. We are all attention to the wealth of endeavours to unique ways. potential conservationists; you do not need to risk life and limb protect threatened species in every corner in a far corner of the world to play your part. of the globe. During 2016, some 172 projects received grants totalling $1,523,118, bringing the Our grant recipients’ dedication to studying and saving these number of projects supported by the Fund unique creatures is humbling and should serve as an inspiration ULTIMATELY WE ARE THE since 2008 to 1,558 across more than 150 to us all. We hope that their stories, and those of the species they countries. Our total disbursement through strive to protect, will inspire many more people from all walks of GUARDIANS OF OUR December 2016 has now reached $14,985,491 life to take up the mantle of conservation and contribute in some to projects both big and small, and has small way to this most vital of causes. Ultimately we are the NATURAL WORLD AND THE impacted 1,062 species and/or subspecies, guardians of our natural world and the only hope for countless as well as the urban and rural communities species within it; we are conservation. ONLY HOPE FOR COUNTLESS in and around their respective habitats. They have helped develop global-minded SPECIES WITHIN IT; citizens who now better understand the Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak importance of restoring and protecting Managing Director WE ARE CONSERVATION. our planet’s biodiversity and are willing © Huw Roberts to address this pressing challenge. Reichardia tingitana ©Huw Roberts 2 3 The Fund continues to adapt to this supply to all plant, animal and fungus species We want to thank all applicants; the recipients and demand equation by applying more conservation efforts, without bias of who help implement the Fund’s ideals of stringent review criteria, with only 9.7% of geography or selected species. assisting individual species conservation applications gaining approval, the majority initiatives, recognising leaders in the field of which have received only partial funding. The Fund intends to provide small, targeted and elevating the importance of species in Nevertheless, we believe part-funding is grants to local and grassroots projects. In the broader conservation debate; and all preferable to rejection and hope that the order to cover the widest possible spectrum who support the Fund through generously Fund’s support adds sufficient credibility of species conservation efforts, two grant giving their valuable time and experience. to projects to attract additional financing types are available; up to $5,000 or those from other sources. This has certainly been between $5,000 and $25,000. The Board of Advisors the case with a number of initiatives. The Mohamed bin Zayed The Fund also continues to make the grant Species Conservation Fund In 2016 the Fund maintained its focus on application process more user-friendly supporting less high profile projects while and efficient, especially for smaller projects still targeting threatened species, particularly where onerous administration can undermine those listed on the IUCN Red List as Critically the benefits of financial contributions. Endangered or Endangered. The Fund also All grants are subject to independent continued its strong financial support for review and are awarded three times a species listed as Data Deficient or Not year following Advisory Board meetings. Evaluated, with over $245,445 dispersed During 2016 the Fund built on the financial to 32 projects. Importantly, the Fund continues We also offer an online system which support given to dedicated species conservation to support the conservationists who dedicate makes it more convenient for conservationists projects worldwide, increasing the total amount their lives to saving the world’s most threatened worldwide to submit applications and brings disbursed in small grants to almost $15m. and least well-known species and making greater efficiency to the Advisory Board’s this planet a better place for all. review and award process. Grant submissions The allocations for the year have again been can be made via the Fund’s website issued against a backdrop of increasing Looking to the future, the Fund will continue www.speciesconservation.org and Board grant applications, and it remains the case to adapt to the challenges facing species members can log-in to evaluate projects; that more requests are received than can be conservation, whilst seeking additional and grant recipients can upload their supported. During 2016, we received requests capital, striving to maximise its investments project reports twice a year for board amounting to roughly $29.1m, yet were only and refining qualifying criteria for grant review and submit author case studies at able to distribute $1,523,118. applications. Our efforts will continue to any time to highlight their work. be global, and grant eligibility will extend Edgbaston Reserve, Queensland © Annette Ruzicka 4 5 There is an urgent need now to re-stimulate The Fund assists their work through focused broad discussion on the subject of species financial support and is nurturing the next conservation and biodiversity, and to generation of species conservationists better integrate individual environmental by making the best conservation practices initiatives addressing issues such as available to them using innovative species conservation, climate change, communication methods. Through additional habitat destruction and unsustainable events and activities, the Fund also seeks development. Ultimately, the conservation to recognise individual leaders in the field community must end the era of promoting of species conservation whose passion and one environmental cause at the expense of commitment often go unnoticed, and in another, because if one of these causes fails, doing so, to inspire others with an interest all of them are less likely to succeed. Just in the field of conservation. like the species of a complex ecosystem, our individual conservation efforts are more This contribution is consistent with a interdependent than we tend to recognise, long-standing tradition of philanthropy and we will all only be as strong as our and conservation in the Emirate of Abu weakest links. Dhabi. Locally, significant conservation programmes have been introduced to Recognising the crisis facing species protect species as diverse as the Arabian conservation, His Highness Sheikh oryx, gazelle, Houbara bustard, dugong The sense of loss resulting from extinction Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown and marine turtles amongst others. is a relatively modern phenomenon. Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme In many ways it is the result of a new Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, The people of Abu Dhabi have witnessed understanding of the impact of human established this dedicated fund for first-hand the tangible benefits of targeted activities, and a greater awareness of the provision of support to individual and well-resourced species conservation our collective accountability for that and coordinated species conservation initiatives.