Crowdfunding biodiversity conservation

Abstract

Raising funds is critical for conserving biodiversity and hence so is scrutinizing emerging financial mechanisms that may help achieve this goal. Anecdotal evidence indicates crowdfunding is being used to support activities needed for biodiversity conservation, yet its magnitude and allocation remain largely unknown. To help address this knowledge gap, we conducted a global analysis based on conservation-focused projects extracted from crowdfunding platforms. For each project, we determined the funds raised, date, country of implementation, proponent characteristics, activity type, biodiversity realm, and target taxa. We identified 72 relevant platforms and 577 conservation-focused projects that raised $4,790,634 since 2009. Although proponents were based in 38 countries, projects were delivered across 80 countries, indicating a potential mechanism of resource mobilization. Proponents were affiliated with nongovernmental organizations (35%) or universities (30%) or were freelancers (26%). Most projects were for research (40%), persuasion (31%), and on-the-ground actions (21%). Projects were more focused on species (57.7%) and terrestrial ecosystems (20.3%), and less focused on marine (8.8%) and freshwater ecosystems (3.6%). Projects focused on 208 species, including a disproportionate number of threatened birds and mammals. Crowdfunding for biodiversity conservation is a global phenomenon and there is potential for expansion, despite possible pitfalls (e.g., uncertainty about effectiveness). Opportunities to advance conservation through crowdfunding arise from its capacity to mobilize funds spatially and increase steadily over time, inclusion of overlooked species, adoption by multiple actors, and funding of activities beyond research. Our findings pave the way for further research on key questions, such as campaign success rates, effectiveness of conservation actions, and drivers of crowdfunding adoption. Even though crowdfunding capital raised has been modest relative to other conservation-finance mechanisms, its contribution goes beyond funding research and providing capital. Embraced with due care, crowdfunding could become an important financial mechanism for biodiversity conservation.

Rapid Response to a Tree Seed Conservation Challenge in Hawai‘i Through Crowdsourcing, Citizen Science, and Community Engagement

“…By the end of 2015, there had also been at least 20 crowdfunding campaigns for conservation-related research on plant species or ecosystems, on Experiment.com and other platforms, which raised between US$810 to US$7445 (Gallo-Cajiao et al, 2018). At that time, crowdfunding campaigns for on-the-ground conservation efforts were gaining traction but still only numbered approximately 104 globally, with just 27 campaigns focused on forest ecosystems, and of 62 projects focusing on a species, only two focused on plant species.…”

“…At that time, crowdfunding campaigns for on-the-ground conservation efforts were gaining traction but still only numbered approximately 104 globally, with just 27 campaigns focused on forest ecosystems, and of 62 projects focusing on a species, only two focused on plant species. Of these on-the-ground projects focused on forests or plants, all raised less than US $25,000, with the exception of three large-scale reforestation projects that raised considerably more (Gallo-Cajiao et al, 2018).…”

Valuing Health Surveillance as an Information System: Interdisciplinary Insights

“…Also, actors' growing interest and participation may decrease the public cost of surveillance, through the expected decrease of willingness to accept compensation to contribute data or information. Crowd sourcing and private stakeholders networks would then be able to contribute to or generate efficient surveillance, documented in biodiversity surveillance (55). Finally, from the perspective of surveillance evaluation and information valuation, the priority should be given to adding value to the produced information from the perspective of contributing stakeholders, hence stimulating participation and therefore private and public contributions to the surveillance system in terms of time, financial and human resources.…”

Aligning citizen science with best practice: Threatened species conservation in Australia

“…Effective threatened species recovery often requires a thorough understanding of species' biology and ecology, as well as accurate and up‐to‐date information on geographic distributions and threatening processes (Boitani et al, ). Despite this, agencies charged with threatened species recovery often lack the capacity to undertake intensive background and baseline research for all threatened species in their remit (Gallo‐Cajiao et al, ; Waldron et al, ). In response to this shortfall, conservation professionals may recruit citizen scientists to assist with data collection, or in some cases lead monitoring efforts or direct conservation actions for species recovery.…”