Erin Willigan

Dr Stuart Pimm founded Saving Nature in 2019 to reverse the threats to biodiversity, climate resiliency, and local communities caused by the loss of the world’s great forests. Saving Nature builds on the exceptional success with SavingSpecies, an organization Pimm founded in 2007 to prevent extinctions.

Saving Nature works at the intersection of deforestation, climate change, and population growth to help mediate the competing interests of a planet already past its limits of sustainability. We focus on the most biodiverse places on Earth where species face imminent threats of extinction. We intervene to reconnect fragmented and isolated ecosystems to eliminate barriers and bottlenecks for biodiversity, revitalize ecosystem services, buffer human and wildlife populations, and absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

Saving Nature partners with well-established local conservation groups to acquire and restore degraded land with native trees to create strategic wildlife corridors. Our local partners own the land, manage the protected areas, engage the local communities, work with government organizations, and participate in scientific research. Saving Nature provides resources to promote conservation and community engagement, advise on science, fund land purchases, mentor local conservation groups, and guide monitoring and research. Together, we build local capacity for conservation and develop future leaders with practical insights into restoring habitat, saving species from extinction, recolonizing species, and protecting ecosystem services for local communities.

Joined 2022