The 1000 Landscapes for 1 Billion People (1000L) initiative is thrilled to announce that the Laudes Foundation will continue funding our work to boost livelihoods and restore ecosystems through a new grant. By providing a new round of funding to 1000L co-convener EcoAgriculture Partners, Laudes has reconfirmed its bold commitment to align conservation and sustainable development through integrated landscape management.
From now through 2025, the Laudes Foundation’s generous $1.5 million grant will back landscape initiatives in numerous ways.
“With these resources, 1000L will help landscape partnerships mobilize financing for projects and businesses,” said Sara Scherr, President of EcoAgriculture Partners and 1000L Chair. “Our initiative will also be able to engage even more with influential private-sector organizations to offer them robust ‘win-win’ strategies that support Landscape Partnerships’ goals.”
A portion of the funding will also support 1000L partner Tech Matters to continue building the digital integrated landscape partnership platform called Terraso. This system will provide landscape partners worldwide with access to critical data, tools and services.
Another purpose of the funds is to scale the Community Catalyst, which will increase knowledge-sharing and collaborative action between landscape partners. 1000L will also use the grant to directly communicate the initiative’s tools, services, and learnings to landscape partnerships and their potential allies in government and the business world.
The Laudes Foundation aims to respond to the dual crises of inequality and climate change by supporting brave, innovative efforts that inspire and challenge industry to harness its power for good. That’s why Laudes is excited by the landscape-based solutions that 1000L is creating, said Anita Chester, Managing Director of Laudes India.
“We are proud to be part of the 1000 Landscape for 1 Billion people initiative,” Chester said. “For effective systems change, we need to align innovative efforts around landscapes, and 1000L is taking critical steps to streamline this work and help combat climate change and inequality.”
Laudes’s approach involves acting as a catalyst for change where businesses work through an inclusive model of shared ownership, where producers of materials are valued and earn a living wage, where the environment is restored and regenerated and where collective action helps critical innovations achieve scale. The foundation is supporting regenerative production landscapes to help business models transition towards supporting landscape approaches.
“The 1000L initiative is a unique multi-stakeholder coalition that can bring together communities, businesses, donors, investors and governments and facilitate large-scale landscape-level transformation,” Chester said. “Laudes Foundation is particularly committed to working with the partnership’s stakeholders on helping the private sector better understand the value of landscape approaches and embed this in their supply chains and production practices.”
Tom Derr, 1000L’s program coordinator, said the initiative is very grateful for the foundation’s continued support.
“Laudes’s vision and belief in landscape approaches are critical to advancing the landscape movement,” Derr said. “It’s only with leadership from foundations like this that we’ll be able to empower local people, address climate change and strengthen supply chains for the good of society and nature.”
Top image: 2022 1000L co-design workshop. Photo by Mike Keller.
