Latest news
January 30, 2012
Using a spectrometer and a small plane that bounces lasers off the jungle floor 400,000 times per second, researchers at the MacArthur-supported Carnegie Airborne Observatory have shed light on both the incredible diversity and increased deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest. The team is also using the video maps they produce to measure the forest’s response to a historic drought in 2010. More »
January 3, 2012
In an important decision for the people and ecosystems of the Mekong River Basin, the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam agreed to delay the Xayaburi Dam – the first of 11 dams proposed for the Mekong River – pending further study. International Rivers and other MacArthur-supported groups provided research on the potential environmental risks posed by hydropower dams in the region. More »
January 3, 2012
A 14-year, MacArthur-supported study in Belize by the Wildlife Conservation Society has found that fishing closures there produce encouraging increases in populations of predatory fish species but only a minimal increase in herbivorous fish, which feed on the algae that smother corals and inhibit reef recovery. The findings will help researchers in their search for new solutions to the problem of restoring Caribbean reefs damaged by fishing and climate change. More »
December 16, 2011
The Field Museum of Chicago and the Entertainment Technology Center, both MacArthur grantees, have partnered to create a game that lets players manage the Great Lakes to fight invasive species. More »
December 14, 2011
In this MacArthur-supported film by the Field Museum, “Shipibo...the Movie of our Memories,” the Native Communities of the Shipibo in southern Peru discuss anthropologist Harry Tschopik Jr.'s 1953 film on the Shipibo people, Men of the Montaña; their own identity; the changes in their culture; and the future for their children. More »
December 8, 2011
As part of the Re: Philanthropy blog, Jorgen Thomsen, Director of Conservation & Sustainable Development at MacArthur, states that "The conservation of ecosystems is one of the most compelling environmental challenges of the 21st century." More »
December 6, 2011
The governments of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan signed a regional climate change adaptation declaration at the MacArthur-supported Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas in Bhutan. The four countries agreed to cooperate on increasing access to “affordable and reliable” clean energy resources and technology; ecosystem and disaster management; knowledge sharing in water use efficiency, and improving understanding of impacts of climate change on water resources across the region; adaptive approaches to improving and sustaining food production; and the creation of an interconnected mosaic of conservation spaces across the Eastern Himalayas. More »
November 4, 2011
A new book, Adapting to a Changing Environment: Confronting the Consequences of Climate Change, provides governments, scientists, and managers with a framework for action. Written by MacArthur grantee Wildlife Conservation Society’s Dr. Tim McClanahan, the book proposes solutions for societies dependant on natural resources to the social and ecological challenges posed by climate change. More »
November 4, 2011
MacArthur hosted the Funders of the Amazon Basin, composed of six foundations working in the Amazon to address the increasing rainforest degradation. The group is focused on leveraging their combined experience and resources to find a coordinated way to help protect the region’s biodiversity and enhance human livelihoods. As a pilot area for collaboration, the funders will focus on the Madeira Basin – the biggest tributary of the Amazon and home to approximately 5 million people – as its geopolitical characteristics make it attractive for both development (particularly dam construction) and conservation. Watch MacArthur grantee World Wildlife Fund’s short documentary on the impacts of the Madeira Hydroelectric Complex on the locals’ livelihoods. More »
October 12, 2011
An imaging spectrometer that could detect the chemical and light-reflecting properties of individual plants and trees 7,000 feet below, combined with laser technology, has proven successful in instantly gathering a vast amount of information about unexplored tracts of tropical rainforest. This technology could help alleviate uncertainty about carbon emissions from deforestation and different forms of forest management, both of which are critical to the emerging policy of REDD, a UN initiative to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation activities. The Carnegie Institution for Science’s spectranomic work was supported by MacArthur, which aims to conserve tropical forests and to detect their relative vulnerability and resilience to climate change. More »
October 4, 2011
Using data from coral reef systems across the western Indian Ocean, MacArthur grantee Wildlife Conservation Society and others have identified how overfishing creates a series of big changes on reefs that precipitate a final collapse. This information can now help managers gauge the true health of a reef - even those that appear healthy - and tell them when to restrict fishing in order to avoid a collapse of the ecosystem and fishery. More »
September 12, 2011
A supporter of conservation efforts around the world for more than 25 years, the MacArthur Foundation today announced a new $176-million, ten-year commitment to conservation and sustainable development and a new, broader strategy that builds on the Foundation's historic focus on preserving biodiversity to guide its grantmaking over the next decade. More »
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