VAIA Competitors

The Wilderness Society (TWS) is the leading conservation organization working to protect America’s wild places and public lands for the health of local communities, wildlife, and climate. Founded in 1935, and now with more than one million members and supporters, The Wilderness Society has led the effort to permanently protect 111 million acres of wilderness and to ensure the sound management of America’s public lands. TWS is scaling up its work to address the existential threat of climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and deep inequities with access to the benefits of nature. TWS is working to achieve four major collective impact results: protecting 30 percent of America’s lands and waters by 2030, transitioning off of fossil fuel development on public lands to well-sited renewable energy, securing equitable access to public lands and their benefits, and building a critical mass of support for conservation of public lands. The Wilderness Society recognizes the historic and ongoing injustices perpetrated against Indigenous peoples, particularly those perpetrated by traditional conservation organizations and is committed to being more conscientious and inclusive in our work. This includes working directly with Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities to support conservation outcomes that respect the priorities and concerns of Tribes to ensure a more just and equitable future.

As the Los Angeles region faces severe impacts from climate change, TreePeople unites the power of trees, people and nature-based solutions to grow a more climate-ready city. The organization inspires, engages and supports Angelenos to take personal responsibility for the urban environment, facilitates collaboration among government agencies, and promotes leadership by grassroots volunteers, students and communities. Together, we are growing a greener, shadier, healthier and more water-secure Los Angeles for present and future generations. For more info, visit treepeople.org.

Lasting change is farmer-led. Founded in 1989, Trees for the Future (TREES) partners with farmers across Africa to restore degraded land, strengthen livelihoods, and build thriving rural enterprises. Through farmer-led, science-backed regenerative agroforestry, farmers establish diverse and productive farms that restore soil, increase food security, strengthen biodiversity, build climate resilience, and create new opportunities for income and businesses. TREES also works with farmers, communities, governments, and institutional partners to scale landscape restoration and develop high-integrity carbon projects that deliver measurable Climate, Community, and Biodiversity (CCB) benefits. Our carbon work is designed in alignment with Verra standards, including planned CCB and Abacus labels. Together, TREES and partner farmers have restored more than 100,000 acres of land and improved access to food for more than 475,000 people. Recognized as a UN World Restoration Flagship, TREES is home to one of the world’s most promising large-scale ecosystem restoration efforts and is helping demonstrate what becomes possible when farmers, nature, and enterprise thrive together.