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.

Around the world, modern and industrialized farming practices are destroying the environment—and, at the same time, failing to provide reliable income and nourishment for the farmers we all depend on to survive. At TREES, we recognize that unsustainable land use is the root cause of our most pressing challenges. We confront these challenges by serving the people at the heart of our global food systems: farmers and their families. As a global leader in agroforestry training for over 30 years, TREES provides hands-on, immersive education, skill building, and support, encouraging farmers to work with nature, not against it. Our signature methodology, the Forest Garden Approach, helps farmers transform their land with thousands of fast-growing, ecologically appropriate trees and dozens of other crops, creating new possibilities for themselves and their communities. By embracing sustainable land practices, farmers are reclaiming their agency, breaking the cycles of climate change and generational poverty, and rebuilding our food systems from the ground up.