About EcoResilience Initiative

It started when Tandena Wagner, Eileen Walz, and Iska Knuuttila began writing a forum post on ‘Resilience & Biodiversity’ over the summer of 2022 as an entry for Open Philanthropy’s Cause Prioritization Contest. This effort was the beginning of our EcoResilience Initiative, aimed at exploring ecosystem resilience and fostering discussions about the flourishing of life on Earth. Since then, we have welcomed others interested in joining our group.

In 2024, we contracted for Future of Life Foundation to write 24-page review on a biodiversity grant that they were considering. Additionally, we have been actively publishing articles, hosting workshops, giving talks, and attending conferences to promote our approach. We will update material later on this website.

As part of the EcoResilience Initiative, we are starting with every intervention we can think of, narrowing down the list to the most promising interventions before conducting shallow dives on each. Afterwards, we will identify actors applying these interventions and apply the formula for ecosystem resilience, biodiversity, and longtermism to each project. In the future, we hope to provide well-founded donation recommendations to altruists who share these values.

There are endless reasons to value nature. However, to effectively rank the interventions in conservation, we need to simplify our approach and utilize measurable proxies. We believe that the following three properties are essential for the EcoResilience Initiative and capture the core objectives of nature conservation.

1. Tree of life - This includes functional diversity, uniqueness, and evolutionary history.

2. Ecosystems - We must recognize nature's contributions to people, appreciate beauty, and understand the relationships between species and ecosystem resilience.

3. Longtermism - We prioritize flourishing nature, regardless of when it occurs. By considering larger timescales, we can avoid engaging in futile battles and instead identify high-leverage opportunities to safeguard certain species from temporary threats.

Definition: Strategic decision making on timescales extending hundreds to thousands of years, particularly in the context of the EcoResilience Initiative. 

Description: Planning for the longterm future, which involves ensuring that interventions will lead to impacts lasting beyond hundreds of years. We will leverage our unique advantages to act early and change the course of events, enhancing ecosystem resilience. Longtermism requires us to consider the needs and desires of unborn individuals across diverse cultures while anticipating changing technological capabilities and various geographic and political shifts. We must navigate evolving valuescapes. Longterm strategy is about fostering futures that both we and future generations will find desirable.

Definition: Preserving the greatest portion of the tree of life through the EcoResilience Initiative. Description: Prioritize preventing extinction in species that are genetically distant from others to enhance ecosystem resilience. Focus on projects that will create the most significant impact for the largest number of species spread widely across the tree of life. It is essential to avoid bias towards 'charismatic' species like local mammals. This approach can be quantified using Evolutionary Distinctiveness through genetic uniqueness metrics, aligning with longtermism to ensure sustainable conservation efforts.

Definition: Ecosystems’ ability to self-repair and prevent the degradation of ecosystems is a key focus of the EcoResilience Initiative. 

Description: It is crucial to anticipate which ecosystems are at risk of collapse and intervene, especially when such collapses would be difficult, if not impossible, to reverse. While ecosystem change is a natural process, we must oppose changes that lead to reduced flourishing of life, diminished ecosystem services, and instability. This endeavor requires a deeper understanding of ecosystem resilience and how to effectively implement interventions aligned with longtermism.