A US-based biotechnology and genetic engineering firm has secured $50 million to launch a foundation with the aim of driving innovation in species protection, it announced Tuesday.
The nonprofit arm of Colossal, a company which is pursuing the “de-extinction” of multiple species, said the funding will contribute to supporting and employing new technologies to boost and speed efforts for preserving threatened and endangered species worldwide in partnership with local communities.
“We started The Colossal Foundation to ensure that we are delivering our technology solutions into the hands of those who can benefit the most,” said Colossal CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm.
“The Colossal Foundation further expands our capacity to get our technologies into the world as fast as possible and brings new, much-needed funding to conservation while empowering the modernisation of the tools.”
The nonprofit has three core programmes focused on:
- Developing a toolkit to simplify genetic rescue processes for conservationists;
- Deploying artificial intelligence (AI) tools for monitoring wildlife and ecosystems;
- Establishing a global biobank to preserve tissue samples from endangered species.
As Colossal stated, the so-called biobank will act as an ‘insurance policy’ against unforeseen threats to biodiversity, aiming to provide a safety net for species facing extinction.
It will be implemented through the Colossal BioVault initiative, a programme designed to collect the primary materials needed to prevent extinction, developed in partnership with US-based Rewild and other organisations.
PROJECTS
The foundation will help scale the use of machine learning technologies for biodiversity conservation, already at the centre of Colossal’s projects. These include the drone-based anomaly detection system used by the Kenyan organisation Save the Elephants and an AI-enabled orphaned elephant monitoring system used by Elephant Havens in Botswana.
The Colossal Foundation also announced four new conservation initiatives to be launched soon, addressing species at risk of extinction, such as vaquitas in Mexico, Sumatran rhinos in Indonesia, and Ivory-billed woodpeckers in the US.
After securing this initial funding, the nonprofit said it plans to raise additional investment to expand its project pipeline and include new species to be protected over the next decade.
“The short story is that conservation needs powerful and committed allies,” Matt James, CEO of Colossal Foundation, said in a statement.
“We are here to be that ally. There is no more time to wait to protect the species we have on Earth today if we want to make sure they are still here in 10, 50, and 500 years.”
In a bid to improve collaboration with native communities, Colossal announced in July the set up of its Indigenous Council, an indigenous-led body established to ensure that native conservation priorities are embedded within the organisation’s strategy.
By Giada Ferraglioni – giada@carbon-pulse.com
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