Climate Resilience Grants Program

Funder: Conservation Trust for North Carolina, in partnership with Open Space Institute, with support from Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

Purpose: Grants to identify and protect lands resilient to climate change

Geographic Scope: North Carolina

Focus Areas:

• Identify areas within the state that will be most resilient to climate change
• Apply climate resilience science to prioritize conservation efforts
• Help humans and wildlife stand up to impacts of climate change
• Integrate resilience data into conservation planning

What They Fund:

• Development of conservation planning that accounts for climate resilience
• Integration of The Nature Conservancy's climate resiliency data into land protection strategic plans
• Interactive online conservation planning and storytelling tools
• Assessment of agricultural lands' potential to contribute to climate resilience
• Update of land protection strategic plans with climate resilience data

Eligible Applicants: Local land trusts, partnerships of land trusts, and land conservation organizations operating in North Carolina

Background: In March 2016, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation awarded a $95,000 grant to CTNC to support land trusts' efforts to preserve natural areas that will be most resilient to climate change. Additional funding came from Open Space Institute's Resilient Landscape Initiative, funded by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.