As we launch our Strategic Climate Fund campaign, we wanted to highlight our five Strategic Climate Fund Partner organisations and the urgent work they’re doing to take action on the climate crisis. Each of these organisations work on projects that will have a positive impact within the 2030 timeframe.

Art to Acres is an artist-founded non-profit organization that focuses on supporting large-scale land protection stewarded by local leadership. The initiative has supported 13 million hectares of new permanent protected areas through the designation of Indigenous, community, and national conservation areas in collaboration with artists, curators, collectors, galleries and museums, and partnering conservation organizations.

Founded in 2017, the non-profit focuses on the support of the titling of Indigenous peoples' and heritage lands, and on locations high in biodiversity and beta-diversity. The protection type includes funding the formation of new National Parks, Regional Parks, Indigenous Reserves and a range of International Union for Conservation of Nature 1a and 1b reserves in the form of land trusts and civil and community associations.

Strategic Climate Funds donations receive quantifiable carbon reports on request. Art to Acres supports globally, and the majority of locations are near the equatorial belt: biodiversity density and stored carbon density are highest there because of a concentration of old-growth tropical forests. The conservation work is locally-led and the designation process often follows 10-30 years of research and biodiversity studies.

The community-led projects undergo diligence reviews that focus on areas including biodiversity health and intactness, below and above-ground carbon densities, and betadiversity population studies. The success of Art to Acre’s programmes can be measured by looking at impacts such as quantifiable carbon sequestration through satellite and ground data and the impact on biodiversity, community building, and localised leadership.

Strategic Climate Funds donated to A2A by the arts community are matched at 200% by partner foundations. Legal, administrative and travel costs are funded by the nonprofit advisory board and conservation partners; all donations and matching funds go directly toward supporting land conservation. Art to Acres is decentralised and partners with conservation NGOs who donate their in-kind services such as legal, accounting, diligence and research.

Haley Mellin, artist and Founder of Art to Acres, says: “As GCC's ethical climate financing policy in the visual arts sector, Strategic Climate Funds have been pivotal to locally-led land stewardship on behalf of the arts community. On an educational level, SCFs teach participation and climate support. On an impact level, SCFs support carefully curated and purposeful carbon emissions reduction and protection initiatives.”