National Geographic Society and forNature Award 10 Explorer-Led Rights of Nature Initiatives
- Aug 12
- 5 min read
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AUGUST 11, 2026) – Today the National Geographic Society
announced the launch of 10 Explorer-led projects under the forNature program to advance the global Rights of Nature movement. Representing five continents, this new cohort of Explorers will champion initiatives that recognize plants, animals, and ecosystems’ legal rights to exist, persist, regenerate vital cycles and thrive.
The forNature program is a collaboration between National Geographic Explorer Callie Veelenturf and the National Geographic Society, made possible through the support of The Alfred Kobacker and Elizabeth Trimbach Fund. Veelenturf is also the founder of the global forNature initiative, which works to advance the recognition and implementation of Rights of Nature through national and international protections that acknowledge the intrinsic rights of the natural world.
“I am thrilled to be joined by this amazing community of Explorers working across the world to advance the Rights of Nature movement through their extraordinary and vital work,” said Callie Veelenturf. “Recognizing the intrinsic rights of Nature will support a shift in how Nature is considered in decision making and represents a transformative solution to the biodiversity, pollution and climate crises.”
Together, these 10 projects will inspire the Rights of Nature movement by:
Empowering the Scientific Community: Equipping researchers with practical tools to champion and support the Rights of Nature framework.
Mobilizing Global Scientist Networks: Uniting a worldwide community of researchers and conservationists to gather critical scientific data.
Collecting Scientific Evidence: Using datasets to demonstrate human impact on natural ecosystems and species and the need to make tangible systemic changes to better protect Nature.
Informing Policy: Increasing awareness among decision-makers using scientific data and case studies.
Inspiring Public Engagement: Fostering understanding of the Rights of Nature as a transformative approach to better protecting Nature.
To drive tangible action, the projects will deliver key resources, including scientific datasets, proposals for the recognition and respect of the Rights of Nature, practical implementation toolkits, interactive workshops, technical assistance, impact stories, and novel academic research and educational initiatives.
“The forNature program brings together science, storytelling, education and community-based conservation through these 10 remarkable Explorers,” said Ian Miller, chief science and innovation officer at the National Geographic Society. “Together, we're conducting work on the ground and generating awareness, all with the goal of driving real action to advance the Rights of Nature and safeguard biodiversity.”
The new cohort of National Geographic Explorers and their projects are:
Cristian Moreno (Chile): Cristian is working to develop the world’s first Rights of Nature framework for the endangered Chilean fungus Butyriboletus loyo. Working with Indigenous Mapuche communities, local communities and other collaborators, his project combines ecological science, legal innovation, and Traditional Mycological Knowledge to help protect biodiversity, preserve cultural heritage, and lay the foundation for recognizing the species’ intrinsic rights to exist.
Elodie Freymann (Uganda): Elodie is creating the first comprehensive database documenting the connections among trees, humans and wild chimpanzees in Uganda’s Budongo and Bugoma Central Forest Reserves. The resulting Shared Forests Database will help support implementation of Uganda’s Rights of Nature law, inform chimpanzee habitat restoration and establish a replicable methodology for other habitats and ecosystems.
Inza Koné (Côte d’Ivoire): Inza is building on the locally-led conservation success of the Tanoé-Ehy Forest by documenting the scientific evidence, local knowledge and governance practices that have protected it. His work will create a repeatable model that can support future rights-based legal protections for ecosystems.
Iva Njunjić (Montenegro): Iva is combining ecological research and DNA assessment to document and build a database of the connectedness of food webs in Montenegro’s Piva River and Komarnica River (one of Europe’s last free-flowing rivers, which is threatened with a proposed hydropower dam). Her project will reveal how hydroelectric dam development affects biodiversity, ecosystem functions and potentially human health. It will also create the first open-access database of ecological relationships in these rivers and provide evidence to support the Komarnica’s right to flow, regenerate and thrive.
Jeanelle Brisbane (Dominica): Jeanelle is partnering with the Kalinago Council to co-design community river health checks and bioindicator surveys, weaving ancestral knowledge together with field science to trace how quarrying, agriculture and deforestation are reshaping aquatic and human life along the Pagua River. This data will pair water quality readings with community stories, photographs and maps, giving rise to a Declaration of Care for Living Waters that asserts the river’s right to be protected.
José de Jesús Vargas González (Panama): José is working with the Emberá and Wounaan communities and building on Indigenous knowledge to understand rapid forest loss in the Darién-Chocó and the threat to harpy eagles. The project will document the ecological knowledge of community elders and combine traditional knowledge with scientific research to develop the harpy eagle Declaration. This biocultural framework will recognize how local communities protect forests and biodiversity while supporting the implementation of Panama's Rights of Nature law in the Darién Forest.
Reed Goodman (United States): Reed is combining archaeology and historical ecology at South Carolina’s Hobcaw Barony research reserve, using sediment cores, tree rings and long-term environmental monitoring to trace how people and estuarine ecosystems have shaped one another across the fresh-brackish-saltwater ecotone. Working with Indigenous, descendant and broader stakeholder communities, the team is bringing deep-time data together with Traditional Ecological Knowledge to identify and scale best practices for wetland and forest management. The work will help inform a Rights of Nature framework recognizing the estuary’s rights to remain fluid, connected and capable of sustaining diverse ecological and cultural relationships.
Rosa Vásquez Espinoza (Peru): Rosa’s work combines traditional knowledge and modern science to protect a vital yet overlooked species – Amazonian stingless bees. Taking the lead from local and Indigenous communities, her project will create the first comprehensive population and distribution map of these vital pollinators, support the establishment of Peru's first Stingless Bee Corridor and advance the Rights of Stingless Bees.
Susannah Buchan (Chile): Susannah is building scientific and community-based evidence to support Rights of Nature-based protection for Chile’s Humboldt Current submarine canyons. Working alongside coastal communities, Indigenous knowledge holders and national research centers, the project will map canyon ecosystems, integrate scientific data with local and traditional knowledge and document how canyon ecosystems sustain biodiversity, fisheries, tourism and local livelihoods.
Tiasa Adhya (India): Tiasa is using spatial distribution and connectivity modelling to trace the critical refuge and movement pathways of the fishing cat, an apex predator of wetlands in South and Southeast Asia. Her project will help identify non-negotiable wetland patches and connecting corridors across three east Indian floodplains that the cat relies on to survive. These findings will inform a legal brief in support of the fishing cat’s rights to safe homes, healthy environments and the freedom to move through safe corridors. The project will also create the Living Floodplain Atlas, a platform to engage local communities and nature lovers through citizen science and storytelling initiatives to document and protect these vital ecosystems.
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