Our Ongoing Collaboration with The Earthshot Prize
In November 2023, our flagship initiative, Acción Andina, won The Earthshot Prize in the “Protect and Restore Nature” category. It was a pinnacle moment for everyone involved in Acción Andina, and a milestone in our ongoing partnership with The Earthshot Prize (TEP) community. Since then, TEP has become more than a global award. It continues to be an essential ally in our fight to bring back lost ecosystems and protect water in the Andes.
One primary way that TEP has championed our restoration initiative is through their nine-month Fellowship program, meant to supercharge growth and impact by unlocking new partnership and financing opportunities. The Fellowship program has provided international communications and media support, as well as speaking engagements at key international conferences. TEP has also showcased Acción Andina on its Launchpad platform to investors and philanthropists.
GFG in turn has involved key members of The Earthshot Prize team in on-the-ground restoration projects and strategic planning events. Both Mathilde Carraro, director of fellowship; and Tanya Aritao, senior acceleration manager, visited Acción Andina projects in March 2024 in Peru and joined a workshop lunch during the 2024 London Climate Action Week to envision a new financing strategy for Acción Andina.
Such in-person collaborations are invaluable. Aritao says visiting Peru and participating in a treeplanting ceremony provided a meaningful opportunity to witness multiple generations of families planting together and celebrating the regrowth of their forests. “Knowing that you are planting trees that will live and grow for generations is incredibly powerful. You can read and learn about it through articles and videos, but it’s extremely different to experience the solution up close,” she says. “We’re so excited to have tangible ways to support what’s next for Acción Andina because we know it’s going to be different from what got them here…it’s going to make a huge impact across the world.”
We are thankful for the continued collaboration with TEP — through conferences, summits, virtual calls, and gatherings that have brought global visibility to our large-scale restoration initiative. TEP support has been essential to growing Acción Andina, and we look forward to deepening our partnership with them and the growing global community of winners and finalists.
