This Earth Day, we highlight WWF’s Landscape Finance Lab, which is using crowdsourcing to share resources that move the needle on landscape restoration.

We at Medallia are committed to minimizing the impact of our products and services on the environment. In fact, we look at our environmental impact just as we do our software — as an aspect of business in which we must strive for continuous improvement. Climate change is now viewed as a public health issue that impacts us on a global level, and we think it’s imperative to bring together the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to tackle one of the world’s most urgent challenges.

That’s why this Earth Day, we are honored to celebrate one of our nonprofit Medallia Crowdicity customers leading the charge in large-scale conservation efforts, WWF’s Landscape Finance Lab (The Lab). The Lab was established in April 2016 as an initiative of WWF with a mission to support governments, companies, and financial institutions to incubate sustainable landscapes that generate scalable impact. The Lab is pioneering a new approach to landscapes that span both land and sea areas over 1 million hectares, attract US$100 million-plus in investments, and are able to run sustainably for decades. There are currently 12 landscape programs in priority ecoregions across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

As part of its efforts, The Lab is bringing human-centered design to conservation. They listen and truly understand the needs and pain points of those directly impacted in these environmentally vulnerable landscapes, and support these local community members to lead innovative solutions to their needs. As a company dedicated to listening to understand and take action, we are thrilled to be learning from The Lab.

Crowdsourcing to solve the world’s greatest issues

We are inspired by how The Lab has been using Crowdicity as a space for professionals working and investing in environmentally vulnerable landscapes — with three goals in mind:

• Structure high-quality projects in global biodiversity priority places
• Access innovative financing, including private sector, impact investing, and public sector grants for landscape programs
• Build the landscape finance industry, through learning and impact measurement.

Members can use the platform to stay engaged in a safe and noncompetitive space. It empowers them to share resources and lessons that will help move the needle on landscape design, funding, and impact. They can share concepts to grow through peer review and connect with a network of trusted individuals who want to collaborate and contribute.

For example, the Lab shares knowledge via webinars in its Crowdicity “Knowledge Hub,” with a recent event securing more than 700 stakeholder registrations globally. Additionally, the organization was able to play a role in obtaining funding for the Great Sea Reef through Matanataki. The Great Sea Reef is the southern hemisphere’s third longest continuous barrier reef system and is home to high-value coral reef biodiversity. The reef has been part of the Fijian lifestyle for centuries, providing sustenance, protection, and vitality to the region’s fishing and tourism industries (the highest revenue earner for the past decade). But numerous challenges, such as urban expansion, increasing demand for natural resources, and frequent intense cyclones, have placed pressure on this fragile ecosystem. This landscape proposal has secured a US$10-million investment from blended philanthropy across the government, private, and non-governmental organizations.

Deesha Chandra, Community Lead at WWF Landscape Finance Lab, says that crowdsourcing has become critical to tackling climate change. “As the world’s most precious landscapes and ecosystems are in danger, people from across all sectors must pool our knowledge and resources together to help tackle arguably the biggest problem we all face today: climate change,” she says. “Medallia Crowdicity has allowed us to tap into this wisdom and capital across so many stakeholders, and offer solutions to be co-designed by those impacted by climate change and loss of natural capital directly. We know that our collective impact, with a focus on supporting local solutions, is far more powerful than doing this alone.”

The Lab will soon be soliciting input from the global public, not just within its partner ecosystem. Take a look at the organization’s Crowdicity platform, which is now public, to learn more about landscape finance. And be sure to check back soon for more information on when you can share your own input.

Remaining committed to sustainability

We at Medallia will continue to do our part, and we remain committed to keeping Success from Sustainability as one of our top company values. We are proud to partner with like-minded organizations and leaders like The Lab to learn from their critical work. Stay tuned as we will share further on Medallia’s Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG) updates and commitments soon!

We all have a role to play when it comes to tackling climate change. We hope you can celebrate Earth Day by supporting the WWF.