
RESTORING THE
NATURAL WORLD
NATURAL STATE

NATURAL STATE
Leveraging technology to catalyze large-scale restoration
and rewilding globally.


NATURAL STATE TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH CENTRE
The Research Centre is located at the base of Mt. Kenya within close proximity of open savannah, shrubland, dense forest and wetlands with a great diversity of species ranging from elephants to warthogs to dung beetles. It is the perfect location to develop and test NATURAL STATE impact monitoring technology.
We are working with leading technology and remote sensing companies to develop robust and cost-effective methods for measuring trends in carbon, biodiversity and development.


NATURAL STATE RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 CRISIS
The COVID-19 crisis has taught us that many of the world’s protected areas are far too dependent on tourism as a source of revenue.
With the onset of COVID, tourism ground to a halt and many protected areas could not afford to pay their Wildlife Rangers.
Although our mandate is to focus on diversifying sustainable revenue sources, we felt we had to respond to the immediate crisis and help raise funds to keep rangers on the ground to both protect wildlife and support their communities.
With the support of the Scheinberg Relief Fund, we launched the Wildlife Ranger Challenge with Tusk Trust and the Ranger community.
FEATURED PROJECTS

Lewa & Ngare Ndare Forest Restoration, Biodiversity and Development Project
NATURAL STATE is working with Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and the Ngare Ndare Forest Reserve, both part of the Mt. Kenya World Heritage Site, to develop a restoration and rewilding project that will capture and store carbon through assisted natural regeneration and tree planting. The project will provide habitat for endangered species, improve local livelihoods and generate revenue for the protected areas. In the process of implementing this project, the latest impact monitoring technology is being tested and developed to produce a state-of-the-art restoration impact monitoring dashboard. This will be used by donors, investors and auditors to assess the carbon, biodiversity and development gains of restoration and conservation projects. The technology is being developed at the NATURAL STATE Research and Technology Centre at the base of Mt. Kenya.


Rewilding the Orange River-Karoo Landscape
NATURAL STATE is working with the Orange River-Karoo Conservation Area (ORKCA), local farmers and communities to connect and restore an area larger than Yellowstone. The objective is to ecologically restore the fragile semi-arid ecosystem, quadruple the number of native grazers and predators, restore wildlife migration patterns, secure 15M tCO2e and triple employment in the region through eco-tourism. The region is both culturally and ecologically important being the home of the Nama people and the only point where the succulent Karoo, Nama Karoo and Desert biomes all meet. Only 1% of the Nama Karoo is formally protected and the succulent Karoo is listed among the world’s top 25 biodiversity hotspots. This has the potential to be one of the largest restoration and rewilding projects in the world.
Green Infrastructure Accelerator
With the current nursery infrastructure, it is impossible to meet ambitious global targets for reforestation. The Green Infrastructure Accelerator is implementing large-scale professional nursery infrastructure in the regions of the world where it is needed the most to secure biodiversity, sequester carbon and improve livelihoods.


Ghana Landscape Restoration Partnership
NATURAL STATE is working with Tree Global to catalyze and monitor the impact of what will be one of the largest forest and agroforestry restoration projects in Africa. The first step is building the green infrastructure a (3,000,000+ seedling capacity nursery) needed to restore cocoa plantations and native forests in the region. The professional nursery produces seedlings that have a survival rate of 90% - a significant improvement compared to an average of 40%. The trees mature two to three years earlier and are on average three times more productive. With the nursery established and the impact monitoring systems in place, the project will be investment ready. The project has the potential to restore an area of 100,000 ha+, secure roughly 50M tCO2e, restore threatened species and help lift over 25,000 farmers out of poverty.