Impact

There has never been a greater opportunity or a more important time to restore the natural world.

OUR MISSION

Restoration of The Natural World

OUR APPROACH

We work through three interconnected pillars, designed to reinforce one another and move projects from ambition to delivery:

Centre for the Nature Economy: training, leadership development and enterprise support.

Research & Monitoring: robust baselines and transparent measurement that can scale.

Nature Finance: credits and impact-linked mechanisms that reward verified outcomes.

Our hubs and services

Natural State works through linked hubs that bring research, training and delivery together:

Natural State Research Centre

This is the core hub for NATURAL STATE’s research and monitoring innovation home to our Carbon, Water, and Biodiversity Lab. Here, we develop and refine technology and science needed to accurately measure ecological change. The Centre is also the launchpad for our marine expansion, where we are applying our proven monitoring systems and financial mechanisms to ocean restoration through strategic coastal partnerships, supported by a global network of academic institutions.

African Centre for Nature Restoration and Resilience

Our training centre provides the skills, technology, and finance pathways needed to rapidly scale restoration. It promotes nature-positive enterprises such as regenerative farming, regenerative grazing, and technology businesses that measure restoration impact and creates dedicated spaces where Indigenous and local knowledge drives learning and innovation. As NATURAL STATE grows, we will expand access through on-site and online learning, and by partnering to establish future centres in Asia and the Americas.

Operations Hub (Nanyuki, Kenya)

NATURAL STATE Operations Hub: Based in Nanyuki, Kenya, this office coordinates and supports NATURAL STATE’s day-to-day work. It is the central engine from which our teams plan, manage, and execute activities across our programmes and field sites.

Natural State Services

This department provides advice in the design phase of biodiversity, carbon, or ecosystem credits or bonds - (helping clients understand which nature financing mechanisms and standards make the most sense for a particular landscape). The group also delivers robust, cost-effective verification of biodiversity, carbon, water, and human wellbeing outcomes, essential for high-integrity restoration and credible nature finance.

5 YEAR TARGETS

Target 1

Technology and systems in place in Africa to rapidly, robustly and cost-effectively measure trends in biodiversity, carbon and benefits to communities.

Target 3

The African Centre for Nature Restoration and Resilience and the Indigenous Knowledge & Solutions Hub for Restoration are fully functional with more than 1,000 graduates.

Target 2

Five new financial mechanisms in place: (1) Integrated Carbon and Biodiversity credits, (2) Custodian credits, (3) Rewilding credits, (4) Regenerative Agriculture and Biodiversity credits, (5) Conservation impact grants.

Target 4

A NATURAL STATE Marine Research Centre initiated, with the aim of revolutionising impact monitoring in the marine world.

10 YEAR TARGETS

Target 1

Terrestrial and marine impact monitoring systems and technology are available to robustly and cost-effectively measure trends in biodiversity, carbon, and social impact across the tropics and subtropics.

Target 2

At least $10 billion of new funding has been channeled into biodiversity, carbon, and local communities through new financial mechanisms.

Target 3

The African Centre for Nature Restoration and Resilience and the Centre for Local and Indigenous Knowledge has collaborations with learning institutions across the tropics and subtropics and is helping to support more than 20,000 leaders in the sector.

ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE

INFRASTRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE

Built the NATURAL STATE Research Centre.
Built the NATURAL STATE Carbon and Biodiversity Lab.
Opened our Nanyuki office.
Built an amazing international team of 60 staff.
Secured land for the African Centre for Nature Restoration and Resilience and the Indigenous and Community Knowledge Restoration and Climate Resilience Centre.
Formed our US based 501c3 and two Kenyan entities.
Developed all our policies and procedures.

IMPACT
MONITORING

Developed the field-to-cloud prototype (KUTUMA).
Developed the impact monitoring platform prototype (uKWELI).
Implemented 90+ Carbon Pool plots.
Implemented 18 Gem plots.
Built AI models for 133 bird calls using acoustic sensors.
Built AI models for 24 vertebrates using camera trap images.
Conducted a 440 Km2 Lidar scan for setting baselines and building carbon models.
Built a predictive above and below-ground carbon model for savannah systems.
Helped raise over 10 million for rangers during the COVID Crisis.
Made it to the finals of the XPRIZE
Built out collaborations with WRTI, Oxford, MIT, Cornell, Perdue, Reading, Illinois Tech, and William and Mary.
Have been recognised as an Oxford Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery Landscape.
Appointed a joint Natural State/Oxford post-doctoral student to help develop thresholds of intactness across biomes.

INNOVATIVE
FINANCING

Pilot of a carbon and biodiversity integrated credit.
Pilot of a rewilding credit.
Pilot of a custodian credit.
Appointed a joint Natural State/Oxford post-doctoral student to help develop financial mechanisms for nature.
Built out implementation collaborations with the LCA, Borona, Lewa, Lolldaiga, ORKCA, WildCRU, Lion Landscapes, and the WildCAT Trust.
Contribute to the Biodiversity Credit Alliance

LEADERS

Developed curriculum for two courses.
Initiated the build of phase one of the Centre.
Built out collaborations with WRTI, ALU, AgWild, University of Oxford and Yale University.
Five of our staff received scholarships for the Yale Tropical Forests Landscapes course.

MOMENTUM IS BUILDING

The UN has declared 2021-2030 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Governments around the world have committed to protecting 30% of the planet by 2030. Nature-based solutions are now seen as critical to achieving the Paris Climate Agreement, the CBD post-2020 Biodiversity Framework and Sustainable Development Goals. The private sector has already allocated billions of dollars for nature-based solutions. Generation Z cares deeply about a sustainable future. There is still time to restore the natural world.