How We Work

Grounded in people-centered, action-oriented science, the Keller Science Action Center collaborates with local communities and a wide range of partners to support conservation areas that are both equitable and enduring. Backed by more than three decades of experience in the Amazonia and Chicago, our team centers local stewards by leading research and helping safeguard large, at-risk landscapes. We deliver measurable results on the ground for sustained conservation results.

Galvanize community stewards

Indigenous and local communities centered in conservation. 
Building on decades of engagement with hundreds of communities across Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Guyana, the Midwestern United States, and beyond, we place local stewardship at the heart of conservation. We will add to the 40,000 youth already trained as emerging conservation leaders, and develop and implement plans with tribal leaders, local stewards and local to national governments.

30 million acres protected by 2030 in high-priority conservation landscapes. 

We will expand the 29 million acres already safeguarded, working with partners to more than double this impact. We will add to over 30 social and biological rapid inventories and expand research, restoration and conservation with local collaborators to consolidate corridors for people and nature.

Science and tools generated for conservation decision-making. 

We continue to leverage emerging technologies alongside deep understanding of species, lands, and waters shaped by humans over millennia. We will add to the hundreds of species newly described by our scientists, produce tools that foster community monitoring and mapping, and innovate approaches to build understanding of nature.We develop identification tools such as Field Guides and Biodiversity Dashboards to enable scientists, educators, local communities, indigenous leaders, and people passionate about nature and science to engage with the world around them.