2025 Conservation Innovation Award Recipient

Fundación Tierra Austral

Fundación Tierra Austral

Through a focus on standards and good practice, Fundación Tierra Austral has implemented a new legal framework for private and civic land conservation to help landowners conserve large areas of high ecological value land across Chile.

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Overview of the Conservation Innovation Award

The award is given annually to an individual, organization, or initiative that is implementing a bold idea, method, tool, or solution to increase the pace, scale, and quality of land conservation anywhere in the world. The ILCN focuses specifically on innovation in private and civic land conservation — that is, efforts driven by nonprofit organizations, landowners, community associations, or other civil society groups on six continents. By recognizing and elevating the work of innovators, the award seeks to inform and inspire individuals and organizations around the globe who are developing ambitious new approaches to land conservation policy and practice.

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Selection Criteria

Nominees are evaluated based on the degree to which their innovation is:

  • Creative in conception: the initiative represents a novel approach to solving a need or problem;
  • Strategically significant: it demonstrates broader strategic or cultural value to land conservation practitioners and to society, significantly advancing the way that land conservation is done in the field;
  • Measurably effective: its outcomes can be measured qualitatively or quantitatively, using a relatively objective measure;
  • Transferable across boundaries: it can be applied or adapted to different geographies and jurisdictions around the world; and
  • Enduring: it achieves, or has substantial promise to achieve, long-term impact.
The Award

The ILCN Conservation Innovation Award provides a $10,000 stipend to the award recipient to develop and carry out a form of technology transfer or knowledge exchange designed to facilitate peer learning and disseminate the innovation to a wider community of practice. Award recipients develop their plans for the use of award funds in consultation with Lincoln Institute of Land Policy staff.

Nominations

Third-party and self-nominations are both accepted. Open nominations are intended to generate a vibrant set of nominees from a variety of backgrounds, sectors, regions, and communities. Candidates who self-nominate should provide 1-2 references.

Learn more about the award, eligibility, and selection process.

Timeline

The following timeline is for the 2026 award cycle.
  • March 25

    Nominations open

  • June 30

    Nominations close

  • July 31

    Finalists selected

  • September 24

    Award recipient announced

Nominate a Candidate

Read more about the award, eligibility, and selection process.

Nominations for the Conservation Innovation Award open on March 25, 2026 and are open through June 30, 2026. The 2026 Award recipient will be announced on September 24, 2026.

Nominate a Conservation Innovator

For questions, please email Robin Beckham, policy analyst for land conservation at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, at rbeckham@lincolninst.edu.