Phoenix Conservancy

OVERVIEW OF THE PHOENIX CONSERVANCY

The Phoenix Conservancy's mission is to restore endangered ecosystems globally for the communities that depend on them and the conservation of biodiversity.

Our goal is to return degraded land to healthy, functional ecosystems with maximal extant, native biodiversity. We work to restore some of the worlds most critically-endangered ecosystems, where we use social enterprise tied to ecosystem restoration as a vehicle to combat and reverse:

• Mass extinction of Earth's biodiversity

• Climate change and resulting insecurity, desertification, and erosion

• Poverty, malnutrition, poor quality of life, and loss of economic empowerment

While these foci may seem unconnected at first glance, ecosystem degradation and human desperation invariably go hand-in-hand; TPC strongly believes that successful restoration depends on addressing causes of human suffering simultaneously. For endangered ecosystems and the communities that depend on them, restoration distills down to making it possible for humans and biodiversity to survive long enough to adapt and persist, through strategic, efficient, rapid ecosystem regeneration that generates opportunities to improve people's lives.

As a rapidly-growing grassroots organization, we are pursuing an ambitious Strategic Plan to meet the desperate need of our times. In November 2025, we adopted three new focal ecosystems, broadening our approach and impact around the globe. We currently focus on restoration in:

• Palouse Prairie (Southeastern Washington State and adjacent Idaho)
• Great Plains Prairie (Central South Dakota)
• Hawaiian Dry Forest Mosaic (Hawaii)
• Chocó Lowland Rainforest (Ecuador)
• Andean Forest (South America)
• Montane Forest (Madagascar)

OUR UNIQUE APPROACH TO ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION

The Phoenix Conservancy’s Theory of Change is rooted in four fundamental, pragmatic tenants:

1.      As conservation funding is chronically limited, TPC projects must be designed to be increasingly self-sustaining to ensure that donor support is used to expand restoration, not just maintain.

2.      To generate project revenue, restoration must be designed not only to be as cost-efficient and ecologically sound as possible, but to generate a diverse portfolio of sustainable, equitable economic opportunities that generate additional benefits to communities and compliment restoration efforts (Social Enterprise).

3.      Social enterprise must directly benefit the communities that depend on the ecosystems we restore, both through direct economic opportunity and indirect benefits (e.g. climate resilience, ecosystem services, equitable empowerment).

4.      A portion of revenue generated through restoration-linked social enterprise will sustain and fund ongoing restoration, while incentivizing communities to protect and steward regenerating ecosystems. 

While this may seem more aspirational than pragmatic, each of TPC’s projects exemplifies this feedback between ecological restoration and social enterprise. As one example, in Ivohiboro, Madagascar, several key plant species used in TPC’s unique “Foxhole Forest” technique for restoring rainforest in fire-prone grassland generate high-value local commodities for local communities to produce and sell (e.g. marula oil, voatsiperifery peppercorns, etc.). Revenue from initial sales is then used to help fund jobs restoring rainforest, increasing commodity production capacity with each seed planted. During recent famines, we received direct feedback from community members crediting TPC’s community-centered restoration work for making it possible to survive, allowing them to purchase food, supplies, and even send their daughters to school for the first time.