Rare

Great News: Today, — a global network of local leaders committed to working towards thriving and prosperous coastal communities — welcomed 48 new members from Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia.

“Village leaders are an integral part of life in Indonesia. Their inclusion in Coastal 500 helps to solidify the role that local leaders play in the protection of vital marine ecosystems and resources.” —Diana Chaidir, Senior Manager of Policy in Indonesia at Rare Indonesia

Mr Bachrun Labuta, Regent of Indonesia’s Muna District, was inspired to develop this cohort of local leaders after attending the first international convening of Coastal 500 leaders this past June. He saw an opportunity to strengthen village planning development by utilizing the village funds within the constraints of Indonesian law, which limits the district and village governments’ authority in marine waters.

Learn more about this important milestone for community-led ocean conservation: https://bit.ly/3Xktco5

The Coastal 500 was a 2023 finalist for The Earthshot Prize and is generously funded by organizations like Bloomberg Philanthropies Bloomberg Ocean Initiative.

Coral reefs are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world — they are believed to support a wider variety of species than even tropical rainforests. We are one of those species.

Coral reefs are critically important to the marine life millions of people rely on for food and livelihoods. They buffer the coasts we live on from waves, storms, and floods. They even host organisms that produce the compounds that help treat cardiovascular diseases and cancers.

Learn more about biodiversity and how we can community conservation can help protect it: https://bit.ly/3MxPBsX

Today, team members from Rare Philippines and Rare Indonesia are participating in the first-ever 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝘀𝗶𝗮 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗺 hosted by Kemenko Bidang Kemaritiman dan Investasi and Bloomberg Philanthropies!

Watch the livestream of the event from 2–6pm JKT: https://bloomberg.zoom.us/j/97271934686?pwd=NgbJadR9vCb3BGXxDXNPiCfO8W40Cc.1

Meet the mascot that inspired our pride campaigns: Jacquot, the St. Lucia parrot!

Jacquot was created by the St. Lucia forestry department and Paul Butler to inspire St Lucians to embrace the bird as a national treasure. Once on the brink of extinction, the parrot's population has increased significantly since conservation efforts started in the 1970s.

In 1979, Rare asked Paul to replicate the campaign strategy. He eventually joined us full-time and created the Pride program. Learn more about our history in inspiring community pride: https://bit.ly/3ARvRhC

Extending up to 12 nautical miles from shore, the community seas contain the ocean’s highest concentration of biodiversity intersecting with human activity. From microalgae and small crustaceans to large fish and whales, almost 90% of all marine life is found here.

Learn about the work we do with fishers, local leaders, and government officials to develop community-led solutions that safeguard coastal waters and protect biodiversity around the world: https://bit.ly/3TbsPeq

Meet the mascot: Meloy the panther grouper started as a mascot for community pride and enforcement for a marine protected area in Inabanga, Philippines. Due to Meloy’s popularity, Meloy Junior became an ambassador for Rare worldwide.

Learn more about the power of mascots to inspire pride in local environments around the globe: https://bit.ly/3yWcGmc

Image Descriptions
1. Photo of a juvenile Barramundi cod, or Humpback grouper, swimming over a reef in Indonesia by Velvetfish for iStock. The fish is white with large black spots and has multiple fins.
2. Photo of Rare’s Vice President of the Philippines, Rocky Sanchez Tirona, with Inabanga’s Meloy mascot at a Pride event. Rocky is standing to Meloy’s left wearing a Rare t-shirt. Meloy is wearing a blue top hat. Behind them is a parade.
3. Photo of the Meloy mascot at a local pride event in Inabanga by AG Sano for Rare. Meloy is holding a prop cellphone and a group of children pose in the background.

A 2023 study found that soil is likely home to 59% of life on Earth—including everything from microbes to mammals—making it our singular most biodiverse habitat.

More species in soil leads to healthier people: According to UN Environment Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the billions of organisms found in the ground help boost farmer's yields, improve the nutritional value of our food, and regulate our climate.

Learn how our community of regenerative farmers are working to restore soil in Colombia’s tropical savannah: https://bit.ly/3XdcuIi

Many of our community programs have mascots that inspire pride in the local environment. Meet the mascot for the Siargao Island Protected Landscapes and Seascapes: BakJuana. With a tangle of leaves and bird’s nest for her
hair, BakJuana—a play on the Filipino word for mangrove (bakhaw) and a traditional Filipino name—represents Siargao’s rich marine heritage and encourages community members to care for the mangroves, beaches, and fisheries.

Learn more about the role mascots play in inspiring communities to have a more sustainable relationship with nature: https://rare.org/stories-articles/the-magic-of-mascots-for-behavior-change/?utm_source=social+media&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=biodiversity-summer24

Image Descriptions:
1. Photo of Rare Philippines Staff with BakJuana, the mascot of the Siargao Island Protected Landscapes and Seascapes (SIPLAS), at a meetup event. The Coastal 500 is a global network of local government leaders committed to building thriving and prosperous coastal communities and recovering and sustaining coastal seas.

2. Photo of Coastal 500 members with Fish Forever mascot BakJuana at a meetup event in Siargao, Philippines. Members from left to right: Mayor Alfredo Coro Jr of Del Carmen, Mayor Gina Menil of San Benito, Vice Mayor Gerry Abejo of Dapa, Vice Mayor Dodong Dolar of Santa Monica, Mayor Liza Ressurreccion of Pilar, Mayor Angie Arcena of Burgos, Councilor Bingle Silvosa of General Luna, Municipal Legislator Rolando S. Bagaipo of San Isidro.

3. Photo of Mangroves in Del Carmen, Siargao Islands, Philippines by Ferdz Decena for Rare.

August marks the beginning of migration season for billions of birds. To help protect them in your own backyard:
💡 Turn off the lights
🚰 Clean your bird feeders and baths
🌱 Plant native plants
🍂 Leave the leaves
🖼️ Make your windows bird-friendly
✍🏽 Join a citizen science program

Learn more about the changes you can make to support migrating birds: https://bit.ly/3yFQWL0

Image Description
Photo of an an Andean Emerald hummingbird perched on a flower in Ecuador by Rare Senior Associate María Dabrowski

Farmers in our Lands for Life program chose Armandilla the armadillo as their mascot to highlight the importance of in their regenerative farms.

Armadillos create habitat for many other species. Known as ecosystem engineers, the burrows they dig are used for shelter, hunting, and food storage by all kinds of animals.

Learn more about Lands for Life: https://bit.ly/3yB4EyM

Image Descriptions
Photo of (left to right) Myriam Contreras Avella, Virginia Montenegro, Jesus Adriano Lancheros, local cacao farmers, at a community event with Armandilla, the armadillo mascot for the Lands for Life program in Meta, Colombia by Lorena Velasco for Rare.

2. Photo of an armadillo by Suzanne D. Williams for Unsplash

Happy International to our friends at Panthera! In June, Tristan Dickerson spoke at BE. Hive on how our behavioral science approach helped their Furs for Life program increase community adoption of synthetic fur to protect leopards from the wildlife trade: https://bit.ly/4dcxTqF

Environmental Impacts Achieved as a Result of Behavioral Science with Tristan Dickerson Hear from Tristan Dickerson, Furs for Life Program Manager at Panthera, about environmental impacts they have achieved as a result of behavioral and social s...

A new study from our Entertainment Lab found that watching this scene from And Just Like That increased participant’s beliefs that reducing meat consumption is:
🫡 The right thing to do
💅 What trendsetters are doing now, and in the future
👀 What trendsetters expect from others

…all without sacrificing entertainment value. Learn more about the study and what it means for Hollywood: https://bit.ly/4dmfGXo

Aya Silva is our Vice President of Fish Forever, Rare Philippines. Check out our interview with her to learn how unpredictable fish stocks and extreme weather events affect coastal communities and how community-led co-management of fisheries can offer tailor-made solutions: https://bit.ly/3WHRysU

Happy International Day for Conservation! Find out how people are protecting these profoundly important forests across Brazil's Amazon coast: https://bit.ly/3Wo24E6

Join us on August 7 for a talk with environmental journalist and author Ben Goldfarb on his new book, ‘Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet’: https://bit.ly/46iJpye

We’ll discuss how roads across the globe impact wildlife and ecosystems and explore a better path forward. This author talk marks the kick off of our new Rare Reads book club. Register and we'll add you to our list to receive monthly recommendations that explore how we can heal our relationship with nature.

Rocky Sanchez Tirona, Rare's managing director of Fish Forever, was just featured on the How to Protect the Ocean podcast! She spoke with host Andrew Lewin about our work in sustainable and how the — a global network of local government leaders — is leading the way in community-led ocean conservation.

Listen now: https://bit.ly/3Y85qOb

Join us on July 30 for a conversation with Annie Ryu, CEO and founder of jack & annie's and The Jackfruit Company and Rare's Natalia Paine.

Ryu, a public health expert-turned-social entrepreneur, will tell us how she's disrupting the , sowing sustainability into the , and providing a path for healthier people and a healthier planet. Register now: https://bit.ly/3zAOlSF

What we see on TV shapes our understanding of the world around us and influences the choices we make. That's why Rare partnered with Reality of Change to assemble Hollywood studios and production companies in an advisory committee to address the climate crisis.

Led by Reality of Change founder Cyle Zezo and Rare Entertainment Lab senior director Ellis Watamanuk, this partnership supports the people working on unscripted television — like reality and cooking shows — to address climate change and sustainability on screen and behind-the-scenes. In The Hollywood Reporter's special Sustainability Issue, we got to share the 30 production companies that make up our advisory committee, helping to chart the collective path forward for the industry: https://bit.ly/4d5nKfh

Our participants include 44 Blue Productions, Alfred Street Industries, Back Roads Entertainment, Nil , Boardwalk Pictures , Chicken Run Productions, Common Ground Studios, Critical Content, DAT's Entertainment, Intuitive Content, Lighthearted Entertainment, Magic Lemonade, Margot Station, MFP Inc, MGM Alternative, Evolution Media (an Amazon MGM Studios Company), Mission Control, MorningStar Entertainment, OBB MEDIA, Scout Productions, Sony Pictures Television's The Intellectual Property Corporation, UNGER Media, Velvet Hammer Media , Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, Wrigley Media Group,and key executives formerly of Participant.

“In this room there are probably people from Brazil, from Mexico, from Honduras, from the coast of Africa—Mozambique, the Philippines, Indonesia. Those are the places where we are now operating. There’s about 100 staff working with about 300–400 local NGOs and local universities. There are a couple hundred [ ] mayors and counting.

And they have all agreed on one thing, and that one thing is that ‘we the people can actually manage the ocean.’”

During the United Nations World Oceans Day event on June 7, Rare CEO Brett Jenks joined a panel moderated by TIME's Chief Climate Officer, Shyla Raghav to discuss the blue economy with ORRAA's Karen Sack and IUCN's Barkha Mossaë. Watch the full panel here:

Rare CEO Brett Jenks at UN World Oceans Day 2024 During the United Nations World Oceans Day event on June 7, 2024, Rare CEO Brett Jenks joined a panel to discuss the blue economy, and Rare's people-centered...

Thank you, Blue Action Fund, for visiting our partner communities and members of the Wilipihera – Coastal Lifeline project, ADRA International (Mozambique and Germany), Livaningo, and AMA.

We look forward to continuing our partnership in support of resilient coastal ecosystems and livelihoods!

Last week, we hosted our fourth BE. Hive at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. Nearly 300 people including behavioral scientists, environmental practitioners, foundation officers, sustainable brand professionals and climate-conscious leaders from a range of sectors joined us to explore people-centered environmental solutions and the measurable impact they can have.

Check out our recap of the event, including quotes from some of our great speakers: https://bit.ly/3VNYsMP

Join us on June 20 for a conversation with Staci Roberts-Steele, Managing Director of Yellow Dot Studios and co-producer of Netflix's second most watched film ever, Don't Look Up.

Roberts-Steele and Ellis Watamanuk from our Entertainment Lab will discuss flipping the script on how climate change is portrayed on screen to inspire cultural shifts towards . Register now: https://bit.ly/3yYnCiJ

Rare | rare.org Rare is an international conservation and development organization using behavioral insights to inspire change so people and nature thrive.

This week, Rare hosted BE. Hive — our conference on how behavioral science can smooth the pathway to more sustainable choices for people and planet.

Check out one of the panels from the day featuring from left to right: Rare President Caleb McClennen, Ph.D.; Matt Wallaert, Founder of Behavioral Science in Organizations; VP of Fish Forever, Rocky Sanchez Tirona; and Managing Director of The Behavioural Insights Team - The Nudge Unit Michael Hallsworth

🌊 🐟 🦀🐙🐬🐡
Happy World Ocean Day!

Rocky Sanchez Tirona is the head of Fish Forever, Rare’s coastal fisheries program. Ahead of tomorrow, she is celebrating 3 big ocean milestones. Read the story in our bio link to learn what they are!

This , we're celebrating progress in Palau! A new law is officially placing the 172-hectare Ngeschsiau Managed Access area under local, community-led management.

“This is a huge win for local fishers and local communities,” said Kevin Mesebeluu, Project Implementation Manager for Rare in Palau. “With this legislation, Palau is showing that it values traditional, Indigenous knowledge as vital to sustainable ocean management.”

New Law in Palau Empowers Communities to Manage Ocean Waters In a victory for small-scale fishers, new legislation in Palau places an area of coastal ocean water under community-led management.