Look Far and Light the Way
 
The Avilés Loop Trail in Parque Patagonia in Chile. Photo by Scott Stone

The Avilés Loop Trail in Parque Patagonia in Chile. Photo by Scott Stone

 

LOOK FAR & LIGHT THE WAY

Lookfar is a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending wild and wondrous places and working with the people living in and among them. We advise philanthropic foundations and help small, local groups with biodiversity conservation, ecological restoration, and regenerative agriculture projects in many of the world’s most biodiverse and most imperiled regions.

 
 
 

Projects

Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu (REGUA) in the Mata Atlântica in Brazil. Photo by Scott Stone

Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu (REGUA) in the Mata Atlântica in Brazil. Photo by Scott Stone

 

Philosophy

Sometimes the best solutions are found by looking at what’s working rather than what’s wrong.

We want to find small, local conservation groups making uncommon progress in their communities. We want to connect them to our network and forge ambitious new projects and partnerships. And we want to tell their stories so others can draw inspiration from their remarkable examples.

This is why our motto is Look Far and Light the Way.

Strategy

Lookfar’s strategy is predicated on helping small, local groups that are especially capable of doing the most with the least so they may act ambitiously and opportunistically – particularly with novel approaches that, when successful, can be replicated and scaled.

Small, local groups possess a deep understanding of the landscapes and the communities in which they operate. Working so close to the ground, they have no need for bureaucracy and little time for self-promotion. They are skilled and ambitious – rising to confront complex challenges, devising innovative new strategies, facing all manner of risk and hardship, and forging the next generation of environmental heroes. 

Many small, local organizations lack the time and resources to pursue the kinds of institutional funding opportunities needed to sustain their effectiveness and enhance their impact. In this way, they represent overlooked and underutilized assets in the struggle to protect biodiversity and combat climate change. 

Their work may not always scale in terms of geographic extent, but if done right it can scale in other ways – including by sustaining results over the long term and by integrating an environmental ethic into a region’s local economy and driving progressive changes to law and policy.

WORK

Since its founding in 2016, Lookfar has played a major role for foundations in the Netherlands and Switzerland in creating and managing grant portfolios and has built an extensive network of small, local groups around the world engaged in first rate conservation work. 

This has afforded Lookfar significant experience in grantmaking and invaluable insights into what works and what does not work when attempting to identify, evaluate, fund, and manage highly ambitious projects in highly threatened ecosystems.

In its work with small, local groups, Lookfar partners primarily with organizations operating in highly biodiverse and highly imperiled regions in Latin America, Africa, and Asia — co-developing projects to deliver clear, measurable, and lasting benefits for the environment and surrounding communities.

To sustain impact, enhance resilience, and build self-reliance, Lookfar focuses its work with its partners in the following areas:

  • Projects – Design projects and identify and secure grant funding opportunities.

  • Network – Build coalitions of small, local groups to strengthen each organization, amplify impact, and ensure long-term sustainability.

  • Finance – Develop socially entrepreneurial business models to create alternative revenue streams for conservation initiatives.

  • Storytelling – Craft compelling stories to raise awareness, share accomplishments, and inspire greater ambition and action.

 

PARTNERS

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Amazon Conservation Team

The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) works in partnership with indigenous peoples of tropical South America in conserving the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest and the land rights and cultures of indigenous peoples.

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ASSOCIAÇÃO MICO-LEĀO-DOURADO

Associação Mico-Leāo-Dourado (AMLD) protects the Mata Atlântica in Brazil, focusing on the golden lion tamarin, an endangered species and key biodiversity indicator.

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Crowther Lab at ETH Zürich

Crowther Lab is an interdisciplinary scientific research group based at ETH Zürich pursuing a fundamental understanding of global-scale ecology to combat climate change and protect the earth’s biodiversity.

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DOB Ecology

DOB Ecology is a Dutch charitable foundation focused on conservation and restoration projects in forest and wetland ecosystems in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

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Fair trade certified

Fair Trade sets standards and certifies and labels products that protect the environment and promote sustainable livelihoods to empower low-income farmers, workers, and fishers in nearly 50 countries around the world.

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Fundación Jocotoco

Fundación Jocotoco protects the rich biodiversity of the Ecuadorian Chocó, the high Andes, and western Amazon, home to hundreds of rare and endangered species of bird, reptile, amphibian, plant, and mammal.

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Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve

The Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve spans three biodiversity hotspots in South Africa. GCBR conserves the region’s biodiversity and improves the well being of its communities.

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Parcs de Noé

Parcs de Noé is a French NGO managing three national parks in Africa – the Termit Tin-Toumma Reserve in Niger, the Binder Léré Wildlife Reserve in Chad, and Conkouati-Douli National Park in the Republic of Congo.

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RESERVA ECOLÓGICA DE GUAPIAÇU

Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu (REGUA) conserves the mega-biodiverse Mata Atlântica in Brazil, protecting and restoring land in the upper Guapiaçu watershed.

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Rewilding Argentina

Rewilding Argentina seeks to prevent species extinction and reverse environmental degradation, with the goal of restoring the functionality of ecosystems and the well-being of surrounding communities. 

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Third Millennium Alliance

Third Millennium Alliance protects the Jama-Coaque Reserve in Ecuador, home to more than 1,600 acres of tropical moist forest and premontane cloud forest in one of the last major remnants of Pacific Ecuadorian Forest.

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Wetlands International

Wetlands International is the only global organization dedicated to the conservation and restoration of wetlands. Wetlands International works toward a world where wetlands are treasured and nurtured for their beauty, the life they support, and the resources they provide.

People

Volcán Antisana, in the northern Andes in Ecuador. Photo by Scott Stone

Volcán Antisana, in the northern Andes in Ecuador. Photo by Scott Stone

Staff

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Scott Stone

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Scott is an attorney and conservationist. Prior to founding Lookfar, Scott co-founded S2C Pacific, a climate and conservation policy consulting firm, and is currently president of its successor firm, Glencoe Strategies. He also practiced environmental law at Hunton Andrews Kurth in Washington, DC, served as the Director of Global Environmental Initiatives for nContext, and worked as a policy analyst for the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.

Scott is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the National Park Trust and serves on the Board of Advisors to the Carbon Containment Lab at the Yale School of Environment. He formerly served on the board of the Jocotoco Conservation Foundation and the Technology Advisory Board of Fair Trade Certified.

Scott is a graduate of Northwestern University and Washington University School of Law. He lives in the Chicago area with his wife Julia, their two children, and the family dog Gus. 

Email        LinkedIn

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Marlies Quirino Cabrita

Chief Operating Officer

Marlies originally trained as a lawyer at Leiden University in the Netherlands and began her career practicing law in Amsterdam at a Dutch law firm. She then worked in the fashion industry, establishing and managing the marketing department for an internationally renowned fashion brand. She later immersed herself in the modern and contemporary art scene in New York City while working for a charitable foundation supporting upcoming artists.

Always passionate about the environment, Marlies now devotes her time and energy to biodiversity conservation and regenerative agriculture. She is a director and the president of the Jocotoco Conservation Foundation, a U.S. nonprofit organization that helps support the work of Fundación Jocotoco in Ecuador. She also advises Circular Investment, a Dutch impact investment firm.

Fluent in Dutch, English, and Portuguese, Marlies splits her time between the Netherlands and Portugal with her two dogs, Astor and Lucky.

Email        LinkedIn

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Ty Harper

Director of Partnerships

A graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School, Ty worked as a public defender representing clients at risk of losing their liberty and unable to afford counsel.

Ty also was a partner at the law firm DLA Piper, where he represented clients in the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and Thailand. Ty later served as the General Counsel of Edifecs, a healthcare technology company, and as outside counsel for a renewable energy manufacturer. Ty continues to advise small- and medium-sized businesses on a variety of legal matters. 

Ty spends as much time as possible outdoors, hiking, backpacking, and paddling across the Pacific Northwest. He is slowly improving at guitar and speaking Spanish. His dog, Mochi, is the best dog in the world.

Email        LinkedIn

Lucia Guaita

Director of Conservation

Lucia is an environmental sociologist with an MSc in International Development from Wageningen University. Over her career, she has worked internationally with foundations and nature conservation NGOs as a grant manager, knowledge coordinator, and communicator.

She is the co-author of Sustainable Nature Reserves: Guidelines for Privately Protected Area, a hands-on manual from practitioner to practitioner on how to create and manage nature reserves and co-hosts the podcast El Poder del Jaguar to share interdisciplinary perspectives on the role that jaguars play in indigenous, rural and urban societies in Latin American and on positive examples of coexistence.

Lucia lives between Italy and the Netherlands and enjoys spending her free time climbing mountains and learning about local cultures and foods.

Email        LinkedIn

 

INTERNS

 

AZ Ali

Conservation Fellow & GIS Developer

Quinn Harper

Conservation Fellow

 
 

Board of directors

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Bat-Sheva Guez

Director, Adventure Pants

Instagram        Twitter

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Ben Vickery

Staff Product Designer, Cash App

Instagram        Twitter 

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Lilian Pintea

Ph.D., Vice President, Conservation Science, The Jane Goodall Institute

LinkedIn

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Samina Bharmal

Sustainability Counsel, HP 

LinkedIn

 
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Willemijn Slingenberg-Verdegaal

Head of Climate Scenarios and Regulatory Solutions, MSCI, Inc.

LinkedIn

Julia Watkins

Author and Photographer, Simply Living Well, and Co-Founder, Lookfar Conservation

Instagram

 
 

Partnerships

Just outside the Tiriyó village of Kwamalasamutu in the northeastern Amazon in Suriname. Photo by Scott Stone

Just outside the Tiriyó village of Kwamalasamutu in the northeastern Amazon in Suriname. Photo by Scott Stone

 

LET'S WORK TOGETHER

Your contribution helps us help others. And we are glad to discuss specific projects and initiatives with prospective donors. 

Email us anytime.

Lookfar Conservation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible. 

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