This Is My Earth

This Is My Earth (TiME)

Founded	2015
Website	https://this-is-my-earth.org/

This is My Earth (TiME) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving biodiversity by crowdfunding to help local conservation partners purchase land in biodiversity hotspots. In its first 10 years, TiME enabled the perpetual protection of over 14,000,000 square meters across 13 threatened habitats around the world by funding the transfer of land ownership to local and/or Indigenous communities, with land management by local/Indigenous conservation partners.

TiME's educational program teaches students about biodiversity, with curricula based on the habitats TiME is helping protect. In its first 10 years, the educational program reached nearly 4,000 students, from elementary school through university, in nearly 50 educational institutions in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and North America.

TiME was established in 2015 by Professor Uri Shanas of the University of Haifa at Oranim and Professor Alon Tal of Tel Aviv University. Shanas is TiME's CEO. This largely volunteer organization is advised by an international team of scientists, environmental activists, and educators on the Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Committee (see Governance section below). One hundred percent of donations made on TiME’s website are dedicated to the protection of threatened habitats and are democratically distributed to conservation partners. Every donor, regardless of the amount of their donation, has an equal say in which scientifically vetted conservation projects get supported through its annual crowdfunding campaign. The organization's goals are to preserve biodiversity hotspots and curb the Sixth Extinction, which is largely caused by human activities, and to educate the next generation about the importance of biodiversity and activism.

History

TiME was founded in 2015 by professors Uri Shanas and Alon Tal, both noted scholars and environmental activists. Shanas has been TiME’s CEO since then. In 2018, Tal left the organization to take up a political appointment that precluded his continued involvement.

TiME took advantage of the then-rising popularity of crowdfunding and increasing internet access worldwide to establish an organization in which even small donors can actively help protect biodiversity. TiME raised an initial US$35,515 on Indiegogo by August 13, 2015. Eight hundred and nineteen people from over 40 countries donated. This initial seed money was primarily used to build a website and fund the purchase of threatened habitat. In 2015, TiME also established a basic organizational infrastructure, registered as a nonprofit, recruited members for the Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Committee, and launched on social media. In its first year, TiME had over one thousand members.

Over its first 10 years, with the generous support of its members, donations to TiME led to the protection of more that 14 million square meters across 13 parcels of land in biodiversity hotspots located in seven countries and on three continents. Using funds provided by TiME, local conservation organizations and community groups purchased these parcels and continue to manage them to protect the land and its resident species.

TiME’s first campaign in 2016 led to the protection of the habitat of the Critically Endangered yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Oreonax flavicauda) in Pampa del Burro, Peru, in the heart of the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot. TiME raised US$30,000, which was then given as a grant for the purchase of 660,00 m² (163 acres) by the Yambrasbamba Campesino Community in La Esperanza, represented by Mr. Isidoro Lozano. The local NGO Asociación Neotropical Primate Conservation Peru helps the community protect the land.

In 2017, TiME raised funds that enabled the expansion of Sun Angel's Gardens reserve in the Peruvian Amazon. The reserve's biodiversity, including the Near Threatened royal sunangel hummingbird (Heliangelus regalis) and the Endangered white-bellied spider monkey (Ateles belzebuth), was particularly vulnerable to illegal loggers, hunters and squatters because of its horseshoe shape. TiME's grant of US$17,000 was given to the local Indigenous community of La Primavera via the local NGO Asociación Neotropical Primate Conservation Peru to acquire 6,660,000 m² (1,646 acres) inside the U-shape of the reserve, creating contiguous habitat and ensuring the protection of the land.

TiME's fundraising in 2018 resulted in a grant of US$30,000 to Turneffe Atoll Trust to acquire a 20,234 m² (5-acre) plot in Turneffe Atoll, Belize. Part of the Belize Barrier Reef, a global ecological hotspot for marine biodiversity, Turneffe Atoll faces numerous threats because of its close proximity to Belize City, especially unsustainable fishing practices, development and dredging, and the extraction of non-timber products. Some of the threatened species now protected in this habitat are the Critically Endangered hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) and the Vulnerable goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara).

Land in the threatened Tumbes–Chocó–Magdalena biodiversity hotspot in Colombia was protected through TiME's 2019 grant. The 580,000 m² (143-acre) plot costing US$70,000, expanded the El Silencio reserve, which is owned and managed by TiME's local partner, Fundación Biodiversa Colombia. The expanded reserve now preserves more habitat to protect threatened species like the Critically Endangered blue-billed curassow (Crax alberti) and the Critically Endangered brown spider monkey (Ateles hybridus), while increasing the reserve's financial sustainability by making it more attractive to tourists and researchers.

The year 2020 was a milestone for This is My Earth because it raised sufficient funds (nearly US$200,000) to give grants for the purchase of two plots of land in two very different biodiversity hotspots. TiME granted US$40,600 to purchase and protect 1,214,057 m² (300 acres) in Dakatcha Woodland, Kenya, part of the East African Coastal Forests biodiversity hotspot. Now protected is the Endangered Clarke's weaver (Ploceus golandi), which nests only in this particular part of the world, among other threatened species resident in the area. TiME's local partner for this project is Nature Kenya—the East Africa Natural History Society (EANHS), which owns and manages the land. TiME also gave a grant of US$148,373 for the purchase of 2,137,600 m² (528 acres) in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil to its local partner, Instituto Uiraçu, to expand the Serra Bonita Reserve. Among the threatened species now protected in Serra Bonita are the Critically Endangered buff-headed capuchin (Sapajus xanthosternos) and the Critically Endangered banded cotinga (Cotinga maculata), as well as predators that require larger territories, like the puma (Puma concolor) and the Vulnerable harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja).

In 2021, TiME raised funds to protect land in the iconic Maasai Mara ecosystem, which has the highest density of wildlife in Kenya. TiME's grant of US$87,767 to Wildlife Clubs of Kenya purchased 80,900 m² (20 acres) to preserve a critical migratory corridor and habitat for wildlife, including the Critically Endangered black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) and the Endangered Masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis spp. tippelskirchi).

This Is My Earth's eighth grant of US$50,000 in 2022 allowed for the purchase of the last large tract of Chocó lowland forest in Ecuador. This land purchase of 578,335 m² (143 acres) expanded the conservation area that TiME’s local partner, Fundación Jocotoco, owns and manages, creating a continuous habitat that rises from 50 m to 5,000 m above sea level and enables animals and plants to migrate to higher elevations as the climate changes. Among the threatened species protected in the Chocó forest are the Critically Endangered great green macaw (Ara ambiguus) and the Endangered brown-headed spider monkey (Ateles fusciceps), among other threatened species.

In 2023, TiME gave a grant of US$50,000 to purchase another conservation site in Ecuador, this time 538,149 m² (133 acres) in the unique upper tropical cloud forest and páramo grasslands. The grant allowed Fundación Jocotoco to expand its Tapichalaca Reserve, protecting many threatened species, including the Endangered jocotoco antpitta (Grallaria ridgelyi) and mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque). Preserving this land also enhanced ecological connectivity between two of Ecuador's national parks, Podocarpus and Yacurí.

TiME protected more threatened habitat in the most biologically diverse region in the world, the Tropical Andes biodiversity hotspot, in 2024. A grant of US$33,384 to TiME’s local partner, Asociación Neotropical Primate Conservation Peru, protected 275,000 m² (68 acres) at Peroles, Peru, adjacent to land TiME helped NPC Peru to acquire in 2016. This land purchase expanded the protected habitat of the Critically Endangered yellow-tailed woolly monkey, the Endangered Andean night monkey (Aotus miconax) and other threatened species.

In 2025, TiME was able to fund the purchase all three conservation sites proposed to members in its annual campaign. Spanning the globe, the three now-protected habitats include two in Colombia and one in the Philippines — the first threatened habitat TiME has protected in Asia. For two of the reserves, TiME is partnering with Indigenous communities: the Embera Chami in Cabildo Pada Kera, Colombia (with the help of Empulsive Ink) and the Higa-onon on Mount Sagyaan, Philippines, through their organization Tribes and Natures Defenders. TiME raised US$100,000 for a grant to acquire 882,800 m² (218 acres) in the Northwestern Andean montane forests of Colombia. Here, Cabildo Pada Kera will have a rights-of-nature legal structure — a fundamental departure from human ownership of land — in which the land has legal personhood, hence legal rights, and the previously dispossessed Embera Chami people are the land’s legal guardians. Among the threatened species in Cabildo Pada Kera that are now protected are the Endangered giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) and siren glassfrog (Nymphargus siren). TiME’s second land grant in 2025 of US$100,000 expanded by 1,071,000 m² (265 acres) Reserva Natural Los Magnolios in Colombia, owned and managed by its local partner SalvaMontes. The expansion preserves an essential wildlife corridor for threatened and endemic species such as the Critically Endangered Handley’s slender opossum (Marmosops handleyi) and Vulnerable red-bellied grackle (Hypopyrrhus pyrohypogaster).  It also protects a recently discovered population of the Critically Endangered orchid Dracula lemurella. Completing the trifecta of 2025 grants, in the Philippines TiME gave US$55,000 to Tribes and Natures Defenders to acquire and manage 500,000 m² (124 acres) of the Higa-onon people’s sacred forest. The land on Mount Sagyaan will protect numerous species including the Critically Endangered Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), the national bird of the Philippines.

Ecosystem services evaluation

Protecting biodiversity hotspots appears to be a very good investment.  A recent study by Gavish et al. (2027) based on five conservation sites purchased with TiME grants showed that every dollar donated to TiME for the conservation of the five sites provided an average of $288 in added value (the net value of the land purchase minus the value of an alternative, non-conservation use of the land) through ecosystem services.  Due to the many speculative values relating to the evaluation of ecosystem services, this study is particularly useful as a potential tool to compare and prioritize land for conservation based on their ecosystem services.

Fundraising

TiME raises funds in two different ways for two different purposes:

Procedure for land conservation

TiME allocates its funds for land-purchase grants democratically based on the relative number of votes by TiME’s donors the candidate conservation sites receive in each year’s fundraising campaign. Once a conservation site reaches the amount requested, it receives the funds to purchase the land.

Education

This is My Earth has developed an educational program available free to educators for students at primary-, middle-, and high-school and post-secondary learning levels. Curricula are posted on TiME’s website and include level-appropriate activities to teach students about biodiversity and conservation using the candidate sites on the website to engage students in real-life conservation decisions. A free course for educators was offered through the European SchoolNet Academy to learn how to teach TiME’s curricula. As of 2026, TiME’s curricula have been used by close to 4,000 students in nearly 50 institutions across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and North America. 

Governance

TiME is led by an international team of scientists, environmental leaders and advocates representing every continent, all working to save biodiversity through the conservation of critical habitats around the world.

References

External links

• TiME official website
• Great talks on Biodiversity