Meet the teams accelerating adaptation
Yannick Wurm — Programme Director
The Accelerated Adaptation programme has selected its first cohort: teams working across trees, amphibians, pollinators, and the foundational plants of critical habitats — alongside teams dedicated to modelling, data validation, and governance.
Environmental pressures are now outpacing nature's ability to adapt. As a result, one in four assessed animals and plants are at risk of extinction within the next century.
Backed by up to £54m over four years, our Accelerated Adaptation programme will explore, in contained settings, whether the adaptation of wild species can be measurably and responsibly accelerated – from developing new defences against ash dieback and breeding drought-tolerant peat moss to shielding amphibians from chytrid fungus. Alongside exploring these techniques, teams will model the impacts of potential interventions, verify results independently, and research how interventions like these should be governed.
The first-order response to ecological degradation is not technological – reducing human-driven pressures on nature is essential. But if successful, these capabilities could add a genuine new option to our conservation toolkit.