Ecologists Without Borders

Ecologists Without Borders (EcoWB) partners with communities hit hardest by environmental and climate crises—connecting them with the skills, knowledge, and resources they need to protect and restore the ecosystems their lives depend on.

Around the world, environmental decline is a daily reality. It shows up as empty fishing nets, unsafe drinking water, failed harvests, flooding, wildfires, and disappearing forests and coastlines. When nature is damaged, the impact is immediate for both people and wildlife – species disappear, biodiversity is lost, families lose income, food becomes less secure, health risks grow, and poverty deepens.

These challenges hit hardest in places with the fewest resources to respond, especially where communities rely directly on healthy land, rivers, forests, and seas for survival.

Founded in Seattle in 2011 by three fisheries biologists from Washington State, EcoWB was created to help close that gap. What began as a local volunteer-led initiative has grown into a global network of more than 800 volunteers working alongside local partners on four continents across forests, coastlines, wetlands, and urban communities.

From protecting the forest home of critically endangered chimpanzees in Cameroon and restoring mangroves in El Salvador to supporting clean urban waterways in Kenya, EcoWB helps communities solve environmental problems in practical, lasting ways – protecting biodiversity while supporting the people whose lives and livelihoods depend on a healthy environment.