About Us:
Project Peril is a new program of GreaterGood.org to protect the world’s most threatened species. Whether tall like a giraffe or small like a bee, all life deserves a fighting chance in a world increasingly threatened by human influences. Project Peril identifies these key species on the brink of extinction and helps fund groups doing the best work to save these species around the world.
Our Interconnected Planet
There are perhaps more than 10 million species that exist on Earth, of which only about 1.6 million have been identified. Humans are just one of these species. These plants and animals coexist in an interconnected web of life, each one depending to some extent on another for its survival. This could be plants producing oxygen through photosynthesis, bees pollinating a flower, antelope eating grasses, and cheetahs eating antelopes. The beautiful diversity of species is what makes our planet unique, and why it is so imperative to save it.
The stakes are even higher when assessing the impact of keystone species, which play a unique and crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions, or evolutionarily distinct species, which have few or no close relatives. These are species like the jaguar, which regulates population with over 87 species of prey, or the pangolin, a ‘scaly anteater’ with only eight living relatives. Without these species, the ecosystem could cease to function correctly, and whole branches on the tree of life could be lost forever.
Photo © jar [o]
The Crisis
Over the past half billion years, there have been five catastrophic events which completely devastated the diversity of life on earth, the so-called ‘Big Five’. Today, the diversity of life is plummeting so rapidly that we are verging on a new, ‘Sixth Extinction’. This extinction, however, is unique: never before has one species been capable of altering the planet and its inhabitants on such a vast scale. This man-made extinction, caused by a toxic mixture of hunting, habitat fragmentation, introduction of invasive species, local pollution and climate change, is making an irreversible dent in the disappearance of species throughout the world, dramatically altering life as we know it.
Methodology
Project Peril is committed to protecting keystone and evolutionarily distinct species threatened with extinction, and in doing so, protecting planet Earth. Project Peril species are facing imminent threats to their existence, listed as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List. Animals selected come from a diverse range of countries and continents, and face a vast range of threats, particularly threats stemming from human impact. These species are also representative of the greater species they belong to.
Project Peril partners with organizations which share our vision to address biodiversity threats holistically, addressing some of the many threats to wildlife, including habitat loss, invasive species, population, pollution, and over-hunting.
