Cambridge Conservation Initiative

The Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI) is a unique collaboration between the University of Cambridge and leading internationally focused biodiversity conservation organisations (including Fauna & Flora), clustered in and around Cambridge, UK.

The initiative brings together the largest group of conservation researchers and practitioners in the world and enables them to work together more effectively across a range of conservation activities, from research and education to policy and on-the-ground action.

The CCI partners created the initiative to promote greater strategic collaboration between conservationists, enabling us to tackle some of our planet’s most pressing threats in ways that would be difficult to achieve alone.

By joining together, CCI partners can complement their existing conservation activities with new approaches that transcend disciplines and allow us to tackle emerging challenges.

CCI is also uniquely placed to feed new thinking and training into worldwide conservation policy and practice through the partner conservation organisations and their networks. Similarly, the experience, knowledge and information from on-the-ground implementation of policy and practice is fed into CCI’s research and teaching through the MPhil in Conservation Leadership at the University of Cambridge.

Together in the David Attenborough Building

Fauna & Flora’s former Chief Executive, Mark Rose, was a key driving force behind the establishment of CCI, recognising early on the potential that such a collaboration could offer to those engaged in addressing some of the world’s greatest conservation challenges.

In 2016, following much consultation, planning and fundraising, an exciting new hub for CCI organisations was opened in the centre of Cambridge. Renamed in honour of one of Cambridge’s most distinguished alumni, the David Attenborough Building houses around 500 conservation academics, practitioners and experts, providing a vibrant space that encourages interaction and collaboration.

In 2017, an extra boost for CCI came in the form of a generous grant from Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. This US$10 million endowment provides greater financial security for the initiative, enabling CCI and its partner organisations to focus on scaling up collaboration and engaging others – especially those in business, government and civil society – in nature conservation.

Visit the CCI website