Colossal Foundation and IUCN Launch $4 Million Push to Fight the Global Extinction Crisis

The fight against extinction is getting a major new investment and some powerful new technological tools.

The IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC), one of the world’s most influential and far-reaching conservation networks, is partnering with the Colossal Foundation on $4 million initiative to accelerate species conservation worldwide.

The collaboration brings together the SSC’s network of more than 11,000 conservation experts across 210 groups in 186 countries with the Colossal ecosystem's technology and scientific expertise. The goal is ambitious: improve how quickly scientists can assess at-risk species, direct resources to overlooked animals and plants, and explore how emerging technologies can responsibly support conservation action.

“The Species Survival Commission has spent more than seventy years building the scientific foundation the world relies on to understand which species are in trouble and why,” Vivek Menon, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, said. “What we have often lacked is the capacity to move at the speed the crisis demands.”

Menon added that the partnership could give the network “access to tools and resources that can help us assess faster, plan better, and act sooner.”

Few organizations carry as much weight in global conservation as the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Its IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is widely regarded as the world’s most comprehensive resource for tracking species conservation status.

More than 175,900 species have been assessed, with over 49,500 currently considered threatened with extinction. But those numbers also highlight an enormous challenge: much of the planet’s biodiversity still hasn't been evaluated.

The new partnership intends to help close that gap.

Colossal’s expertise includes genome sequencing, gene editing, biobanking, artificial intelligence, and assisted reproductive technologies. SSC experts will examine how emerging technologies can be responsibly applied to actual conservation challenges, while IUCN maintains its scientific independence and existing standards.

That combination can bridge cutting-edge biotechnology and the thousands of conservation experts working directly with vulnerable species.

The partnership isn't solely about technology.

A new grants program will support species that historically receive less conservation funding and attention, potentially including fungi, plants, invertebrates, fish and reptiles. Funding will also strengthen the SSC network and support a global campaign to improve public understanding of biodiversity and species restoration.

The agreement builds on an existing relationship between the organizations. The Colossal Foundation has supported Reverse the Red, a global species-recovery coalition co-chaired by the IUCN SSC and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, as well as conservation initiatives involving Asian elephants and Samoa's critically endangered manumea.

Colossal has also drawn worldwide attention for applying advanced genetic technologies to de-extinction research, including its work involving the dire wolf. That work has helped fuel an expanded conversation about how emerging biotechnology might be used not only to restore lost traits or species, but also to protect animals that remain at risk today.

“Extinction prevention is a race against time, and the people closest to threatened species should have access to every responsible tool that can help them win that race,” Matt James, Executive Director of the Colossal Foundation, said.

For an extinction crisis measured in disappearing species, the partnership represents something increasingly valuable: conservation expertise, funding and emerging technology working together at a global scale.