As Earth Month comes, The Walt Disney Company is sharing stories about conservation and sustainability from around the world. Disney is also helping foreign countries in difficult times by announcing support for 25 organizations across 16 countries through the Disney Conservation Fund. Since it started in 1995, the fund has invested over $141 million to protect wildlife and restore ecosystems globally.
For more than 30 years, the Disney Conservation Fund has supported conservation efforts by awarding grants and leveraging Disney’s resources to protect wildlife, restore ecosystems, and inspire action for our planet. This year, Disney is highlighting five new grant recipients. Their work aims to protect and restore over 120,000 square miles of habitat. That's nearly twice the size of Florida, showing the incredible scale of these projects.
Saving Elephants in Kenya
Save the Elephants is partnering with a community bordering Tsavo East National Park in Kenya to establish a Community Conservancy protecting a critical 12.5 square-mile corridor to enable elephants to move safely between protected areas including through a critical railway underpass. The African elephants guests encounter at Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park help bring the story of conservation to life, and honestly those powerful moments of connection extend far beyond Kilimanjaro Safaris through the Disney Conservation Fund.
The initiative will deliver tangible benefits to the local people including employment opportunities, livelihood programs and sustainable long-term human-elephant management strategies helping this community see the value of conserving their land for wildlife, which honestly is the smart way to do conservation because it has to benefit the people living there too.
Protecting Bats in Mexico and the U.S.
Bat Conservation International is helping protect threatened and endangered nectar-feeding bats across Mexico and the U.S. Southwest by restoring critical migratory pathways, and over the next two years the organization will plant nearly 140,000 native agave plants to create a connected “nectar corridor.” At Disney's Animal Kingdom guests can encounter flying foxes whose impressive wingspans and gentle movements often surprise people, and seeing these animals up close helps reveal that bats play a vital role in keeping ecosystems healthy as pollinators.
Saving Sharks in Florida
Ocean First Institute is advancing the conservation of great hammerhead sharks, one of the ocean's most iconic and critically endangered species, in the Florida Keys through research and education. Using tools such as satellite tagging and remote underwater video systems, the team is working to better understand the marine corridors these sharks use, and sharks often surprise guests when they see them up close at The Seas with Nemo & Friends at EPCOT, because, while sometimes misunderstood, sharks are graceful, powerful animals.
Monarch Butterflies in California
Monarch Joint Venture is restoring and connecting 15 miles of monarch butterfly habitat across important migratory routes in California's Bay Area and Central Valley over the next two years by distributing and installing approximately 6,000 native plants. During the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival, guests can encounter monarch butterflies at Butterfly Landing presented by AdventHealth, where hundreds of butterflies and educational displays illuminate their life cycle, and honestly, butterflies may be small, but their impact is anything but.
Cotton-Top Tamarins in Colombia
Proyecto Tití and Wildlife Conservation Network are extending protected areas for cotton-top tamarins by approximately 6 square miles which is an important step toward building a 20-mile regional forest corridor. In the wild cotton-top tamarins are among the most endangered primates on Earth, and at Disney's Animal Kingdom guests are often captivated by the size, charm, and energy of these tiny primates.
How You Can Help at Disney
Fun fact: Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park's birthday is on Earth Day, making April 22 a particularly meaningful day to visit. If Disney guests are looking to help the conservation fund, they should visit on Earth Day. If you can't visit on Earth Day, be sure to ask cast members at Animal Kingdom how you can contribute to the conservation fund and help save the planet, because cast members throughout the park can provide information about how to support conservation work, and honestly, it's worth asking them about it.
