One of the most extensive grant benefactors, Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco, has initiated an ambitious project to preserve nesting sites of the critically endangered Petrel birds on San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos.

These are among the various projects receiving 2022’s last round of grants from Hurtigruten Foundation as the adventure travel company reiterates its promise to support initiatives in the areas it operates and urges more organisations to apply in the future. Every donation targets concrete, science-based local efforts to protect places and wildlife with urgent needs and secure a tangible, positive impact.”

Says Martin Schaefer, Fundación Jocotoco CEO, “Hurtigruten Foundation is helping Fundación Jocotoco to protect the critically endangered Galapagos Petrel and its threatened native forest”.

Aktiv i Friluft will reach the least accessible nooks, where cleaning requires more than a glove and a bag. Established its first bird reserve in 1998, the Ecuadorian organisation has established a well-deserved reputation for protecting the many precious birds. “We’re genuinely showing the global scope of our commitments with this latest round of grants, with projects spanning from Svalbard and Galapagos to mainland Norway, Alaska, and Antarctica.

It is a similar story on the Svalbard Arctic archipelago where Aktiv i Friluft is setting its beach cleaning effort in motion, Prosjekt Isfjorden. This is precisely the type of project we love to support, where funds are allocated towards ambitious, challenging, and necessary efforts.

It protects endangered birds in the Galapagos and does more beach cleaning on Svalbard. This is not the first time we’ve supported the organisation, and our renewed donations demonstrate our faith in their ability to get the job done.”. Isfjorden is one of Norway’s most prominent fjords, and Lund says the need to clean the fjord of litter has become ever more critical in recent years. Planting native trees restores the habitats this, and many other species depend upon.”

Managing Director of Hurtigruten Foundation, Henrik A. Lund, is proud of what has been achieved.

Hurtigruten Foundation has also awarded grants to six projects in this round.

·         Bruktikken Longyearbyen – a volunteer second-hand store on Svalbard.

·         Charles Darwin Foundation – population studies of the waved albatross in Galapagos.

·         Lofotrådet – ecosystem accounting in Lofoten, Norway.

·         Prince William Sound Science Center – study and prevention of plastic ingestion by migrant shorebirds, Alaska.

·         Tarevokterne – restoring kelp forests in Northern Norway.

·         Universidad de Los Andes – Engaging adventurer travellers in citizen science to study humpback whales and leopard seals in Antarctica.

Written by: Matthew Thomas

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