Eurasian Wildlife and Peoples was founded in February 2024 as a U.S.-headquartered non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the interconnected web of life on our planet, reversing wildlife and habitat loss, and amplifying the voices and concerns of indigenous peoples and local communities across Eurasia.
Although the organization was established in February 2024, its history began several years before that. EWaP emerged from another Earth Island Institute initiative whose ability to fund and support programs and partners in the Russian Altai (The Altai Project) was becoming increasingly challenging and risky.
In 2023, the Altai Project celebrated 25 years of supporting conservation initiatives, wildlife research and indigenous peoples of Siberia. In July 2023, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office unreasonably assigned the project the status of an "undesirable organization".
Redefining its mission, shifting its geographic focus to Eurasia and becoming Eurasian Wildlife and Peoples, the organization continues to invest in partnerships in Kazakhstan and Ukraine and to explore new partnerships. Like its predecessor, EWaP is a project of the Earth Island Institute, whose financial oversight and close collaboration allows the small EWaP team to focus on their mission.
The Altai Project is our partner in the project “Endangered Raptor Conservation on the Indo-Palearctic Flyway of Kazakhstan” supported by CEPF.
More information about the activities of Eurasian Wildlife and Peoples can be found on the official website:
https://www.ewandp.org/