Annual Report 2025
Letter to our stakeholders
What we accomplished in 2025. And where we are going.
In 2025, the Wyss Academy entered a period of strategic refinement—building on the achievements of its first five years, taking forward lessons from the previous year’s evaluation, and preparing the next phase through focused planning—while continuing its daily work at full speed.
Quick overview
Weaving a tapestry of evidence and practice
The early years of the Wyss Academy were about setting up the conditions to learn fast in real places—building teams, partnerships, and developing solutions that bring science and practice together. In 2025, the work shifted from adding more threads to strengthening the weave. It has shown us that change rarely comes from a single project or a single discipline. Instead, it comes from the fabric created when evidence is credible, institutions are engaged, and communities can shape decisions that affect land use, livelihoods, and well-being.
Solutionscapes 6
Active Projects 60
Publications 59
Our real-world labs for systemic change
The Wyss Academy’s unique approach—known as the Solutionscape approach—is designed to tackle complex challenges that affect both people and nature, such as environmental degradation and competition for resources between wildlife and local communities. By focusing on local priorities and maintaining a global perspective, the approach brings together Indigenous Peoples, local communities, governments, scientists, and businesses to co-create and test real-world solutions. Discover the five key elements that make this approach effective.
Impact Stories
Where the threads meet the ground
Change at scale begins with change in specific places and often with specific people. These impact stories follow some of those moments across our Solutionscapes, from a farmer in northeastern Madagascar who used a community digital center to redesign his plow and double his rice harvest, to a farmer in the Peruvian Amazon whose shift toward agroforestry is now generating evidence that others can build on. Behind each of them is a longer story worth exploring.
Impact StoriesImpact Stories
Youth-Led Tree Nurseries Driving Livelihoods and Restoration in Gambella
Impact StoriesImpact Stories
Paving the Way for Wildlife Care: Elephant Rescue Within and Beyond the Solutionscape
Impact StoriesImpact Stories
Passive Irrigation and Soil Protection – New Pathways for Agriculture in the Grosses Moos
Selected Highlights
Two Years of Environmental Education in Laos: It truly does take a village
Project Update December 17, 2025
When the first co-design meeting took place in Nam Tien, Xayabury, back in November 2023, no one could have predicted how the journey would transform schools, teachers, and communities. Over the past two years, one lesson has become crystal clear: it truly takes a village to cultivate environmental education. In our case, it took diverse stakeholders coming together with a shared purpose.
When communities are empowered rangelands restoration progress is faster—and the knowledge stays
Project Update December 16, 2025
Reflections from FLARE: “The climate agenda is facing its most fragile moment”—Manuel Pulgar-Vidal
News December 10, 2025
Throughout the conference, we shared interdisciplinary research findings and practical lessons from our work in Madre de Dios—guided by our vision Healthy Forests for Wellbeing, which aims to strengthen forests and improve the lives of the communities who depend on them. Our researchers contributed to several key sessions, including: Toward a Territorial Research Agenda for Madre de Dios: Mapping Gaps and Aligning Priorities, Armando Valdés-Velásquez, Gabriela Wiederkehr-Guerra, and Miguel Saravia. From Formalization to Diversification: Rethinking Land Governance for Farming Systems in the Peruvian Amazon, Elena Borasino, Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel, and Armando Valdés-Velásquez. How Can We Promote More Just and Accountable Governance of Forest Landscapes? Lessons from Indigenous Territorial Governance Models in the Peruvian Amazon, led by Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel and Meredith Castro Ríos, with discussants from FENAMAD, AIDESEP, and Peru’s Ministry of Environment. Towards Relational Engagement: Lessons from the Wyss Academy Dialogues with Purpose on the True Value of Forest, Svitlana Lavrenciuc, Armando Valdés-Velásquez, and Tatjana von Steiger. Making Sense of the Complex Relations between Land-Use Change, Ecosystem Services, and Human Well-Being in Tropical Forest Frontiers, Julie G. Zähringer Measuring Social and Human Well-Being in PES Projects: A Standardized Approach, Dominique Schmid and Marieke van der Zon. Across these sessions, the Wyss Academy team highlighted how science, policy, and local knowledge can be bridged to co-design solutions that strengthen both ecosystems and livelihoods, building pathways for transformation rooted in territorial realities.
COP30 in Belém: Science, policy, and practice for the Amazon and beyond
News December 4, 2025
From 10–21 November 2025, COP30 convened in Belém, Brazil, long discussed for its gateway-to-the-Amazon setting and for what it might mean for moving from pledges to implementation. On this occasion, the Wyss Academy for Nature hosted two discussions at the Goeldi Museum, bringing science, policy, and practice into the same room to examine how place-based approaches can link forests, risk, and local economies, so that commitments become workable programs for people and nature. The sessions reflected long-term commitments in the South American Solutionscape: co-creating grounded insights with partners, strengthening governance, and advancing equitable pathways that protect biodiversity and livelihoods. Alongside the formal negotiations, the Goeldi Museum’s off-site setting offered more room for informal exchange. As talks intensified, these parallel gatherings became practical forums to compare methods, discuss early results, and explore partnership ideas. Hosting our sessions at the museum, where the Swiss Pavilion was also based, brought discussions closer to day-to-day realities. The venue helped participants ground policy questions in lived experience and practical constraints. This setting kept the focus on how policies meet practice in specific places, and on the evidence needed to make choices, fund them, and adapt as results come in.
Lecture recording | From Insight to Impact–Transforming Systems for Nature and People
News November 10, 2025
Climate change, biodiversity loss, and the rise of inequality and conflict make one thing unmistakably clear: profound transformation is not optional. The only question is whether it will happen by disaster—or by design. In his lecture at Novartis Campus on October 30, Professor Peter Messerli, Director of the Wyss Academy, explored how just and equitable transformations can safeguard both people and the planet. Drawing on research and concrete examples from the Wyss Academy's work in Kenya, Madagascar, Switzerland, and Peru, he demonstrated how insights can be transformed into impact by bridging science, policy, and practice. “Science is key for achieving just transformation”, he said. “And lasting transformation happens when science listens to local communities.”The lecture was followed by an inspiring conversation – moderated by Nelly Riggenbach, Director Brand Experience at Novartis - , with Hansjörg Wyss, whose recently published biography The Art of Impact underscores how visionary action can shape the world we live in, Korab Zuka, Chief Sustainability Officer at Novartis, and Peter Messerli.A heartfelt thank you to the team of Novartis Campus Lectures for hosting this event!
Start project phase "Living Sustainability—Practical Approaches to Transformation"
Project Update November 5, 2025
The nature parks project has entered a new phase! Under the title “Living Sustainability – Practical Approaches to Transformation” (NAPAT), the three regional nature parks Chasseral, Diemtigtal and Gantrisch are developing and testing innovative approaches aimed at initiating positive changes in the areas of identification with nature, value chains and biodiversity. A special focus is on participation as well as strengthening commitment and action competencies for sustainable behavior.The work builds on the previous project phase "Nature Park Stations in Bernese Parks" (2020-2024).
Completion of the project phase "Nature Park Stations in Bernese Parks"
Project Update October 31, 2025
The project phase Nature Park Stations in Bernese Parks (NAPAS) has been concluded successfully. As part of this project, the regional nature parks of Diemtigtal, Gantrisch, and Chasseral focused on developing and testing new solutions to meet the needs of tourism while protecting natural resources. Educational offerings on topics such as biodiversity, conservation and use of natural resources, and sustainable development were combined with experiences in nature, making sustainability tangible and accessible to park residents and visitors. Initiatives were developed to help disseminate information, raise awareness about the needs of nature, and guide visitors in sensitive natural areas. New, sustainable tourism services were established, promoting innovation and added value creation in the park regions. A research project investigated the extent to which park visitors are aware of existing rules meant to protect wildlife, plants, and sensitive habitats; how well they understand the significance of these rules for nature; and how they assess the impact of their own behavior on the environment. The findings provide a basis for the three regional nature parks to further develop their visitor management strategies and to better tailor their awareness-raising efforts to different target groups. Implementation of the various interventions and measures was monitored and evaluated by the research team. In addition, the researchers reviewed promising innovations from other local and global contexts and adapted them for implementation in the Bernese parks.In collaboration with: Office for Municipalities and Spatial Planning of the Canton of Bern (AGR)
Summary of findings: listening to the forest
Project Update October 21, 2025
Dialogues enabled co-learning and knowledge sharing through facilitated interactions, peer exchange, and iterative reflection. Collaborative mapping, collective sense-making, and knowledge hybridization were recurrent practices. However, tensions emerged where scientific framings dominated, leading to epistemic translation rather than genuine integration. Collective agency emerged through joint decision-making and narrative ownership. In some regions, participants described newfound confidence to advocate for forest governance reforms. Constraints included entrenched institutional hierarchies and lack of post-dialogue continuity. Dialogues partially reconfigured power through deliberate inclusion, agenda co-design, and equitable facilitation. Yet, subtle dynamics persisted: who spoke first, who framed problems, and how time was allocated often reflected pre-existing hierarchies. Participants noted progress in representation but cautioned that inclusion did not always translate to influence. Participants frequently described being influenced by hearing situated experiences of others. Dialogues catalyzed shifts in perception, empathy, and interdependence, particularly when storytelling and grounded examples were used. This influence was strongest when power differentials were acknowledged rather than neutralized. Emerging outcomes included trust-building, initiation of cross-sector collaborations, and continuity of engagement beyond the event. However, relational durability varied: in some cases, connections dissolved due to institutional inertia or project-based timeframes. Where follow-up mechanisms existed, relational gains were sustained.
How the Kachelitwa Community is leading rangeland restoration in Kenya's Baringo County
Project Update October 16, 2025
However, in early 2024, new partnerships brought renewed energy to Kachelitwa . Thanks to engagement with the neighboring Mukutan Conservancy, the Kachelitwa community—long uncertain about their options—realized that solutions for some of their most pressing problems were within reach through joint efforts. With support from Mukutan Conservancy, the Wyss Academy for Nature, Green Earth Warriors, and JustDiggit, experts joined the community to assess the damage in the most affected sites and design practical and cost-effective solutions. A 10-acre demonstration plot was identified as the testing ground for restoration methods before scaling up across the wider landscape.
Training Young Farmers in Mahalevona: Cultivating opportunities through digital learning
Project Update October 9, 2025
From September 3 to 10, 2025, the Mahalevona Valley witnessed something entirely new: a digital marketing training program tailored for its young farmers. Working together, Youth First, the Full Circle Initiative of the Wyss Academy for Nature, and the Laboratoire de Recherches Appliquées launched the program with a clear purpose: to equip these agri-entrepreneurs with practical skills to market their products and reach new markets using digital tools.During the week-long training, under the guidance of Rebecca Andrianarisandy and Narindra Andriamiarana, participants learned the basics of digital marketing—creating appealing product listings, taking photos, and posting their first ads on Facebook Marketplace. For many, it was their very first step into the digital world, and seeing their work appear online marked a momentous shift in perspective.
