At the World Economic Forum’s Nature Lunch in Davos on 22 January 2026, the Wyss Academy for Nature awarded its CHF 15,000 grant to EarthAcre during Innovate 4 Nature’s I4N Award Ceremony, advancing nature-positive value chains for regenerative local economies through measurable outcomes and fair benefit sharing.

Innovate 4 Nature convened the broader awards program highlighting nature-positive innovation across sectors. As Dr. Barbara Dubach, Executive Director of Innovate 4 Nature, notes, “The 2025 winners demonstrate how nature-positive innovation can translate into scalable and impactful solutions across sectors—from food systems and materials to biodiversity and the built environment. Announcing the winners at the World Economic Forum underscores the increasing relevance of nature in shaping resilient economies.”

EarthAcre, the Wyss Academy for Nature Grant winner, is a Kenya-based platform that measures nature outcomes and enables direct, traceable payments to landowners and households for stewardship. By linking verified biodiversity results to local incentives, it aims to reward long-term care of land and support livelihoods.

“The Wyss Academy for Nature is proud to sponsor a CHF 15,000 grant on nature-positive value chains for regenerative local economies. This grant supports early-stage solutions that strengthen ecosystems, promote regenerative livelihoods, and create scalable, locally embedded economic opportunities through benefit sharing. We congratulate EarthAcre, whose innovative approach quantifies nature outcomes and enables direct cash payments to individual landowners, an approach that aligns very well with our mission,” says Dr. Peter Messerli, Director of the Wyss Academy for Nature.

Extending this focus to stewardship and systemic change, Matthias Schmid-Huberty, Chief of Operations at the Wyss Academy for Nature, added during the handover in Davos: "This grant is more than a prize. It is an invitation: to learn together, to share knowledge and shape action, and to explore how ventures like EarthAcre can drive the systemic, just transformations our planet urgently needs."

This grant sits close to how we work: testing ideas in specific places, measuring what changes, and sharing what we learn. In practical terms, EarthAcre offers a live case to examine how verified outcomes can trigger fair, transparent payments; how benefit-sharing rules and safeguards are designed; and how incentives align with governance and livelihoods in real landscapes. Our thanks to Innovate 4 Nature for convening this ceremony.