Philippine bare-backed fruit bat (Dobsonia chapmani)

Mohamed bin Zayed Species project number 10251738

Bat Conservation International (BCI), based in Austin, Texas, USA is devoted to conservation, education, and research initiatives involving bats and the ecosystems they serve. It was founded in 1982, as scientists around the world became concerned that bats, essential to the balance of nature and human economies, were in alarming decline. BCI has achieved unprecedented progress by emphasizing sustainable uses of natural resources that benefit both bats and people. Currently employing a staff of 28 biologists, educators, and administrators, BCI is supported by members in 60 countries. Our pioneering accomplishments have been featured on all major news networks in the United States, international wildlife documentaries, and in numerous prestigious books, magazines, newspapers, and web sites worldwide, educating millions of people to appreciate bats as invaluable allies. BCI’s conservation efforts have resulted in permanent protection for a majority of North America's most important remaining bat caves, saved millions of bats from being accidentally buried during mine safety closures, and led to the establishment of the first national park in U.S. history to protect a tropical rain forest. BCI has sponsored research documenting the key roles of bats in major ecosystems, supported training for graduate students in 33 countries, and trained hundreds of international wildlife managers in bat management and conflict avoidance techniques. In almost 30 years, BCI has built considerable experience addressing conservation through national and international partnerships. BCI has multiple programs to conserve threatened and endangered bats around the world. BCI’s International Scholarship Program (with major funding from the US Forest Service International Programs) allows university students to undertake bat-related fieldwork around the globe. BCI’s Global Grassroots Fund has empowered homegrown conservationists and scientists to launch bat conservation projects. This venture allows us to have an impact over the largest possible service area because our Global Grassroots applicants are often working to protect bats and their habitats at locations so remote the sites are completely unknown and the bat colonies are not on any "inventory lists" for their species. We prefer to fund projects that focus on both habitat protection and on educating the local people about the ecological and economic value of bats. Thus far, the Global Grassroots Fund has contributed small, low-risk grants to over 70 individuals and nonprofit groups in 39 different countries. Through Global Grassroots, BCI provides training, supplies, equipment, and educational materials to further bat conservation initiatives. Since the 1990s, Bat Conservation International has engaged in programming with Bat Count Philippines, Cebu Biodiversity Conservation, Philippine Bat Conservation, the Philippine government, and many other academic and non-governmental organizations to initiate research, education, and conservation programs specifically for threatened and largely neglected bat habitats—limestone caves and their immediate surroundings. Since 2006, BCI has secured over $100,000 USD from 4 Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, the Beneficia Foundation and private donations and invested it in bat conservation in the Philippines.