BCI’S Agave Restoration Initiative Nominated for Global Earthshot Prize

03.03.26

Austin, TX (March 3, 2026) – Bat Conservation International’s (BCI) Agave Restoration Initiative has been singled out from thousands of environmental solutions worldwide with a nomination for the 2026 Earthshot Prize, one of the planet’s most prestigious awards for scalable climate and nature breakthroughs. The nomination recognizes a rare success story in which migratory endangered pollinating bats, agave ecosystems, and rural communities and landowners all benefit from the same landscape scale restoration initiative.​  

Launched in 2020, The Earthshot Prize backs solutions that pair urgency with optimism—initiatives already cutting emissions, protecting nature, and strengthening communities, but ready to scale much further by 2030. Each year, Earthshot Prize nominators elevate organizations and initiatives from around the world with official nomination, making nomination itself a significant international endorsement. This year’s nomination of the Agave Restoration Initiative places BCI and its partners among a select group of innovators positioned to help “repair the planet” in this decisive window for climate and biodiversity.​ 

BCI’s Agave Restoration Initiative was nominated by Conservation Optimism, a global conservation network based at the University of Oxford that champions evidence-based stories of environmental progress. By putting forward the Agave Restoration Initiative, Conservation Optimism is signaling that a migratory bat-focused, community-driven approach to restoring agave landscapes across a bi-national corridor is not just a local conservation win, but a landscape-scale restoration model that could be replicated for migratory species worldwide.​ 

The Agave Restoration Initiative brings together conservation scientists, local communities and private landowners, Tribes, government agencies, environmental NGOs, agave growers, and industry partners across Mexico and the Southwest United States to restore agave corridors that are critical for threatened migratory bats such as the endangered Mexican long-nosed bat. By implementing land restoration and creating large-scale agave restoration supply chains, the initiative helps secure food and income for rural producers and communities while protecting a keystone resource for bats in arid and semiarid ecosystems.​nosed bat. By arid ecosystems.​ 

“We are deeply honored by this Earthshot Prize nomination, which recognizes the extraordinary collaboration behind restoring agave landscapes across an entire bi-national migratory corridor,” says Kristen Lear, PhD, BCI’s Director of the Agave Restoration Initiative. “It affirms that investing in the people, places, and habitats that sustain migratory wildlife like bats can create resilient ecosystems and stronger futures for communities.”  

The initiative’s reach and impact are already being recognized. It was recently featured in BBC StoryWorks’ “Living Legacy” series in an interactive article that follows the extraordinary migration of the Mexican long-nosed bat and the communities restoring agave corridors along its route, bringing this hopeful conservation narrative to global audiences. The initiative is now also part of the UN Decade Ecosystem Restoration Hub, underscoring its contribution to global restoration and biodiversity goals. Additional media coverage includes BBC News, Science Friday, Smithsonian Magazine, and Snap x Re:wild “Planet Rewild” series. The initiative has also received several awards, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Recovery Champions Award.  

For BCI and partners, the Earthshot Prize nomination underscores the power of cross border partnerships, Indigenous and local knowledge, and science-based restoration to address intertwined biodiversity and social challenges. As the initiative expands, BCI plans to restore additional agave habitat, support additional communities and landowners in sustainable land management and businesses, and strengthen monitoring of bat populations along key migratory routes, while sharing lessons with communities and initiatives addressing landscape-scale restoration challenges for migratory species in other regions. As the initiative expands, BCI plans to restore additional agave habitat, ​border partnerships, Indigenous and local knowledge, and science-based restoration to address intertwined biodiversity and social challenges. 

About Bat Conservation International 
Bat Conservation International (BCI) exists to prevent bat extinctions and to secure a future where bats, people, and ecosystems thrive together. To learn more visit batcon.org. 

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