H.S.H. Prince Max von und zu Liechtenstein
Chairman, LGT Group
Vaduz, Liechtenstein
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Chairman of LGT Group and Lightrock. Champion of biodiversity and ecosystem investment.
Mission 02Active
Closing the Gap
Where guardians of nature meet the capital backing them.
The technology, science, capital, and Indigenous wisdom needed to stop further destruction already exist — the connections between them are missing. Closing the Gap is a network of 100 people uniting the world's key backers and changemakers in biodiversity across disciplines — CEOs of NGOs and nature tech companies, Managing Directors of family offices, world-leading scientists & researchers, Indigenous leaders, and philanthropic donors. We forge the missing links across people who can tangibly move the needle in a meaningful way: by turning Moonshot Missions for Mother Nature into deployable solutions.
// What it does
Cross-disciplinary systems thinking for planetary scale problems.
Systems-level framing
We treat environmental crime, finance, policy, and frontline defense as one interconnected system — and design interventions at its leverage points, not its symptoms.
The right people, one table
Guardians, indigenous leaders, scientists, operators, and aligned investors convened around shared problems — with the mandate and mix to actually move.
Cross discipline by design
Field intelligence, technology, law, finance, and storytelling brought together so solutions hold up across every dimension of a planetary-scale problem.
Prototype to deployment
Working sessions translate complex system problems into testable prototypes, then into solutions deployed in the field with sustained operational support.
100
People in the network
Cross discipline
Field, science, tech, capital
Right people
At the same table
Planetary
Scale of the problem we address
// How it works
Deployable solutions at planetary scale - in hours, not months.
- STEP 01
Map the system
Surface the structure of the problem with the people closest to it — guardians, scientists, and operators.
- STEP 02
Convene
Bring the right disciplines and the right capital to the table around shared leverage points.
- STEP 03
Prototype
Collaboratively build deployable solutions across disciplines in tight iteration loops.
- STEP 04
Deploy
Roll prototypes into the field with sustained operational and financial backing.
// The Network
A network of 100 people closing the gap.
Aligning leaders across disciplines
Indigenous
Scientists
Investors
Philanthropic Donors
Entrepreneurs
NGOs
A selection of the leaders that make up our Closing the Gap network:
Rhett Ayers Butler
Founder & CEO, Mongabay
Menlo Park, USA
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Award-winning journalist and founder of Mongabay, a leading environmental news platform. Recipient of the 2022 Heinz Award for the Environment.
Capt. Peter Hammarstedt
Chief Campaigns Officer, Sea Shepherd Global
Los Angeles, USA
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Active captain at sea protecting our oceans. Recipient of the Winsome Constance Kindness Gold Medal.
Prof. Maja Göpel
Political economist & sustainability scientist
Berlin, Germany
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Political economist and transformation researcher. Bestselling author.
Dr. Frauke Fischer
Founder, agentur auf!
Frankfurt, Germany
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German tropical biologist, biodiversity expert, lecturer at the University of Würzburg, entrepreneur and author of 'Can A.I. Save Nature'.
Matt Portman
Founder & CEO, Symbiotic Projects
Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Angel investor and conservationist supporting nature-based projects in tropical regions.
Marianne Kleiberg
Europe Lead, The Nature Conservancy
Berlin, Germany
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Over 25 years' experience with TNC, leading the implementation of conservation projects.
Kevin Webb
Co-Founder & Managing Director, Superorganism
New York City, USA
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Co-founded the first VC fund dedicated to biodiversity, backing founders building the tools and markets to reverse species loss.
Stefanie Lang
Executive Director, Legacy Landscapes Fund
Berlin, Germany
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Directing a global fund for the long-term protection of outstanding conservation areas.
Thomas Crowther, PhD
Professor of Ecology, ETH Zurich · Founder, Restor
Zurich, Switzerland
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Professor of Ecology at ETH Zurich and founder of Restor, a geospatial platform powering ecosystem restoration worldwide.
Andrea Crosta
Founder & Executive Director, Earth League International
Los Angeles, USA
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Environmental crime intelligence expert with 15+ years directing elite investigative operations against wildlife trafficking and organised environmental crime across four continents.
Ilona Szabó de Carvalho
President & Co-Founder, Igarapé Institute
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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President of an Amazon-focused think-and-do tank dedicated to climate and human security.
Waihiri Yanomami
Indigenous Leader, Yanomami Territory
Roraima, Brazil
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Yanomami indigenous leader advocating for the protection of ancestral territories and the rights of Amazonian peoples.