WCS has received a Cultural Innovation Fund grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to work on climate change issues directly related to Manhattan.The grant will support WCS efforts to build an online forum that allows the public to develop and share their own preferred climate-resilient designs for the city.

The new “Mannahatta 2409” website will enable New Yorkers to see how lifestyle changes can reduce their carbon footprint, reduce water use, and bolster biodiversity block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood. WCS has already developed the Mannahatta Project showing Manhattan 400 years ago; this work is now being extended across all five boroughs through the Weilikia Project.

“The Wildlife Conservation Society is grateful to the Rockefeller Foundation for supporting an initiative that is important to all New Yorkers,” said WCS President Steve Sanderson. “New York City will face real climate change challenges in the coming years. As New York's own global conservation organization, WCS can use this support to help public officials and all New Yorkers address and plan for a sustainable future.”

This WCS effort dovetails with other initiatives such as PlaNYC and the C40 Cities Initiative. These projects enable New York and other cities to proactively address environmental concerns. WCS works to understand how climate change affects landscapes and seascapes around the world.

The NYC Cultural Innovation Fund supports creativity and the arts, with an emphasis on innovation. The Foundation awards two-year grants, ranging from $50,000 to $250,000, for groundbreaking work that enriches the city's cultural life and strengthens the role that creativity will plan in the future of New York.