Legado offers a radical new approach for securing Thriving Futures for both people and the places they call home.

This work began in the mountains of Mozambique. In 2010, professional climber and social entrepreneur Majka Burhardt was sent a photo of a granite rock face in northern Mozambique. Majka’s curiosity about what was behind and beyond that rock face ultimately led to a May 2014 expedition with an international team of biologists, climbers, conservation workers, and filmmakers who collaborated in an exploration of Mozambique’s second highest peak, Mount Namuli. The expedition spent a month using rock climbing to access previously unexplored habitats and conducting cliffside scientific research while working with Namuli’s community members to understand their conservation priorities for their mountain ecosystem.

The 2014 expedition launched Legado and an enduring partnership with Namuli community members to support their priorities for their people and their mountain ecosystem. It also was the start of a joint program on Namuli with Mozambican conservation organization, LUPA.

Building off the partnerships forged with local communities and LUPA, today Legado is an international nonprofit that works alongside indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) in places important for biodiversity to ensure they have the tools, resources, and partnerships they need to design and implement solutions of their choosing that benefit both their communities and landscapes—an outcome we call Thriving Futures. We work to build a locally-led system for sustained collective action that fosters adaptability and resilience for meeting current and future challenges—such as those brought on by climate change. Our work revolves around legacy as an activator for individual and collective change.

Legado currently works in Kenya, Peru, and Mozambique and is expanding our partnerships and program areas yearly.