Where does Biosphere Expeditions go from here? A manifesto for a troubled planet.

Change is upon us, with climate upheaval now locked in. The fossil fuel industry and other corporate interests - driven by the hypercapitalist fallacy of endless growth on a finite planet and the insatiable principle of profit above everything – have successfully captured democratic, political and intergovernmental processes to sabotage meaningful actions to preserve a stable climate, biodiversity and civilisation as we know it today. Hypercapitalism and society in its current form have no viable pathway left into the future. Whether profound change will arrive through AI taking over, violent revolution, societal disruption or collapse, or an orderly transition is unknown and remains to be seen.

Despite all our efforts, Biosphere Expeditions and countless other organisations and people have failed to prevent this. This is an enormous source of grief for me, but there is solace in admitting it, embracing our dire reality and taking appropriate action. The question then becomes what Biosphere Expeditions as an organisation, and the collection of people who define it, can do in this unprecedented crisis: how can we continue meaningfully in a world in upheaval, and within what timeframe?

The Club of Rome as early as the 1970s predicted impressively accurately that climate upheaval would commence in earnest in the mid-2020s, if humanity failed to change course. The Club also projected societal unravelling to commence in the 2040s. We did not change course; instead we turbo-charged consumption and consumerism, while we allowed ourselves to be placated by performative hope, corporate lies and fig-leafing. Biosphere Expeditions was not an innocent bystander in this, but no more.

This manifesto sets out Biosphere Expeditions’ path ahead. None of this is a PR stunt, fake news, alarmist or a media gimmick; it is deadly serious, matching the gravity of humanity's situation.

The overarching purpose of all this is to create, extend and empower resilient local networks so that they can protect or rebuild refugia wherever possible after the upheavals, which I believe lie ahead.

Far from being a gloomy exercise this provides profound meaning and integrity to our conservation work going forward. It grants executive leaders, professional and citizen scientists, as well as our partners the confidence that their hard work is not merely a symbolic gesture in a losing battle, but a targeted intervention that gives functional ecosystems a fighting chance to make it through the global transition period we have entered.

Theory

• Pivot to triage: When confronted with systemic decline, I believe that Biosphere Expeditions’ role must evolve from trying to "save the planet" via conservation research or policy advocacy to targeted acts of triage and stewardship. We will therefore continue field science – not to stop overarching collapse, for that is now impossible – but to record scientific baselines, monitor environmental changes objectively and preserve ecological knowledge that future societies will need to rebuild intelligently.
• Focus on refugia]: Rather than assuming all ecosystems can be protected or restored to historical baselines, I believe that we must pivot from false hope to refuge creation. We will therefore focus on identifying, monitoring and defending climate-resilient ecological refugia, namely critical pockets of biodiversity with the highest probability of surviving systemic shocks.
• Empower local guardians and de-colonise: As centralised infrastructure and global supply chains face breaking points, it is my belief that local networks will become primary vehicles for survival and mutual aid. We will therefore continue to use our resources to empower indigenous groups and local communities directly tied to the land to manage and protect their biomes.
• Combat greenwashing and lies: On an additional level, I want to leverage Biosphere Expeditions’ established reputation for radical transparency to reject and combat corporate-style greenwashing, lies or false hope. I want Biosphere Expeditions to create spaces for ecological grief and honesty. I believe that by speaking unvarnished truths about the state of our biosphere instead of propagating comforting illusions, we can free people from the paralysis of denial in order to channel our collective energy into meaningful, grounded action.
• Create an Island of Coherence: Through all of the above, I want Biosphere Expeditions to become an Island of Coherence that will provide leadership in an increasingly chaotic and insane world. Biosphere Expeditions must become a sanctuary where people can ground themselves in reality, mourn ecological loss, and find strength, solidarity and authentic purpose in the face of a daunting and uncertain future.

Practice

• Abolish false hope in all communications: Biosphere Expeditions has never engaged in hollow optimism. However, given the situation, we will carefully review all our communications by October 2027 and remove any language suggesting that things can still be turned around, saved, etc. I will also write a book with my daughter Liesl, our head of communications, about all I touch upon in this Manifesto, in the hope that it will provide explanations, guidance and a sane and truthful voice for some in a chaotic and increasingly unpredictable era.
• Evolve expeditions into hubs of resilience: Biosphere Expeditions will continue expeditions in their current form for as long as feasible, adapting as needed and possible. In addition to our core activity of wildlife conservation, we will now also seek to create small, resilient networks of people united by common goals and aspirations such as the creation and conservation of human community and dignity, as well as the right of wild fauna, flora and places to exist and thrive on a beleaguered planet.
• Establish an exit strategy, emergency support and asset-disbursement protocol: Biosphere Expeditions will seek to empower and make resilient its staff, local partners and helpers, and community at large. Biosphere Expeditions will also create an exit strategy so that once global supply chains and international air travel contract, making continued operations untenable, we can execute an orderly shutdown and disburse assets to benefit those within our network in most need in the coming upheavals.
• Digitise and archive regional field data offline: Biosphere Expeditions will package all historical ecological datasets, maps and field guides into secure, offline, hard-drive-based archives and distribute physical copies directly to our local field partners and indigenous communities so they retain permanent, self-reliant access to baseline science even if the internet or central databases collapse.
• Repurpose expedition gear for community survival: Biosphere Expeditions will pre-position, store or locally reallocate rugged field equipment we already own (such as tents, water filters, solar panels and off-road navigation tools) so that when an expedition finishes in a given region, those assets remain behind as practical emergency supplies for our local field teams and hosts.
• Strip commercialism and step up network-building: Biosphere Expeditions has never had a policy of growth and will now also purge the last vestiges of commercialism and corporate structure from how it operates. We have already started with this through the July 2026 change to our Terms & Conditions and will finish the job by October 2027. By freeing our expeditions from all consumer/provider dynamics and transforming them into joint undertakings of consenting adults pursuing the goals above, they will become acts of ecological stewardship and bearing witness, preparing local people and biomes for what lies ahead.
• Open-source our playbook and exit strategy: Once clear strategies have been developed, Biosphere Expeditions will consider publishing its operational manuals and internal protocols openly so that others can replicate our transition model, asset-disbursement framework and survival networks without having to reinvent the wheel.
• Align mission and policies: We have aligned our mission, as well as social, economic, flight carbon and sponsorship policies with the above. Our food and equipment policies were already aligned and did not need to change.

These actions cut through the noise of collapse and decline, bringing focus, honesty and purpose to everything we do from now on. Volunteering with Biosphere Expeditions thus becomes an act of active nature stewardship, moral clarity, strategic courage and empowerment. 

I am deeply grateful to anyone who will join us in this endeavour while we still have time.

Matthias Hammer
CEO
Biosphere Expeditions

The main themes of the manifesto are developed in the forthcoming book "MUSINGS ON THE BRINK - The Failure of Conservation and the End of a Stable Biosphere – what it Means for Humanity and Conservation Organisations such as Biosphere Expeditions".