This is an extraordinary moment for our planet. Economic development has the potential to lift so many out of poverty, but too often it also places a burden on our one shared home.

Today, the world is beginning to understand that we must properly value the essential services nature provides if we are going to create a sustainable development path that will benefit all people for generations to come.

Now, Conservation International is seizing this unprecedented opportunity to set an ambitious agenda.

Our scientists, field staff and policy experts are: measuring the contribution of healthy ecosystems to human well-being; assessing the implications of development decisions;  putting cutting-edge, rigorously tested information in the hands of decision-makers and the public; and demonstrating through field models how economic opportunity and the stewardship of natural resources can leverage change at an international scale.

In order to have the most impact as quickly and effectively as possible, we will focus both marine and land-based efforts on:

• working to secure a stable global climate
• understanding and protecting the sources and flows of fresh water
• ensuring nature’s ability to provide food for human needs
• minimizing environmental pressures on human health
• valuing the role of nature in human cultures
• safeguarding the unknown and as-yet-undiscovered option values that nature provides.

The challenges of our day are great, but they are not insurmountable. At Conservation International, we aim to transform our greatest challenges into the greatest opportunity of our time.