CI's science, policy and field work focuses on protecting and maintaining the health of the species, habitats and ecosystems that are the building blocks of a healthy planet. Without thriving ecosystems, we cannot guarantee a stable climate, accessible fresh water and sufficient food, limited threats to human health, rich cultural diversity and the innumerable unknown benefits that nature provides.
CI focuses on these key areas of human needs because they illustrate the deep links between humanity and nature, maximize the impact of CI’s experience and expertise, and demonstrate the importance of taking a coordinated local, regional and global approach.
No single initiative stands alone. CI seeks to address all of these efforts simultaneously and transform our greatest challenges into the greatest opportunity of our time.
Current science indicates that at our present trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, the global climate is in jeopardy of catastrophic impacts and continued shifts affecting humans, animals, plants and ecosystems, meeting or surpassing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s worst-case scenarios.
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In all its forms, water shapes and nourishes life on Earth. Human communities and the world’s unique biodiversity both depend on clean, secure sources of fresh water.
However, less than one percent of the Earth’s fresh water flows freely, and burgeoning human populations are making unsustainable demands on this vital resource. Demand for fresh water is already outstripping supply in many regions around the world.
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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines food security as a "situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life."
CI's new Food Security Program explicitly addresses the challenge of food security. We work at both the field and policy level to demonstrate that ecosystem health is essential to long-term food security and to promote sustainable livelihoods where agricultural production and resource conservation positively reinforce each other.
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Globally, more than 50 percent of modern medicines and more than 90 percent of traditional medicines come from wild plants and animals. More than 70,000 plant species are used as medicine, making up "one of the most significant ways in which humans directly reap benefits provided by biodiversity," according to the United Nations Environment Programme. Many of the leads for treatments of cancer, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer's, diabetes and many other life-threatening diseases are coming from the marine ecosystems in coral reefs.
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CI has protected the ecosystems and biodiversity that underpin cultural services for many years. Our work within the Indigenous and Traditional Peoples Program has built a broad range of partnerships, as well as strengthened CI's own understanding of the links between culture, human rights, security issues and conservation.
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Biodiversity conservation provides substantial benefits to meet immediate human needs, such as those for clean, consistent water flows; protection from floods and storms; and a stable climate.
But how can we ensure that these benefits remain available for future generations? Will we discover new ways to benefit from nature’s services? And can biodiversity continue to provide solutions to our most pressing problems, even as these problems change over time?
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