Non profit organization from Washington D.C., commited to protect the areas with the greatest biodiversity on the planet: the marine and land regions that harbor the major percentage of living species.

The non-governmental organization Conservation International has proposed since its foundation, in 1987, to act as an independent standard-bearer for the protection of the biodiversity of the planet, in danger due to the “self-destructive behavior of the human being”, in the words of one of the most influential personalities supporting the organization, the naturalist Edward O. Wilson.

The Conservation International staff of 900 employees work to carry out another of the conservationist proposals that has made the organization famous: the agreement with local non-governmental organizations and indigenous populations to implicate them in the conservation of the territories that need protection.

The work of the organization is carried out in more than 40 countries, mainly in the most disadvantaged zones of the planet, where the planet’s greatest biodiversity is concentrated: the equatorial zones of Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The organization’s statutes establish that “Conservation International’s mission is to conserve the Earth’s living natural heritage, our global biodiversity, and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature.”

To work in accordance with this mission, the organization has implicated businessmen, representatives of institutions recognized for their research and conservationist work, as well as scientists, writers and other intellectuals with a pre-eminent role in American culture.

Support of the business and civil societies

Among the members of the board of directors of Conservation International, they highlight the co-founder of Intel, Gordon Moore; the actor Harrison Ford; Queen Noor of Jordan; ex-CEO of Starbucks, Orin Smith; among other personalities.

The organization hosts conferences throughout the United States, supported by personalities such as Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond; renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs; journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas L. Friedman; and naturalist Edward O. Wilson.

• More information on the programs of Conservation International worldwide, in Wikipedia and on the organization’s official site.