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CI achieves success in specific places and then scales up those successes for broad-level impact.
Field programs are where we demonstrate that economic and social development must rely on the preservation of natural ecosystems. They are central to demonstrating that social and economic benefits do not need to come at the expense of nature. Rather, nature is fundamentally essential to future prosperity. For example, in Brazil we are demonstrating that strategic management of marine areas can benefit local fishermen and provide a tourism attraction upon which the local economy is built. We are also demonstrating this in Madagascar by using carbon markets to support local efforts to conserve tropical forests. These efforts are significant because they are using science to inform natural resource decisions, which in turn are translated into tangible benefits for people.
Field-level successes are amplified through influencing policies, engaging markets and increasing awareness and knowledge. For instance, we are using field-level results in Guatemala to advocate for improved national protected area policy frameworks. We are also working with a premium bottled water corporation in Fiji to develop sustainable financing for tropical forest conservation and provide benefits for local people.
How we choose where to work
CI develops field demonstrations in specific geographies where the relationship among healthy ecosystems, ecosystem services and human well-being can be maximized. The approaches implemented in these areas are informed by cutting-edge science, and the results benefit people. Worldwide, CI is working directly in 31 countries and supporting work through partners in 40 additional countries.
Through targeted investments, CI and a network of partners demonstrate that preserving natural ecosystems and biodiversity is vital to successful sustainable development. We do this by showing how environmental policy and governance, innovative market and incentive mechanisms for protecting biodiversity and engaged civil society groups are essential for sustainable social and economic development.
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Our scientists, economists, communicators, and educators are working in more than 40 countries around the globe. Since one place is clearly different from the next, we're not out there alone.
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Using cutting-edge methods, we pinpoint specific regions overflowing with biological value where people, plants, and animals are desperately in need of conservation action. We focus on places where each dollar we spend will do the most good.
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Conservation International implements field programs that demonstrate how conserving and valuing nature results in positive impacts for people. Field programs provide lessons, insights and successes that are scaled-up and amplified through innovative policies, new economic opportunities, capacity building and communication efforts.
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Twenty years of field study in some of the least-known wildernesses left on Earth have led to many of the most remarkable biological discoveries of the past two decades, and helped communities, businesses, and nations make smarter development decisions about land and water use.