BAKU, Azerbaijan (November 15, 2024)—Rio Tinto has committed $16 million to the Makira Natural Park REDD+ Project in northern Madagascar, through a new partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Everland. This commitment complements Rio Tinto’s investment in nature-based solutions in the south-east of the country.   The Makira Natural Park REDD+ Project encompasses 372,000 hectares of dense primary forest. One of the largest remaining rainforests in the...

Cali, Colombia, Oct. 31, 2024 – It is imperative that governments meeting here at the UN’s Biodiversity Conference take action ensuring an alignment of the world’s biodiversity and climate agendas. More than 190 governments are working toward a consensus-based COP decision to reaffirm the interlinkages between the crises of biodiversity loss and climate change and call for greater action from governments. This could include greater cooperation between UN policy fora des...

New York, Oct. 15, 2024 – The interlinked global crises of biodiversity loss, climate change, and threats to human and wildlife health are continuing to accelerate, posing existential threats to biodiversity and human well-being and undermining efforts to implement the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Maintaining and improving ecological integrity–ecosystem structure, function, and composition–is central to addressing all these crises, and the importance of ecological integ...

New York City Climate Week is held annually in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly. Climate change is already reshaping our world. Nature can serve as an essential part of the solution. These are the key messages WCS is sharing this week. Climate Change is Changing Everything The world has underestimated the extent to which climate change is already reshaping our world. The latest models also show the future impacts of climate change hitting far harder, far ...

NEW YORK, NY (May 21, 2024) -- To meet the imperative of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework target, which seeks to protect at least 30 percent of the planet by 2030, researchers in an essay in PLOS Biology argue that “conservation areas need to be large enough to encompass functioning ecosystems and their associated biodiversity, and located in areas of high ecological integrity.” These priority areas, which the authors call “Nature’s Str...

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 17, 2024—The following statement was issued on behalf of WCS's Luthando Dziba: Miombo woodlands are the world’s expansive dryland forest, spanning over 1.9 million km2 across more than eight countries within the greater Zambezi Basin. This extensive area plays a crucial role in global climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development efforts. More than 250 million people live in Miombo areas, and the v...

Dubai, Dec. 13, 2023 – The following statement was released by WCS President and CEO Monica Medina upon the conclusion of the UN Climate Conference: “The countries of the world leave COP28 in Dubai with a consensus to transition away from fossil fuels, and in a world full of conflict, that is progress. This consensus may mark the beginning of the end of the road for fossil fuels. But we are gravely concerned that it does not take us far enough or fast...

Dubai, Dec. 9, 2023 -- The following statement was issued today as ministers at the UN Climate Conference, COP28, signed a watershed “Joint Statement on Climate, Nature and People.” The joint statement was launched by the UAE UNFCC COP28 Presidency and the People’s Republic of China CBD Presidency. The statement calls for adopting a synergetic approach, aligning national climate and biodiversity plans and strategies, to support the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-M...

Dubai, Dec. 4, 2023 -- Recognizing the importance of ecological integrity to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services, including climate regulation, the Government of the Republic of Congo, represented by the Ministry of Forest Economy, and WCS have initiated a new program to attract investment in the conservation of high-integrity tropical forests. This joint commitment to developing pilot investment projects in high-integrity forests is demonstrated by the signing of a Memorandum of...

NEW YORK, November 28, 2023 -- The following statement was issued today by the Wildlife Conservation Society: Second only to reducing fossil fuel consumption, protection of carbon stocks in natural forests and other ecosystems represents the most viable strategy available to mitigate climate change at scale. Protecting carbon-rich ecosystems also provides extensive benefits to biodiversity and the local communities reliant on forest resources. High-integrity climate finance projects remain an...