The WCS mission is to save wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. We envision a world in which people value and embrace the diversity of life, live sustainably with wildlife, and ensure the integrity of the natural world.Our programs build on our more than 100 years of experience and scientific and technical expertise across the globe.
Today WCS works with government partners, local and indigenous communities, and other partners in over 60 countries to help deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the specific targets. We are best positioned to help contribute to the 13 goals and 44 targets identified here. We have provided a few examples of our work on each of these goals and targets; please contact us at www.wcs.org for more information or other examples of our global work.
Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere
WCS works in 15 global regions that are home to 300 million people who are among the world's poorest, most isolated from markets, politically marginalized, directly dependent on natural resources, and last to receive social services. Our programs, in and around parks and protected areas, seek to sustain natural ecosystems and the stocks of flows of goods and services that provide the basic necessities for people's lives.
· Target 1.4: By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance
o WCS works to ensure that poor and vulnerable populations, especially indigenous and other traditional peoples, including forest-dwelling, riverine and coastal populations, have formal access to and management authority over the land, waters, and natural resources on which they depend, including those that provide food, shelter, and medicine. In Bolivia, for example, WCS supports indigenous organizations’ efforts to secure land and resources in traditional territories – to date securing land title to nearly 1.4m hectares. Today we help local people to manage resource access and use within Sustainable Development Reserves (Brazil), Communal Reserves (Peru), Indigenous reserves (Bolivia), First Nations Lands (Canada), Traditional and tribal lands (DR Congo, Cambodia, Guatemala, USA), Wildlife Management Areas (Tanzania and Zambia) and Locally-Managed Marine Areas (Belize, Melanesia, Indonesia, Western Indian Ocean).
· Target 1.5: By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters
o Conserving natural systems and the ecosystem services they generate is necessary to protect the livelihood security and resilience to environmental shocks of many of the most isolated, politically marginalized, and poorest people on the planet. WCS works to conserve coastal and terrestrial ecosystems, whose integrity helps reduce the exposure of poor, rural populations to climatic extremes, especially in countries facing the greatest risk. In Papua New Guinea, WCS works with local communities to restore and conserve mangroves and protect coral reefs – ecosystems that buffer the impacts of storms while providing the resources to support local livelihoods. In Rwanda, WCS works with government, communities, and local partners to protect the Nyungwe forest, securing reliable supplies of high quality water for drinking, agriculture, manufacturing and energy production. By stabilizing the forest’s steep slopes, the risk of landslides and flooding that threaten agriculture communities and businesses have been significantly reduced.
Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture
All WCS programs work diligently to conserve terrestrial wildlife and freshwater and coastal fisheries. These resources, if well managed, are essential for food security and can act as insurance to smooth consumption during economic, health and climatic shocks. In some countries, we support sustainable agriculture and coastal fisheries programs as a way to relieve the pressure on national protected areas.
· Target 2.1: By 2030 end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round
o By maintaining, protecting and restoring healthy terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, WCS is helping to ensure year-round food security for vulnerable people in countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, especially those societies isolated from markets whose diet relies on consumption of foods harvested from the wild. Throughout Central Africa, rural people harvest, eat and trade, over one million metric tons of bushmeat every year. WCS works across the region to promote sustainable use of this vital and valuable natural resource
· Target 2.3: By 2030 double the agricultural productivity and the incomes of small-scale food producers, particularly women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets, and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment
o WCS supports community-managed, sustainable businesses for agricultural products such as rice, maize, coffee and cacao that enable members,by partnering with financial services institutions to provide loans and business services, and by offering technical assistance to improve productivity, and value-added processing and access to markets to increase profit margins. In Zambia, WCS has trained and supported over 61,000 small farmers in adopting conservation agriculture practices and securing access to higher margin urban markets. In Cambodia, WCS has helped households to adopt wildlife-friendly certified, sustainable agriculture practices that increase their rice harvests, improve food security and generate higher profit margins.
· Target 2.4 by 2030 ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters, and that progressively improve land and soil quality.
o WCS works to maintain and improve the productivity of agriculture and fisheries while stewarding natural systems and maintaining the ecosystem services essential for the wellbeing of rural populations. The Amazon Waters Initiative integrates how fisheries, protected area and dam construction influences the food security of 20 million Amazonian residents who depend on fish as their primary food. In the Chaco and Pantanal grasslands of Bolivia and Brazil, WCS works with ranchers to improve cattle production while conserving natural ecosystems. In Cambodia and Zambia, WCS helps poor rural farmers to implement environmentally sustainable, value-added, agriculture practices. In the KAZA Transfrontier Conservation Area of southern Africa, across which Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe collaborate, WCS is working with governmental veterinary services, livestock farmers, the conservation community, and beef trade policymakers to modernize foot and mouth disease management policies so that the livestock and wildlife sectors benefit.
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Recognizing that public health can be a benefit provided by relatively unmodified ecosystems, WCS seeks to avoid potential public health costs associated with ecosystem alteration and degradation by improving understanding of how health depends on natural ecosystems, and by working with both local communities and national and international health and environment agencies, to design appropriate policies and ‘upstream’ interventions.
o Our work has shown that habitat degradation can heighten the transmission of communicable diseases. WCS is working to understand how avoiding deforestation of upstream areas in the islands of Fiji may reduce the downstream incidence of infectious diseases like typhoid; how forest loss and fragmentation in places like the Brazilian Amazon might be increasing the abundance and virulence of Anopheles mosquito vectors that carry malaria; and how alterations of the forest environment in tropical Africa might be related to Ebola virus disease emergence.
· Target 3.9: By 2030 substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water, and soil pollution and contamination
o Our work has shown that conservation of protected areas reduces levels of air, water and soil pollution that can harm health. For example, the WCS-led HEAL (Health & Ecosystems: Analysis of Linkages) consortium is helping quantify the health benefits of forest conservation by delineating the downwind effect of forest fires for land clearing on the incidence and severity of cardiorespiratory ailments in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Women are the primary users and traditional stewards of natural resources, possess unique knowledge on resource use and management, and thus can contribute significantly to the sustainability of resource use and to poverty alleviation. Recognizing this, WCS seeks to ensure that in our programs around the world, women are actively engaged in the planning and management of both terrestrial and aquatic natural resources, and have an equitable share in the benefits of sustainable management.
o WCS, in our programs around the world, supports indigenous, First Nations, traditional and local people to secure their rights to natural resources and to build the governance systems needed to manage their resources sustainably. A key to effective natural resource governance is the equitable engagement of women, and WCS seeks to ensure that women have an equal voice in natural resource use decisions and equal rights to benefit from natural resource use. The Isoso women of the Bolivian Chaco initially had no say in the operations of their indigenous organization – CABI. Today with the help of WCS, the organization is more gender balanced and women have an equitable voice in natural resource access and use decisions.
Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Recognizing that the availability and quality of fresh water influences the natural resource productivity and ecological health of rivers, lakes, wetlands, and downstream marine systems, WCS seeks to protect natural watersheds to maintain critical ecosystem processes and services.
· Target 6.1: By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
o Our work has shown that conserving forests and watershed areas maintains natural water filtration and provides local people as well as those downstream with access to safe, regular and reliable sources of affordable drinking water. The WCS-led HEAL consortium is addressing the role of watershed conservation in reducing diarrheal illness at a global scale.
Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
The unsustainable use of natural resources undercuts the livelihoods and job security of people who depend on those natural resources, and the illegal trade in wildlife, timber, forest products and fish resources corrupts the staff of public and private organizations and ultimately undermines the jobs that depend on the long term management and conservation of natural resources. WCS programs promote sustainability and legitimate use, and seek to create and shift jobs into legal occupations that conserve nature over the long-term.
o WCS supports the establishment of sustainable ecotourism enterprises which are integrated with local economies. These provide jobs and revenues to support local community initiatives, contribute funds for protected area management, educate visitors about the value of wildlife and wild lands, and are compatible with local social, cultural and conservation conditions. We work with tour operators and governments to promote these policies in many of the protected areas where we work around the world.
Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Infrastructure development (especially transportation, mining and hydroelectric power) frequently contributes to habitat degradation, ecological fragmentation, loss of natural resources, and ancillary impacts such as unsustainable hunting. WCS works with governments and private companies to promote smart, green infrastructure development that mitigates impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services through avoidance, minimization, offsets, and compensation.
· Target 9.1: develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and trans-border infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all.
o WCS promotes smart, green infrastructure through a planning process that considers expected impacts of projects, ascertains resource needs of impacted ecosystems and human communities, and identifies priority areas for conservation and the provision of ecosystem services. In Uganda, WCS has worked with petroleum companies to avoid and minimize impacts on biodiversity in the Queen Elizabeth NP. In northern Congo, WCS works with logging companies to site roads away from the Nouabale Ndoki NP and other ecologically sensitive areas.
Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
When urban residents are conscious of their relationship to nature, they can advocate for and sustain a city lifestyle that is more environmentally benign, and they come together as a powerful, highly visible, and readily heard constituency for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services at local, national and global levels. WCS supports the efforts of cities, including our home base of New York, to protect urban ecological systems and wildlife, build nature into the lives of city dwellers, plan for sustainable, resilient and equitable urban life, and minimize the “over the horizon” impact of urban consumption on biodiversity around the globe.
· Target 11.2: by 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons.
o WCS has contributed a vision of how car-dependent societies can move to alternative and more sustainable forms of urban land use, transportation and energy use.
· Target 11.4: strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage.
o WCS helps urban people understand and appreciate wildlife through the world’s largest system of urban zoological parks, including the world famous Bronx Zoo, through describing the pre-development ecological history of cities (e.g., the Mannahatta Project). WCS works with indigenous, First Nations, and traditional peoples to secure rights to their land which is the foundation of their cultural identities. In North America we are working with First Nation to bring bison, a cultural icon, back to their lands. WCS is also very active with the UNESCO-World Heritage Convention, and efforts of the Convention and its Parties to preserve the cultural and natural heritage of humanity; we work on the ground in 32 natural and mixed World Heritage sites, in close collaboration with national and local governments and local communities.
· Target 11.5: by 2030 significantly reduce the number of deaths, the number of affected people, and the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with the focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including through humanitarian assistance.
o WCS contributes to the resilience of local people to disasters by supporting participatory planning and resilience strategy deployment, and through research and public outreach about how nature responds to and overcomes disturbance. In New York City, WCS works with partners to assess how natural infrastructure such as barrier islands, oyster reefs and wetlands can help mitigate the impact of hurricanes. Around the world, we are maintaining and reinforcing the role that coral reefs and mangroves play in coastal protection.
· Target 11.6: by 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality, municipal and other waste management.
o All cities depend on the importation of water, food, fuel and other commodities. WCS conducts research on the environmental impact of “over the horizon” consumption by urban dwellers on the wildlife and ecosystem services in the places where these goods are produced. Helping urban families better understand the impact of their consumption patterns and choices has proven a powerful motivator for them to reduce their environmental footprint, and the aggregate impact of cities on biodiversity.
· Target 11.7: by 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, particularly for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities.
o Green space and natural environments within cities has a net positive impact on mental wellbeing, crime prevention and citizen safety. WCS works with the private and public sector in New York to develop nature goals for the city, and protects green space through its system of urban parks.
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Sustainable use of natural resources depends on balancing consumption (demand) with the ecological limits of natural resource production (supply). This requires governance systems that are perceived as legitimate, capable and fair. WCS through its programs around the world supports national and local efforts to manage the sustainable use of natural resources, especially wildlife, and both freshwater and marine fish.
· Target 12.2: by 2030 achieve sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
o WCS, in all of our programs, strives to ensure that off-take of natural resources is sustainable. This includes working with local communities to manage subsistence hunting and coastal fisheries to ensure sustainability, and to ensure that any commercial off-take is based on scientific evidence, well regulated, and sustainable. WCS works with commercial logging companies in the Republic of Congo to change their business practices to minimize the impact of timber extraction on wildlife populations and ecosystem services. In Bolivia, WCS is working with the Tacana indigenous people to implement management plans for the sustainable harvest and trade of spectacled caiman.
· Target 12.6: encourage companies, especially large and trans-national companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.
o WCS works with corporations and financial institutions to ensure that biodiversity conservation and the management of ecosystem services are included in company policies and practices, and that they have and use the tools to implement these new approaches.
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
WCS engages with national governments in all of the places where we work to understand the impact of climate change on natural systems and human land use, develop plans to help people and wild species adapt to climate change, and modify existing development and conservation policies and strategies to respond to present and future climate change.
o Target 13.1: strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate related hazards and natural disasters in all countries
WCS works to quantify the role forest and coastal ecosystems play in reducing risks from climate hazards, and integrating these roles into disaster risk reduction, environmental management and resilient development planning. In Papua New Guinea, WCS is working with government, local communities, and civil society to strengthen coastal resilience to extreme events. We do so by identifying where protecting coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves, can reduce risk, and managing those ecosystems to enhance resilience of local communities. In Rwanda, WCS identifies how forests regulate water supplies, and reduce flood and landslide risk, and works with communities and the government to protect these forests and sustain the vital ecosystem services they produce.
o Target 13.2: integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning
o WCS is committed to integrating climate adaptation into our planning and implementation with national and local authorities around the world. Globally we seek to understand and address how conserving and restoring forests, grasslands and coastal habitats can protect poor rural communities from extreme environmental events. In Ecuador, WCS works with communities along an altitudinal gradient from the high Andes to the lowland Amazon to condct climate-smart planning for resilient development. In Uganda, WCS is helping design climate resilient approaches to ecosystem management that both protect wildlife species and help secure the livelihoods of the rural poor.
o Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.
o WCS increases public awareness of the impact of climate change on local communities and the natural resources upon which they rely. In Papua New Guinea, WCS has created two climate change resource centers for use by educators, the public and school groups. The centers provide free curriculum materials, educational films, and teaching modules. In the United States, WCS leads regional climate adaptation trainings for both public agency managers and conservation practitioners.
Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
WCS is committed to improving the catch and sustainability of small-scale fishers operating in tropical developing countries, where biodiversity is highest and economies are highly dependent on healthy marine ecosystems. Today 90% of all fishers operate in small-scale coastal fisheries, live in developing countries, and are dependent for protein and livelihoods on a sustainable catch from the ocean, WCS aims to improve marine resource governance and the sustainability of coastal fisheries. WCS seeks to triple fish biomass because this will restore ecosystem health and fisheries production, significantly expand protection for critical habitat and species to protect at least 10% of the oceans in conditions approaching pristine, and improve the overall sustainability of coastal communities and the resilience of their livelihoods.
o WCS works to ensure habitat protection and sustainable land-use in watersheds upstream from critical coral and other coastal ecosystems where we work. WCS’ innovative ridge to reef approach was pioneered in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Madagascar.
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
In all 62 countries where WCS works diligently to conserve wildlife and wild places, biodiversity and ecosystem services, we do so with governments, indigenous peoples and local communities. We help establish and manage parks and protected areas, promote the sustainable use of forests and rangelands, and conduct research and public outreach on the most effective ways to protect, restore and sustainably use terrestrial ecosystems. Our core focus, and the heart of our expertise and experience globally, is working with partners on the ground in large, wild terrestrial and aquatic systems to conserve the full complement of native wildlife species and the vital ecological roles they play in maintaining healthy, productive and resilient ecosystems.
WCS works in close collaboration with government, local communities and the private sector, to prevent degradation of natural habitats and to conserve biodiversity in more than 60 large wild terrestrial areas across the globe. Between them, they include at least part of the ranges of more than 8,500 species, or 42% of all terrestrial vertebrate species. The entire known range of more than 100 threatened terrestrial vertebrate species occur in wild areas where WCS is active. We work to reduce multiple threats to at risk species and restore and maintain robust populations of wildlife that fulfill their important ecological roles. We strive to maintain the ecological range of iconic species that serve as flagships for safeguarding other species that shelter under their conservation canopy.
Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Conserving biodiversity and ensuring sustainable resource use depends on good governance and appropriate incentives to maintain the rule of law. Long-term sustainable management of natural resources is predicated on representative, democratic and transparent governance where the costs and benefits are distributed fairly. Recognizing this, WCS works closely with indigenous and traditional peoples, local authorities, national governments, and the international community to strengthen governance of natural areas and wild species, and regulate access to and use of protected areas, halt illegal harvesting of wild resources, and stop the illegal international trafficking and consumption of wild species.
o Through efforts to combat wildlife trafficking, WCS works with governments to strengthen their legislation to ensure that wildlife crime is a predicate offense that can be prosecuted under criminal statutes such as those against money laundering. We also work with various national governments and intergovernmental organizations to ensure that government agencies include illicit financial flows from wildlife trafficking in their analyses.
o WCS invests heavily in helping local communities, private sector companies, municipalities, and national governments to establish effective systems to govern access to and use of natural resources within their formal or customary jurisdictions. Such legitimate and accountable governance is essential for long-term, sustainable management and conservation of natural resources. In Bolivia, WCS has helped the Takana, Isoseño, Lecos and Tsimane-Mosetene peoples to establish strong governance systems for their TCOs (Tierras Communitarias de Origen), which promotes transparency and accountability in the communities’ exclusive use of their natural resources.