• New High Seas Treaty

    Critical for Marine Species

    United Nations Agreement
  • Cop15: Over 190 Nations Agree to Halt

    and Reverse Biodiversity Loss

    Historic Deal for Nature Struck
  • One Million Species on the Brink

    Reports Reuters

    Extinction Crisis
  • Study Shows “Half-Earth” Doubles Gains for Orangutans

    Orangutan Biodiversity in Borneo
  • A Conversation in Celebration of Half-Earth Day 2022

    Our Shared Future
  • Wildlife Corridor Protection, Partnerships

    and Strategies at Half-Earth Day

    Saving America’s Biodiversity
  • Harvard’s Modern-day Darwin Warns

    Against Humanity’s Downward Slope

    E.O. Wilson (1929–2021)


E.O. WILSON'S TIMELESS MESSAGE SHARED

ON PBS SHOW: ECOSENSE FOR LIVING

Dr. Paula Ehrlich appears in EcoSense for Living on PBS.

Now you can watch the entire episode featuring commentary by Dr. Ehrlich and Dr. Wilson.
Happy Earth Day! We are proud to share with you a timeless message from the late E.O. Wilson to commemorate Earth Day, a global celebration of biodiversity, sustainability, and the conservation of our planet. Last year, Paula Ehrlich, CEO of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation provided her thoughts on the late E.O. Wilson's hopeful solution to the biodiversity extinction crisis on the Emmy-award winning PBS show EcoSense for Living. E.O. Wilson's commentary was drawn from the PBS film Of Ants and Men.
WATCH THE EPISODE


PROGRAMS: THE HALF-EARTH PROJECT®


“Unless we move quickly to protect global biodiversity, we will soon lose most of the species composing life on Earth.” —E.O. Wilson (1929–2021).

Threats to the natural world are multiplying.
Species are going extinct at an alarming rate.

There’s a solution. It’s called the Half-Earth Project®, the signature program of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. If we conserve half the land and sea, we can still safeguard the bulk of our planet’s biodiversity.

But what would Half-Earth look like? How would we get there?
EXPLORE THE HALF-EARTH PROJECT



NEWS




NEW HIGH SEAS TREATY

BREAKTHROUGH FOR MARINE SPECIES

New regulation of two-thirds of world oceans will improve biodiversity.


The High Seas Treaty is a critically important milestone for safeguarding marine biodiversity.

The Half-Earth Project is contributing to mapping biodiversity of the ocean and how well it is protected, and making it freely available to everyone.
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HOUDINI EARTH COLLECTION

BENEFITS BIODIVERSITY

Half of proceeds from Houdini Earth Collection will support Half-Earth Project.

The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation is proud to be the recipient of the 2023 Houdini Earth Collection campaign starting April 22nd, Earth Day. When you purchase a sportswear item from "The Earth Collection" Houdini pledges 50% for the planet. Half of all sales are donated to preserve the natural beauty of this planet and its people.
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SCIENCE OF HALF-EARTH PROJECT

ADOPTED AT COP15

New biodiversity indicators will support decisions for species.

"Now we must turn quickly, to taking action with the best available science so decision makers can identify and protect the land and waters that will save global biodiversity."
As part of the historic Kunming-Montreal agreement at COP15 countries also formally adopted three indicators as means to deliver critical measurements and area-based decision-support to protect biodiversity.

Combining a range of biodiversity observations, remote sensing, and models, the indicators address key questions for each of tens of thousands of species and for each year starting in 2001.
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SPECIES ON THE BRINK

Dr. Paula Ehrlich appears in Reuters report on biodiversity loss.

Extinction crisis puts 1 million species on the verge of disappearing
Reuters recently reported on the biodiversity extinction crisis. Dr. Paula Ehrlich, CEO and President, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation weighted in.

“Somewhere in the core of our humanity, we recognize these creatures, we’re touched by their story, and we feel compassion – and maybe also a moral compulsion – to help.”
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URGENCY OF EXTINCTION CRISIS EXPLAINED

Dr. Paula Ehrlich appears on Sustainability Defined podcast.

Listen to Paula Ehrlich, CEO & President, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation discuss the extinction crisis in the latest episode of Sustainability Defined.

The acclaimed podcast one of GreenBiz’s top sustainability podcasts. In a simple and easy-to-follow manner, Ehrlich lays out the urgency of the extinction crisis and how the scientific and conservation community can come together with realistic solutions to save biodiversity, the web of life.
LISTEN NOW.

STUDY SHOWS HALF-EARTH

DOUBLES GAINS FOR ORANGUTANS

A new study assesses what would happen to Bornean orangutans in the next decade under different management assumptions, including “Half-Earth.”

Hutan-Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme Scientific director Dr. Marc Ancrenaz commented in Borneo Echo, “The good news is that this analysis predicts that, if orangutan killing and habitat loss were stopped, orangutan populations could rebound and reach 148 per cent of their current size by 2122.”

Erik Meijaard, PhD, a study co-author and Director, Borneo Futures, sat down with Dennis Liu, VP Education, to discuss restoring orangutans and applying the Half-Earth principles in his work in Borneo.
Read More.

UNPRECEDENTED RESOLUTION

NEW TOOLS, FEATURES ADDED

TO BIODIVERSITY MAP

Update to Half-Earth Project Map - improved resolution with 1KM species richness, rarity layers, new carbon layer, marine data, new personalization tools.

The Half-Earth Project Map is announcing a host of new tools and features to show patterns of biodiversity, human impacts, and protected areas to reveal conservation opportunities.

A new carbon layer shows how to protect species and address climate change.
LEARN MORE


PAST EVENTS




OUR SHARED FUTURE

A CONVERSATION IN CELEBRATION OF

HALF-EARTH DAY 2022

HALF-EARTH DAY 2022

This live event at Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Baird Auditorium, in Washington, D.C. on October 13, featured Ani Dasgupta, President & CEO, WRI, James M. & Cathleen D. Stone Foundation Distinguished Lectureship in Biodiversity; Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, Ellen Stofan, Under Secretary for Science and Research at the Smithsonian, Paula J. Ehrlich, President & CEO, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, Co-founder of the Half-Earth Project, Elizabeth Gray, CEO, Audubon, Cristián Samper, Managing Director and Leader of Climate Solutions, Bezos Earth Fund, Jennifer Morris, CEO, The Nature Conservancy, Dawn Wright, Chief Scientist, Esri, Adams Cassinga, National Geographic Explorer, Lucas St. Clair, President, Elliotsville Foundation, Sean B. Carroll, Head of Studio, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, with Jeff Corwin, wildlife biologist and TV host, and more.

The day featured additional speakers and plenary discussions as we address area-based conservation approaches to the biodiversity extinction crisis.
WATCH OUR SHARED FUTURE


WATCH HIGHLIGHTS FROM

HALF-EARTH DAY 2022

OUR SHARED FUTURE

View highlights from the Opening Remarks featuring: Ellen Stofan, Under Secretary of Science and Research, Smithsonian Paula J. Ehrlich, President & CEO, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation Kirk Johnson, Sant Director, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History from Half-Earth Day 2022 in October.
WATCH HIGHLIGHTS


SAVING AMERICA'S BIODIVERSITY:

WILDLIFE CORRIDOR PROTECTION

PARTNERSHIPS, AND STRATEGIES

HALF-EARTH DAY 2022

Wildlands Network , E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, ARC Solutions, Endangered Species Coalition, International Fund for Animal Welfare, The Wilderness Society, in cooperation with hosts Representative Don Beyer (D-VA), and Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) held, “Saving America’s Biodiversity: Wildlife Corridor Protection, Partnerships and Strategies with Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.”

Panel discussions took place at U.S. Capitol featured Audubon, Wildpath, Esri, Yellowstone to Yukon Initiative, Hipcamp and more.
WATCH SAVING AMERICA'S BIODIVERSITY


REFLECTIONS OF FAITH

ON 30x30

Places and Voices of America The Beautiful

A special panel in honor of E.O. Wilson's birthday, join our discussion series on 30x30, biodiversity in the United States, and the pathways and people essential to protecting them, featuring:

Gary Paul Nabhan, ethnobotanist and author
Ruah Swennerfelt of the Transition Movement
James Lockman, horticulture expert, Franciscan brother, and restoration ecologist

For more information here.
WATCH THE WEBINAR


WHO WAS E.O. WILSON (1929–2021)?


Edward O. Wilson (1929–2021) was one of the leading scientists and among the foremost naturalists in the world.
Dr. Wilson was recognized in both science and literature, as a synthesizer in works stretching from pure biology across to the social sciences and humanities. Wilson was acknowledged as the creator of two scientific disciplines (island biogeography and sociobiology), three unifying concepts for science and the humanities jointly (biophilia, biodiversity studies, and consilience), and two major advances in global biodiversity conservation (the Encyclopedia of Life and Half-Earth.

He received the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Crafoord Prize (equivalent of the Nobel, for ecology) of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the International Prize of Biology of Japan; and in letters, two Pulitzer Prizes in non-fiction, the Nonino and Serono Prizes of Italy and COSMOS Prize of Japan. For his work in conservation, he received the Gold Medal of the Worldwide Fund for Nature and the Audubon Medal of the Audubon Society.

E.O. Wilson passed away on December, 26, 2021 in Burlington, Massachusetts. He was 92.
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MEET CHAMPIONS OF BIODIVERSITY




HONORING INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES


Our Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
“The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and its program, The Half-Earth Project, honors the wisdom of the traditional owners of the lands and waters we aim to protect and their ancient ways of seeing and experiencing nature. In the spirit of the oral tradition of the Blackfoot, we aim to honor ‘the flash of the firefly in the night, the breath of the buffalo in the wintertime, and the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.’ We aim to restore and protect life. We thank our Indigenous communities for their historic stewardship of life, their critical role in reaffirming and repairing our relationship with it and their present and future partnership.”

– Paula Ehrlich, President & CEO of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and Lead of the Half-Earth Project
DISCOVER INDIGENOUS HISTORY WHERE YOU LIVE


JUSTICE, EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION


The Half-Earth Project is calling on people everywhere to participate in a “moonshot” to care for our planet. Such efforts require broad collaboration across sectors and geographies and the contributions of diverse voices, perspectives, expertise and experience.

At the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, we acknowledge that centuries of racism, violence, discrimination and marginalization have obstructed participation of Black, Latinx, Indigenous and Asian people and communities of color in conservation globally. We acknowledge that barriers persist, despite the importance of these individuals and communities as both stakeholders and stewards, ones from whom the world has much to learn. Further, we recognize that the same people who have been systemically excluded from the process are disproportionately hurt by degraded air, lands and waters, perpetuating a cycle of harm and exclusion.

We commit to be part of breaking this cycle. We commit to prioritizing listening and taking clear steps externally and internally to combat racism and oppression of all types. We commit to working toward justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in our leadership, our programs, our strategic planning, our operations, our communications and our fundraising. We commit to creating a culture at the foundation that educates staff and stakeholders on the issues of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion and holds opportunity for traditionally excluded groups to join in processes, activities and decision-making. We welcome and encourage feedback along the way.

We commit to understanding that this body of work IS our work if we are to achieve the goal of Half-Earth and benefit all people and species.