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Biodiversity

About This Collection

Biodiversity refers to the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. It is necessary for life to thrive on Earth.

Aldo Leopold, one of the great thinkers of conservation, observed more than half a century ago the importance of protecting species. "To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering," he wrote. Losing species is like throwing away one by one the engine parts of an airplane while flying.

Biodiversity is a major initiative of Conservation International.

Biodiversity conservation provides substantial benefits to meet immediate human needs, such as those for clean, consistent water flows; protection from floods and storms; and a stable climate. 

Curated by mokiethecat

Thank You for Standing With Us in 2025
December 31, 2025
For the Center for Biological Diversity, 2025 was fast, furious, and successful — so much so that President Donald Trump and far-right members of the U.S. House of Representatives hit us with multiple “investigations” and attacks to intimidate us and slow us down. It didn’t work. On Jan. 20, the day Trump was inaugurated for a second term, we filed our first lawsuit against the new regime’s cascade of illegalities … and our suits have continued at a breakneck pace. We’ve filed 65 so far — targeting DOGE’s destructive rampage; climate-killing fossil fuels; the despoilment of forests, wetlands, and oceans; the broad approvals of poisonous chemicals; and the building of the infamous “Alligator Alcatraz” prison in the delicate Florida Everglades. We fought to defend rivers from slaughterhouse pollution and to expose the abandonment of marginalized farmers and local food production. We even sued to stop Trump from branding national parks passes with a closeup of his face, as though these precious places were a golf-course franchise. We stood up to the corruption of right-wing Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee, whose shady dealings are imperiling the stunning Boundary Waters Wilderness in Minnesota and Point Reyes National Seashore in California — along with the Canada lynx, gray wolves, northern long-eared bats, and tule elk who depend on them. As always, we’re grateful for your faith in us. And we can promise there’ll be more hard-fought battles and victories in 2026.