Post by Jeff on Jul 4, 2008 19:08:19 GMT -5
Mission:Conservation International (CI) believes that the Earth’s natural heritage must be maintained if future generations are to thrive spiritually, culturally and economically. CI is currently working on projects in more than 40 countries on four continents to protect global biodiversity and demonstrate that human societies can live harmoniously with nature. CI develops scientific, policy, and economic solutions to protect threatened natural ecosystems that are rich in biodiversity.
Geographic Focus: CI works in "hotspots" of biological diversity, areas distinguished by exceptional numbers of species and the imminent threat of destruction. CI protects tropical rain forests and other important ecosystems, such as wetlands, savannas, temperate rain forests, deserts and marine ecosystems.
Conservation International's Programs
The following examples illustrate how the sum of the parts of CI's strategy -- economics, community development and science -- form a comprehensive regional approach that produces tangible, lasting results.
Economics: CI strives to save the natural world by proving its economic value. Locally, CI helps people in the most threatened areas develop economically viable alternatives to ecosystem destruction. Nationally, CI helps decision-makers limit destructive resource use and encourage sustainable development. Internationally, CI finds innovative ways to fund conservation in countries where funding is desperately scarce.
CI pioneered the "debt-for-nature swap," a financial tool that eases the burden of debt and leverages local currency for conservation projects. Since CI's first swap in 1987, nearly $200 million in developing world debt has been exchanged in dozens of transactions, leveraging $150 million for conservation worldwide. CI remains the leading innovator in the field, recently completing the first deals involving the use of commercial debt, trade credits and Brady bonds.
Through CI's land mark Suriname Bio-prospecting Agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Government of Suriname, and the National Institutes of Health, the medicinal knowledge of indigenous peoples is helping to direct the search for new medicines. The Bio-prospecting Agreement is groundbreaking in that it recognizes, for the first time, the intellectual property rights of these cultures by guaranteeing them an equitable share of royalties from any new medicines developed through the investigation.
Geographic Focus: CI works in "hotspots" of biological diversity, areas distinguished by exceptional numbers of species and the imminent threat of destruction. CI protects tropical rain forests and other important ecosystems, such as wetlands, savannas, temperate rain forests, deserts and marine ecosystems.
Conservation International's Programs
The following examples illustrate how the sum of the parts of CI's strategy -- economics, community development and science -- form a comprehensive regional approach that produces tangible, lasting results.
Economics: CI strives to save the natural world by proving its economic value. Locally, CI helps people in the most threatened areas develop economically viable alternatives to ecosystem destruction. Nationally, CI helps decision-makers limit destructive resource use and encourage sustainable development. Internationally, CI finds innovative ways to fund conservation in countries where funding is desperately scarce.
CI pioneered the "debt-for-nature swap," a financial tool that eases the burden of debt and leverages local currency for conservation projects. Since CI's first swap in 1987, nearly $200 million in developing world debt has been exchanged in dozens of transactions, leveraging $150 million for conservation worldwide. CI remains the leading innovator in the field, recently completing the first deals involving the use of commercial debt, trade credits and Brady bonds.
Through CI's land mark Suriname Bio-prospecting Agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Government of Suriname, and the National Institutes of Health, the medicinal knowledge of indigenous peoples is helping to direct the search for new medicines. The Bio-prospecting Agreement is groundbreaking in that it recognizes, for the first time, the intellectual property rights of these cultures by guaranteeing them an equitable share of royalties from any new medicines developed through the investigation.