Conservation International

The work of Conservation International (CI) is based on cutting-edge science, comprehensive partnerships, and concern for human well-being. With these three principles guiding us, we safeguard valuable species, preserve the most important landscapes and seascapes, and support communities that care for and rely on Earth's natural resources. To reach these goals, we focus on three strategies: dedicating ourselves to innovation, raising awareness about conservation, and maintaining business-like effectiveness.

CI has identified areas of the world with the richest concentration of biodiversity, many providing home to plant and animal species found nowhere else. Most of CI’s activities are concentrated in areas we call biodiversity hotspots and wilderness areas. Our terrestrial and marine work in Australiasia focuses on a number of these areas of biodiversity significance, with the island of New Guinea as the epicenter where most of the Pacific’s biodiversity originated.

Of particular interest to divers is our work in the Bird’s Head Seascape, located in northwest Papua, Indonesia, stretching from Teluk Cenderawasih in its eastern reaches to the Raja Ampat archipelago in the west and the FakFak-Kaimana coastline to the south. Covering a combined area of over 180,000 km² and more than 2500 islands and submerged reefs, the Seascape is home to over 1,200 species of coral reef fishes and nearly 600 species of scleractinian hard coral (approximately 75 percent of the world’s total)—the highest coral reef biodiversity recorded for an area of this size anywhere in the world.