Thank you!

During the past year, your support has enabled Conservation International to protect people, species and landscapes across the world. As we look toward a new year, we know that many challenges remain before us, but that by working together we can turn the environmental tide for our families, our children and the irreplaceable biological diversity that makes our world complete.

IN DEPTH: Much of CI's work is accomplished with help from local communities. Learn about some of these unique partnerships.

High-impact activities in 2008 include:

• Established 22 new conservation agreements , covering two million acres. Conservation agreements offer local people concrete benefits—improvements in health, education and economic opportunity—in return for conserving landscapes that deliver natural benefits like fresh air, clean water and plentiful foods.
• Assisted in the creation of 78 new protected areas on land covering a total of 6.6 million acres. These protected areas are rich in biological, social, and spiritual value. They are places where people, plants, and animals benefit from robust ecosystems. Every dollar invested in protected areas is carefully targeted to do the most good.
• Helped create the world’s largest marine park . The new Phoenix Island Protected area encompasses an ocean area the size of California in one of the richest marine areas in the world. The new protected area covers 158,495 square miles of ocean near the island nation of Kiribati, and encompasses a coral archipelago, two submerged reef systems and underwater mountains.
• Completed the most comprehensive global assessment of mammal species ever done. As part of a team of more than 1,800 scientists from over 130 countries, CI helped determine that 1,141 of the world’s 5,487 known mammal species are threatened. By contrast, five percent of threatened mammals show signs of recovery in the wild, highlighting the effectiveness of properly targeted and funded conservation efforts.
• Continued to fight the cutting of tropical forests by helping frame and promote the Governors’ Global Summit on Climate Change. At the November event, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined the Governors of Wisconsin and Illinois; Amapá, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Pará in Brazil; and Aceh and Papua, Indonesia, to commit to developing forest-protecting carbon markets today. Half of the world’s standing tropical forests are covered by the agreement, and millions of hectares/acres of tropical forest will be protected now.

READ MORE: Governors Take Big Step on Climate Change.

These are great successes, but a tremendous amount of work remains to be done. The species, ecosystems, and natural processes that sustain life on Earth are under terrible pressure, and climate change magnifies every challenge.

Together, we can slow the destruction and save forests, species, freshwater rivers and seas. By uniting our energies and voices, we can continue to deliver groundbreaking successes, and begin to build a movement that unifies protection of the environment, economics and human health.

Will you join us? Please make a donation today.

LEARN MORE: Find out how you can help support CI in 2009.