WCS.org
Our Work

We Stand for Wildlife®

Our goal is to conserve the world's largest wild places in 14 priority regions, habitat for around 50% of the world’s biodiversity and a wide range of charismatic megafauna.

WCS uses science to discover and understand the natural world. This knowledge helps us engage and inspire decision-makers, communities, and millions of supporters to take action with us to protect the wildlife and wild places we all care about.

Discover

Protect

Inspire

Saving Wildlife

WCS scientists study what wildlife species need to thrive. With this knowledge we invest in abating threats to wildlife within their most important strongholds and the corridors that connect them. We target large, iconic, wide-ranging species because of their intrinsic value and because they are vital to ecosystem health. By saving them, we protect all other biodiversity that shelters under their conservation canopy.

APES
BIG CATS
ELEPHANTS
WHALES and COASTAL DOLPHINS
SHARKS, SKATES, and RAYS
TORTOISES and FRESHWATER TURTLES

Saving Wild Places

Over the past century, WCS has established long-term conservation presence in the last wild places across the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, built strong and trusting partnerships, and acquired a depth of knowledge that ensures effective conservation action. We protect these last wild places because they are intact, biodiverse, most resilient to climate change, and bastions for large, iconic wildlife species.

Solutions

By discovering how to save nature we can inspire everyone to work with us to protect wildlife in the last wild places on earth.

Protected Areas

We assist governments and communities to protect the natural systems critical to saving wildlife and wild places, securing valuable flows of ecosystems services and local livelihoods based on principles of social and environmental sustainability.

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Communities

We partner with indigenous and local people in achieving their vision for a more secure and resilient future, where wildlife remains a visible and culturally valued part of the wild places where they live.

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Combating Wildlife Trafficking

We use our local presence and global influence to stop wildlife poaching, block trafficking across transit routes, and reduce demand for wildlife and wildlife products.

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Health

We use our global health expertise to investigate and combat diseases that move between people, domestic animals, and wildlife, and threaten the health of all.

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Oceans and Fisheries

We work with our local and government partners to protect the earth's oceans, coastlines, inland waters, and marine life, and also to provide billions of people with food and livelihood security.

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Business

We bring the private sector together with governments, communities, and consumers to develop the policy options and scientific solutions that benefit nature and business.

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Wildlife Management

We take action to minimize threats to wildlife so that species populations are stable or increasing, to ensure that hunting and fishing are sustainable, and to see that conflicts between people and wildlife are resolved.

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Addressing Climate Change

We apply our science to discover how best to limit the impacts of climate change on ecosystems, wildlife, and people, increasing resilience and providing insurance against a rapidly changing world.

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We engage in a broad array of conservation science and policy interventions to enable our conservation solutions.

Conservation Science

Science helps us discover and understand the natural world. And we use the knowledge gained to engage and inspire decision-makers, communities, and millions of supporters to take action with us.

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International Policy

We contribute our scientific, technical, and policy expertise to international discussions between governments and to influence international policies and commitments that will benefit wildlife and wild places.

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Building Conservation Capacity

We are dedicated to building leadership capacity for wildlife conservation on a global scale by providing support and mentoring to the best and the brightest young conservationists to become the conservation leaders of tomorrow.

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Federal Affairs

WCS’s Federal Affairs office is an interface between our conservation experts and policy decision-makers in Washington, D.C.

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Conservation Planning

WCS’s Conservation Planning Team leads scientific analyses to inform conservation practice and decision-making across terrestrial and marine systems, and at local to global scales.

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