What’s the best way to protect the world’s dwindling grasslands from conversion to agriculture or parking lots?

Get the people who live on them to buy into their protection, according to a new analysis of a Gobi Desert project by Nature Conservancy scientists and colleagues.

The study — published in the online journal PLoS ONE — looked at whether a Gobi Desert grasslands conservation project (led jointly by the governments of Mongolia and Germany) had any measurable benefits not just for biodiversity, but human well-being as well. Like a recent Conservancy-led study from South Africa, the researchers found that both projects increased household incomes and grasslands biodiversity — by more than 10% in the case of the Gobi project.

The key to success? Empowerment of the local communities to manage their own resources.

The Gobi project utilized community-led efforts to improve grazing management practices, develop alternative livelihoods and strengthen cooperation among local communities, governments and resource managers.

“No one has a greater incentive to manage natural resources sustainably than the local people who depend most on them,” says Craig Leisher, senior advisor on poverty and conservation for The Nature Conservancy.

But there’s still a catch in Mongolia: climate change, which is making summers and winters there harsher and putting pastoralist livelihoods on a razor-thin margin. Even with better pastures and healthier livestock, the community suffered devastating financial losses during the 2009-2010 dzud (a winter with colder temperatures and much more snow than normal).

Still, says Leisher, the study offers principles that could help the more than 25 countries worldwide with substantial herding and ranching activity.

(Image: A young herder leading his camel to new pastures, Mongolia. Credit: Tim Boucher/TNC)

Mark Tercek is the president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. This post was originally published for the The Huffington Post.

As we watch the world debate how best to address climate change, and as carbon emissions continue to soar, at least one climate strategy strikes me as a “no-brainer.” We should do everything we can to save the world’s forests.

There are many good reasons for protecting forests, from their intrinsic beauty to their ecologic and economic values. Tropical forests are storehouses of biodiversity, harboring more than one-half of the Earth’s known plants and animal species. And nearly 1 billion people worldwide directly depend on forest resources — fiber, fuel, food and clean water — for their livelihoods and well-being.

Forest destruction produces about 15 percent of the world’s manmade global carbon emissions — more carbon pollution than the entire global transportation sector. It is the primary source of emissions in two of the top five carbon-emitting countries: Brazil and Indonesia. Forests function as a natural air conditioner, pulling carbon from the atmosphere while cleaning and cooling our air. Yet each year more than 32 million acres of the world’s forests are destroyed — an area about the size of New York state.

The figures speak for themselves. When done right, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (known as “REDD+” in policymakers’ jargon) can be a triple win for nature, people and our world’s climate.

But REDD+ does have its critics. As head of The Nature Conservancy, it’s easy for me to explain why my organization wants to reduce deforestation. However, some question why we support another part of the REDD+ equation–improving forest management for the sustainable harvesting of wood. Why create incentives for cutting down trees?

Again, let’s turn to the numbers. Destructive logging practices, many of them illegal, are one of the most serious drivers of forest loss and resulting emissions. Research has shown that that transitioning from destructive logging to low impact harvesting practices can reduce damage to forests and lower carbon emissions by 30-50% while delivering the same supply of timber. Simply put, better forestry can be good for our climate.

In addition, encouraging smart replanting where logging has already occurred is an important part of keeping forests viable in the long term — for local communities, forest-dwelling species and future generations.

Finally, we also recognize that forestry activities today sustain millions of jobs around the world and provide people with wood and paper products. Recycling and development of non-timber alternatives can — and should — reduce demand for these goods, but well-managed forests and plantations also play an important role. They can provide a reliable, sustainable supply of paper and wood while diverting pressure away from pristine lands that contain the highest amount of carbon and serve as homes for endangered species and indigenous communities. And many of the world’s best-quality forests are managed by indigenous communities, who tend their land in low-impact ways while relying on its bounty for their livelihoods.

“Well-managed” is the operative phrase. Robust and transparent standards, accounting rules and independent verification must protect against converting primary forests to plantations under REDD+ programs that allow for planting and managing forests for the sustainable harvesting of wood. In fact, the Cancun Agreements adopted by 194 countries at the December 2010 UN climate convention require that REDD+ actions be “consistent with the conservation of natural forests and biological diversity, ensuring that the actions … of this decision are not used for the conversion of natural forests.”

Based on our 60 years of experience conserving forests around the world, The Nature Conservancy is committed to demonstrating how REDD+ can work to provide benefits for forests, local people and the global climate. For example, in Indonesia, we are partnering with the government in the district of Berau to protect its tropical forest and reduce carbon pollution by two million tons annually — which is like removing roughly 400,000 cars from the road each year. In this 5 million-acre area, we are also boosting economic progress by providing guidance on smarter, more sustainable farming and logging techniques. And we’re doing on-the-ground research to understand how much carbon pollution we’re preventing from going into the atmosphere.

REDD+ alone will not solve the climate change challenge — we must urgently address carbon pollution from all sources. But REDD+ is a critical piece of the puzzle in addressing this global challenge, and it has the potential to be transformative in benefiting communities, ecosystems, biodiversity and the global climate.

(Image: Rainforest in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Image credit: ©Jez O’Hare)

Matt Miller is director of communications for the Conservancy’s Idaho program.

As I traveled around the islands of Micronesia, I repeatedly heard people voice the same words: Moving is not an option.

The often-tiny islands of Micronesia—and other other Pacific chains—are populated by people with diverse cultures, cultures shaped by the land and water over the centuries and even millennia.

Today, with ocean levels rising and fish stocks disappearing, they are facing the most serious threat to their cultures, their traditions and, indeed, their lives. And moving is not an option.

Water Is Rising

I visited two islands in the Federated States of Micronesia, Yap and Pohnpei. On Yap, large stone “money”—huge limestone disks larger than I am—are still used for ceremonial transactions. Village life remains the central part of Yapese culture, and they still rely on reefs for their livelihood and sustenance.

On Pohnpei, I hiked around huge ruins—rivaling what I saw at more famous sites like Machu Picchu and Tikal—built on top of artificially constructed islands that extend a mile onto the reef. Nan Madol, as this area is known, began construction in 500 BC. Today, Pohnpeians practice a rich and traditional form of agriculture that incorporates seamlessly into the forest.

Thousands of islands in the Pacific are still home to thriving human communities. People have worked out ways to balance the reef and the forest. But forces beyond their communities could shape the future of these islands.

There’s an old cliché that there are no atheists in foxholes. In that same spirit, perhaps it could be said that there are no climate change deniers on islands.

As people in the United States seem intent on arguing whether or not climate change is real, islanders are seeing sea levels rise and land disappear.

A group of performing artists from Pacific Island nations recently toured the United States with their show, Water is Rising, telling stories of climate change as faced by their communities.

But the threats to islands don’t end with climate change: Coral reefs put fish on the plate for millions of people. But around Micronesia and other islands, fish stocks are being depleted.

No food. No land. No place to go.

The islanders deserve better.

Traditional Knowledge, Cutting-Edge Science

Fortunately, many communities are leading efforts to ensure that they will continue to have fish on their plates, viable jobs and places to live.

They value self-sufficiency. Willy Kostka, director of the Micronesia Conservation Trust, put it this way: “If I can keep the food relief agencies out of this region, then I’ve succeeded. If the Red Cross is here, we’ve lost. To me, conservationists are in the front line of self-sufficiency.”

Communities recognize the importance of protecting marine areas to sustain fisheries. A locally-led initiative called the Micronesia Challenge–which includes the five governments, local communities, and local and global organizations (including the Conservancy)—has a goal to protect to protect 30 percent of the near-shore marine resources across Micronesia by 2020.

These are the reefs that keep fish on the table.

Such local efforts are complemented by cutting-edge science, such as sophisticated models of climate change impacts that can direct conservation efforts and help communities plan for the future.

“We don’t take our islands for granted,” says Kostka. “Every day I feel so lucky I was born here on Pohnpei. I feel very privileged to live here.”

The people of Micronesia are hopeful. They believe they can shape their own future.

A difficult truth is that some factors—climate change, depletion of fisheries—are generated by countries far from the Pacific islands. The Micronesians are doing their part. Can we do ours?

There is much hope, but the water is rising. And moving is not an option.

(Image: Villagers on the Pacific island of Yap perform the stick dance. Image credit: ©Matt Miller.)

Note: the following post from Sangeeta Mangubhai (@smangubhai) is the latest in a series chronicling the ongoing expedition to the Raja Ampat Islands. Read more here.

Growing up in Fiji instilled me with a profound love of the ocean and, in particular, coral reefs. Corals fascinate me: they are anatomically very simple animals, but they show remarkable complexity in growth form, reproduction and life history.

Did you know that coral taxonomy is based on their fine skeletal structure? And that it takes three large books weighing 8kg (!!!) to provide detailed descriptions and photographs of most known species?

Corals are notoriously difficult to identify underwater because a species can sometimes have very different outward appearances depending on the habitat where a given specimen is located. For example, a certain species of coral may grow lots of branches when it lives on shallow reef flats, but this very same species may become flat and plate-like in deeper reefs. To make things more confusing, some corals can hybridize like plants.

One of the challenges of working in the global center of marine biodiversity is that there are more than 550 coral species living in Raja Ampat alone! For our surveys, we only have to identify the corals to genus level, but even that has its challenges when some groups look very similar to each other. Have a look at a coral up close if you have the chance — you will be surprised at how intricate corals are in terms of their skeletal architecture and how much they can vary in appearance.

Rizya Ardiwijaya, a Conservancy diver who assists monitoring staff at all our sites in Indonesia, is currently helping me with the coral resilience assessments. He and I spend most of our dives with our noses 30cm above the reef, identifying and counting corals.

Sometimes we have lively debates underwater (via our waterproof slates, of course) about the genus of coral we are observing. In the evenings, we spend up to two hours looking through the coral books to make sure we have our identifications correct and in synchrony with each other. So far, we have found 54 genera of coral in Misool and we are expecting this number to go up as the expedition continues!

Explore further coverage of this expedition on nature.org and learn more about the Conservancy’s involvement in the game-changing Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security.
 
(First image: Acropora coral. First image credit: TNC. Second image: From left to right, cynarina, physogyra, euphyllia ancora and lobophyllia coral. Second image credit: TNC.)

Note: the following post from Sangeeta Mangubhai (@smangubhai) is the latest in a series chronicling the ongoing expedition to the Raja Ampat Islands. Read more here.

Three months ago, we began a community monitoring project that aims to empower local Papuan communities to monitor their marine resources and link the data they collect to decisions they make about their local fisheries. Five representatives from Raja Ampat’s Kofiau and Southeast Misool MPAs work with Conservancy staff as Community Monitoring Assistants (CMAs), and we are lucky to have four of them — Ali, Wahab, Andi and Naftali — on our expedition!

A couple of days ago, I learned that two of them were previously compressor fishers who have each spent more time underwater than Jo and I combined! Compressor fishers use a hose to maintain a continuous air supply from the surface, allowing them to remain underwater for long periods of time harvesting marine animals.

Compressor fishing was banned last year in Indonesia because of the impacts the practice has on local fisheries and the method’s associated high health risks. Now, both our CMAs have stopped using compressors and want to learn more about coral reefs and how to help improve the local fisheries their families and communities rely on.

L-R: Naftali, Andi, Ali and Wahab

Two of the CMAs — Wahab from the village of Fafanlap and Ali from Harapan Jaya — have been collecting invertebrate data, focusing on key fisheries species (such as sea cucumbers, sea snails, giant clams and lobsters) as well as predators like the crown-of-thorns starfish, which eats live corals.

Wahab and Ali already have such sharp eyes for finding invertebrates hidden in reefs, and we are getting good estimates of the densities and abundance of these species in the marine protected area. They are recording the names in their local language and helping Muhajir and me to match these with the scientific names.

So far, the numbers do not look good — actually, they are depressing. Both Wahab and Ali have recorded less than six animals per dive, which is a strong indicator that many of these species have been over-harvested. With such low numbers, I cannot help but wonder how these animals will successfully reproduce.

Sitting down with Ali at lunch today, he told me he remembers snorkeling as a child and seeing five to 10 giant clams every time he visited his local reefs. He told me Misool used to have a lot of giant clams (Tridacna gigas — or, as it’s known locally, kima), which can grow to be over a meter in length. Now, he lamented, shaking his head, he has seen only one giant kima in 10 consecutive dives. But Ali has hope: he is keen to share the data he is collecting with his local community and work with them to find ways to help these important fisheries recover.

Explore further coverage of this expedition on nature.org and support Ali’s efforts to rejuvenate Raja Ampat’s fisheries here.

(First image: the expedition team dives at Manta Mountain in Misool; credit: TNC. Second image: the expedition’s CMAs are, from left to right, Naftali, Andi, Ali and Wahab; credit: TNC.)

Note: the following post is the latest in a series chronicling the ongoing expedition to the Raja Ampat Islands. Read more here.

Misool. Perfect one day, even better the next. The weather is so calm we could be forgiven for thinking we’re diving in a lake! We’re on schedule, fitting in three dives per day, and our evenings on the boat are busy with everyone entering pages of fish and coral data into the computer.

We’re collecting data on the status of the reefs for two reasons. The first is to check on sites identified for extra protection. These sites will be declared as no-take zones in the future, and we want to make sure they’re in good condition.

The second is to compare the health of reefs in different types of zones within the MPA. In particular, we want to compare no-take zones with zones where certain human uses are allowed. Even in Misool — a highly biodiverse area where protective measures have been taken — populations of valuable species like grouper are declining. We hope no-take zones will create “fish banks” — places where fish can grow and reproduce. There is already one no-take zone which has been established for a few years in Misool, and more are planned.

Increases in the number and size of fish are good indicators that a no-take zone is working well. Increases in fish size result in exponentially higher levels of egg production. For example, if a fish that’s 20-cm-long produces 10,000 eggs, then a 40-cm-long fish can produce 100,000,000 eggs! Many of those eggs will drift outside the no-take zone to replenish areas where fishing is allowed. That’s good incentive for leaving the fish in the water to develop a little longer…

We’re also looking for a return of some of the large iconic species, like grouper, bumphead parrotfish and napoleon wrasse (see above), which quickly disappear even with moderate levels of fishing. These large species all play different but critical roles in keeping a natural balance on the reefs. Groupers are top predators that keep populations of smaller fish in check, bumphead parrotfish are experts in keeping the reefs clean of algae, and napoleon wrasse eat the notorious crown-of-thorns starfish — a voracious coral eater.

But it’s not just the big fish that are important. Two days ago, we were thrilled to see a “fish ball” (see above) — a school of hundreds of thousands of anchovies whirling above us, trying to escape the many hungry predators lurking at the ball’s edges. These are some of the smallest fish on the reef but are, in many ways, also the most important. They are the main food not only for fish but for other animals in the ecosystem, including sea birds and dolphins. A school of anchovies this size means there’s a good foundation for a healthy productive ecosystem in Misool.

(First image: A reef in Misool. First image credit: TNC. Second image: A napoleon wrasse. Second image credit: TNC. Third image: An anchovy fish ball. Third image credit: TNC.)

Note: the following post from Sangeeta Mangubhai (@smangubhai) is the latest in a series chronicling the ongoing expedition to the Raja Ampat Islands. Read more here.

I am often asked to explain how climate change affects our work with Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Why do we invest time and money in tropical MPAs if climate change impacts like coral bleaching events and ocean acidification are likely to become even more severe?

It’s true that periods of unusually warm ocean temperatures have already caused mass coral bleaching like we witnessed during the global bleaching event recorded in 1998 that is estimated to have killed 16 percent of the world’s reefs. But we know that many coral reefs survived this bleaching event. Some reefs remained healthy while others that bleached were able to recover quickly once the temperatures cooled again. We call these reefs “resilient.” Resilience is the ability of an ecosystem to absorb shock and regenerate after natural and human-induced disturbances. For coral reefs, this means being able to withstand warmer-than-normal temperatures or rebuild healthy communities after sustaining damage.

Now imagine this — what if you could use basic ecological data to predict which reefs might not bleach, or might recover quickly from future bleaching events. And what if you could then use this information to ensure these areas are included in MPAs?

After this expedition, we’ll be able to do both those things. We are now collecting data from reefs around Misool to identify sites that are likely to be more resilient to climate change impacts. We will then provide this information to managers who are currently designing a zoning plan for Misool that will include areas for protection in no-take zones, where fishing and other activities are prohibited. In this way, we can address climate change in our management of coral reefs.

Working with our partners Wildlife Conservation Society and Reef Check Indonesia, the Conservancy has been trialing an IUCN reef resilience assessment method in a number of MPAs across Indonesia since 2009. The assessment involves counting the number of new coral recruits, noting any bleaching or coral disease, and counting the number of fish that eat algae — the “lawnmowers” of the reef. We also record if there are any other stresses to the reef — like pollution, overfishing, anchor damage or sedimentation — because we know these factors are also important for coral reef resilience.

Earlier this year, we worked with experts from the University of Melbourne and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to help translate the scientific data we’ve collected into simple and clear messages for MPA managers. Using the framework we developed, we can identify the most resilient reefs and the sites that have human-induced stresses that are affecting the reefs and their resilience.

On this trip, we will complete the resilience assessments we started in 2009, and this time we hope to survey some really unusual coral reef habitats that we have not visited before. We will dive in lagoons and channels deep in the limestone karst chain, as well as seamounts that rise up from the great ocean depths. We hope by studying these different types of reefs that we will be even better equipped to show that protecting tropical reefs is both possible and important.

Explore further coverage of this expedition on nature.org and learn more about the Conservancy’s involvement in the game-changing Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security.

(First image: Clouds of fusiliers at Misool reefs; First image credit: TNC. Second image: Joanne Wilson examines reefs at Jef Pele for signs of disease. Second image credit: TNC.

Note: the following post is the latest in a series chronicling the ongoing expedition to the Raja Ampat Islands. Read more here.

Yesterday afternoon, we picked up the rest of our team from the Conservancy’s Misool field station and headed southwest to start our surveys at the edge of the Misool marine protected area. There is nothing quite like waking up to a perfectly calm, clear ocean with rugged, forest-clad limestone mountains all around you. Breathtaking!

But we are here to work (!), so we divided our team of ten into two groups. The first team consists of experts in evaluating general coral reef health, and the second team specializes in assessments of coral reef resilience (stay tuned for our next blog, which will provide a full explanation of reef resilience).

Our reef health team consists of six people: three from the Conservancy and three volunteers from the local Misool community. From the Conservancy, Purwanto is our resident fish expert, Muhajir is our coral expert and I’m here to check if there is any coral bleaching or disease. Our community volunteers Ali, Andreas and Naftali are already experienced divers and are doing one of the most important (but often underrated) monitoring tasks: swimming down to the ocean floor to lay out the transect tapes that the rest of us follow while diving.

The resilience team is led by Sangeeta, who has done many of these assessments in Raja Ampat and other parts of the world. She is joined by the Conservancy’s Rizya, an Indonesian resilience expert; Ubun, a second fish expert from our partner organisation Wildlife Conservation Society; and Wahab, our fourth community volunteer.

As our speedboats headed out early to our survey sites from the Putiraja, our live-aboard diving vessel, a group of 15 bottlenose dolphins welcomed us to Misool!

Between the two groups, we surveyed six sites today and we were very pleased to see that the reefs here are in excellent condition. One of the islands we surveyed has been proposed for protection by the local communities because it’s supposed to be an important place for sea turtles. We were excited to confirm this: both teams spotted turtles. As an added bonus, this island has flourishing reefs, with some big fish like groupers and napoleon wrasse among the local residents that will be protected along with the turtles.

But we can’t be complacent — as beautiful and remote as this part of Misool is, there are still signs of overfishing and past reef-bombing in some isolated areas. Our surveys will help inform managers where to focus their efforts in protection and patrolling and provide information on just how quickly these areas are recovering.

Explore further coverage of this expedition on nature.org and support Jo’s efforts to improve protection in Raja Ampat here.

(First image: a mountainous island in Misool; credit: TNC. Second image: the entire expedition team; credit: TNC.)

Note: the following post is the third in a series chronicling the ongoing expedition to the Raja Ampat Islands. Read more here.

We made it! After 16 hours of blissfully calm and almost uneventful steaming on the Putiraja, we arrived at the Conservancy’s Misool field station on a perfect, sunny afternoon. We’ve met up with the remaining team members from Wildlife Conservation Society and our local community volunteers from Misool.

We spent our time on the boat organizing our many underwater data sheets to record our observations and doing important but small things like tying the pencils to our slates to ensure we don’t lose them underwater. On the way, we stopped to buy some fresh fish from a local fisherman.

We negotiated our way carefully through the chain of hundreds of limestone karst islands that Misool is so famous for. It’s always a stunning vista sailing into Misool: clear blue water, turqoise reefs, brilliantly white sand beaches. I could go on but I’ve run out of superlatives!

At the station, we did last-minute preparations for diving tomorrow. The team responsible for monitoring fish practiced estimating lengths on the beach using plastic fish (see above) before they get in the water and practice with the real thing. The coral team went through a similar rehearsal so we can all agree on the same name for the same type of coral. It’s one of the challenges of working in the center of marine biodiversity — we have to learn all those species!

Tonight we’ll steam to our first diving destination in southwest Misool called Jef Pele, an area well known for its big fish.

Explore further coverage of this expedition on nature.org and learn more about the Conservancy’s involvement in the game-changing Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security.

(Image: Fish monitoring team prepare for the field; credit: TNC.)

“You can think of every language as being an old-growth forest of the mind, a watershed of thought, an ecosystem of social and spiritual possibilities.”

That’s a line that stuck with me from Dr. Wade Davis’s Thomas Conservation Oration, delivered recently at Sydney’s Australian Museum and presented by the Conservancy in partnership with the Thomas Foundation. Davis is a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, a position that’s taken him around the globe several times over and put him in touch with some of the world’s oldest, most remote cultures—so he’s someone who knows about social possibilities.

Watch Wade Davis’s entire oration here (or download it here).

How the full breadth of human experience intersects with the natural world was the focal point of Davis’s oration, which was the third in a series of annual addresses. My interest in having Davis out here to speak stemmed from his deep experience in living and working with diverse cultures. In his speech, he traced the arc of his career and took the audience on a journey from the mountains of Colombia to the Canadian Arctic in order to reveal how cultures are inextricable from the environments where they developed.

That’s a crucial message in Australia, where The Nature Conservancy works hand-in-hand with Indigenous people to conserve the vital natural places that have supported humans on this continent for millennia. The lesson that losses to Indigenous culture damage the environment—and vice versa—is strikingly resonant in a country where Western settlement supplanted peoples that stewarded (and were stewarded by) the land with great care and success.

To me, Davis’s thinking about language’s relationship to the protection of biodiversity—both around the globe and here in Australia—is particularly fascinating. In his speech, Davis noted that the number of languages spoken in the world had declined from 7,000 to 3,500 during the average lifespan of one of his audience members. At the time of British settlement, 670 Indigenous languages and dialects could be heard in Australia—now, that number’s been whittled down to around 20 that are thought to be strong enough to survive.

Losing a language isn’t just losing grammar, syntax and vocabulary—it obliterates expression, leaving a culture unable to articulate its way of knowing. There’s a disturbing parallel to biodiversity loss, here. As anthropologist Russell Bernard puts it, “Any reduction of language diversity diminishes the adaptational strength of our species because it lowers the pool of knowledge from which we can draw.”

To wit: conservation knowledge occupies a particularly prominent place in Indigenous Australian cultures, some of which have been around for more than 40,000 years. Over that time, Indigenous people have developed an intimate knowledge of Australia itself and, in many cases, can tell us more about how to protect the land than any conservation science textbook.

A cohesive theme throughout Wade’s body of work is that all human cultures share the same DNA and have equal cognitive capacity, but that they focus and apply their collective intellect in different ways. This results in different ways of knowing and different conceptions of what it means to be human and alive. For many Westerners, nature occupies too small a place in our worldview; we’ve lost touch with the land and forgotten how to care for it.

In Australia, we have a tremendous opportunity to learn from Indigenous people and the emphasis they’ve placed on caring for their country. Toward that end, the Conservancy has supported the establishment of Indigenous Protected Areas and the Indigenous Rangers working to manage their lands.

“For all of us and for all time, these peoples—like ourselves—represent the collective heritage of humanity, the multiple voices of humanity, and altogether they become our collective geography of hope,” Davis said to conclude his lecture. Davis used his oration to deliver an important reminder: that culture is not trivial and it’s important to listen to those talking on behalf of the Earth, as they have great knowledge and wisdom that’s crucial to humanity.

The director of The Nature Conservancy’s Australia program, Michael Looker is a trained botanist and one of Australia’s leading scientists. Under his direction, the program has protected 8.9 million acres (3.6 million hectares) of biodiversity rich land in Australia through 27 direct land acquisitions.

(Image: National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis. Image credit: © Ryan Hill)