It is hard to imagine the future of our planet without the existence of a strong network of parks and protected areas. They help safeguard our climate, economies and the quality of our drinking water. As the world’s population grows and pressure on our planet’s resources increase, protected areas act as a genetic storehouse, preserving the diversity of life on earth.

Yet in spite of the existence of over 120,000 protected areas around the world, the loss of species and habitats continues. Many of the world’s parks have insufficient resources to adequately preserve the riches of nature they are designed to protect.  Less than two percent of our world’s oceans are protected and important habitats such as grasslands and freshwater systems are also under represented.

What The Nature Conservancy is Doing

The Conservancy is committed to overcoming these challenges to achieve a global network of well-managed and properly funded protected areas that represent the world’s most important habitats.  We share our vision with the governments of 188 countries who in 2004 made a ground breaking commitment to improve their national systems of protected areas, providing an opportunity to achieve conservation on an unprecedented scale.

We have pledged to support governments in their efforts to strengthen protected areas. Together, we work to:

• Create new protected areas where they are most needed.
• Increase long-term funding for protected areas.
• Build support and understanding about the benefits of protected areas to people.
• Strengthen the management of protected areas.

From supporting individual sites, to developing regional protected area systems, we work to ensure the conservation of lands and waters essential for both people and nature.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Anabela Garcia (Canaima National Park, Venezuela); Photo © Andy Drumm (Ecuador).