Species diversity is the foundation of a healthy planet.

Today, they are disappearing at an alarming rate.

There is a solution.
It’s called Half-Earth.

"Biodiversity holds the world steady." - E.O. Wilson

With science at its core and our transcendent moral obligation to the rest of life at its heart, the Half-Earth Project® is working to conserve half the land and sea to safeguard the bulk of biodiversity, including ourselves.

Explore the Half-Earth Project

Join Us for a Live Virtual Event:
The Half-Earth Project in Alabama

THURSDAY, MAY 6, 12 NOON ET

At the Crossroads: Biodiversity, Civil Rights, and Science Education from the Black Belt to Paint Rock

Alabama’s striking intersection of biological and human history, cultural heritage, and diversity make it an important Place for a Half-Earth Future.

A free live online conversation with Bill Finch, Patience Knight, Phillip Howard, and Paula Ehrlich, moderated by Joel R. Johnson

USE THIS LINK ON MAY 6

E.O. Wilson Highlights the Joy of Discovery and Adventure in Opening Session of Half-Earth Day

“One word: poetry. That’s what the world has to offer us. A whole series of mysteries, of possible discoveries, of phenomena, of unexpected events, and objects, and things, and living organisms and so on. An infinitude, almost, on this planet, waiting out there to be enjoyed. There’s so many of this in the world waiting to be explored, and savored, and described.”

Watch Half-Earth Day 2020

National Report Cards

“With the biodiversity of our planet mapped carefully and soon, the bulk of the Earth’s species, including ourselves, can be saved.” – E.O. Wilson

The most recent update to the Half-Earth Map introduces the National Report Cards and Species Protection Index, which help to measure how many species groups are protected by each country’s conservation efforts, focusing at the national level on how conserved places are protecting the species within them. The National Report Cards can be used to explore how well each country is doing in successfully protecting the species within their country.

National Report Cards

The Half-Earth Project

Half-Earth is a call to protect half the land and sea in order to manage sufficient habitat to reverse the species extinction crisis and ensure the long-term health of our planet. The Half-Earth Project is bringing this goal to life.

Statement on Biden-Harris Administration Executive Order on Climate Crisis

“We applaud the Biden-Harris Administration’s pledge to put America on the path to ‘conserve 30 percent of its ocean of our lands and oceans by 2030.’ Conservation areas are key to safeguarding species and to ensure future generations can benefit from biodiversity’s many contributions to functioning ecosystems and human well-being. The Half-Earth Project® recognizes the need for a much expanded and carefully selected network of lands, waters, and ocean prioritized for conservation to achieve this goal.”

Read full statement

Dr. Paula J. Ehrlich, DVM, PhD, President & CEO, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, Half-Earth Project® Lead

On Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and the Half-Earth Project

We commit to prioritizing listening and taking clear steps externally and internally to combat racism and oppression of all types. We commit to working toward justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in our leadership, our programs, our strategic planning, our operations, our communications and our fundraising. We commit to creating a culture at the foundation that educates staff and stakeholders on the issues of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion and holds opportunity for traditionally excluded groups to join in processes, activities and decision-making. We welcome and encourage feedback along the way.

We commit to understanding that this body of work IS our work if we are to achieve the goal of Half-Earth and benefit all people and species.

Read the full statement

Honoring Indigenous Communities

“The Half-Earth Project honors the wisdom of the traditional owners of the lands and waters we aim to protect and their ancient ways of seeing and experiencing nature. In the spirit of the oral tradition of the Blackfoot, we aim to honor ‘the flash of the firefly in the night, the breath of the buffalo in the wintertime, and the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.’ We aim to restore and protect life. We thank our Indigenous communities for their historic stewardship of life, their critical role in reaffirming and repairing our relationship with it and their present and future partnership.” – Paula Ehrlich, President & CEO of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and Lead of the Half-Earth Project

View full statement at left. Seek out the Indigenous history of the place where you live at https://native-land.ca/.

HALF-EARTH NEWS & NOTES
Conserve to study, study to conserve

In this story map we visit Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. Once ravaged by civil war, the park is a leading example of community-based management and the “boots on the ground” scientific work helping to fill our species knowledge gap. 

‘We are at a moment of no return’

“There have been many victories, but they’re victories in a losing war. I’ve worried about that a lot. It’s clear to me as it is to many others who have had experience in conservation programs that we need to take a new approach to saving biodiversity on the Earth as a whole. An effort that I call Half-Earth.”

Edward O. Wilson made these remarks during a World Majlis at Expo 2020 titled “Nature’s Giant Game of Jenga.” during Climate and Biodiversity Week. The discussion was moderated by Federica Busa, with participation from Her Excellency Razan Alexa Mubarak, Sir Tim Smit KBE, Paula J. Ehrlich, Joaquin Ruiz, Runo Sá, and Aaesha Ahmed Alexa Shehyari, with contributions from Sheikha Shamma pint Sultan bin Khalifa Alexa Nahyan, Edward O. Wilson, and Angaangaq Angakkorsuaq.

Green Radio Hour with Jon Bowermaster

Paula Ehrlich, President & CEO of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and lead of the Half-Earth Project, celebrates the upcoming Half-Earth Day in a conversation with Jon Bowermaster, and talks about E.O. Wilson, the science of Half-Earth, and how people are coming together on Half-Earth Day to discuss how they are working to achieve the goal of Half-Earth.

‘Love Nature’ Podcast with E.O. Wilson – Part 2

In Part II of the “Love Nature: The Biophilia Podcast,” E.O. Wilson explores his concept of Half-Earth, a call to protect half the Earth’s land and sea in order to manage sufficient habitat to reverse the species extinction crisis and ensure species have the space they need to thrive. Hear how the Half-Earth Project is bringing this vision to life. (Image of E.O. Wilson by Dave Zoboski.)

 

We Must Act Now.

Before we’ve lost irreplaceable species and ecosystems forever.

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