EXPLORING BIODIVERSITY: A Guide for Educators Around the World

CONSERVATION
INTERNATIONAL
Conservation International
(CI) is a global leader in
conservation, working to
protect threatened
ecosystems in over 30 countries. Based in
Washington, DC, CI focuses its resources and
expertise in parts of the world where the needs
are the greatest—biodiversity hotspots, major
tropical wilderness areas, key marine ecosystems,
and select major wetlands. CI’s mission is to
conserve the Earth’s living natural heritage, our
global biodiversity, and to demonstrate that
human societies are able to live harmoniously
with nature.
The International Environmental Education
(EE) Program at Conservation International is
part of the International Communications
Department in the Field Support Division. The
program works with a network of educators in
CI field offices to educate youth in priority
conservation countries about human connections
to their environment in order to promote
responsible behavior and commitment to
biodiversity conservation. Specifically, the
program provides support to field offices in
designing locally tailored EE strategies, building
the capacity of educators, producing and
distributing educational tools, and evaluating the
effect of EE programs and activities.
WORLD WILDLIFE
FUND
For more than four decades,
World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
has supported efforts around the
world to protect the Earth’s
endangered wildlife and wildlands. WWF
activities include saving critical species such as
tigers, pandas, whales, and rhinos; creating and
preserving protected areas; providing education
programs for all ages; helping people improve
their living standards; and helping to tackle
global environmental issues such as pollution,
deforestation, and over-fishing. WWF works in
more than 100 countries and is part of the
international WWF network, with organizations
in more than 50 countries.
Windows on the Wild, or WOW, is an
environmental education program of WWF that
uses biodiversity as a “window” to explore the
incredible web of life and how all living things
are interconnected. The goal of WOW is to
educate people of all ages about biodiversity
issues and stimulate critical thinking, discussion,
and informed decision making on behalf of the
environment. WOW also explores the complexity
of biodiversity—looking at scientific, social,
political, cultural, and economic contexts. Initial
funding for Windows on the Wild and the
program’s ongoing support of environmental
education in the United States and abroad has
been provided through a generous grant from
Eastman Kodak Company.
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