Overview
Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) was established in 1989 when three conservationists then surveying owls in New Mexico’s Gila wilderness decided to act after discovering old-growth forest slated for logging that harboured a rare Mexican spotted owl nest. The organisation’s purpose is to secure a future for all species, great and small, by protecting wildlife, plants and their habitats.
Mission and focus areas
CBD works through science, law and creative media to prevent extinction and preserve ecosystems — including land, water and climate, which species need to survive. Its core goals include securing legal protection for endangered species, defending critical habitat, influencing conservation policy and raising public awareness. Though not directly a sustainable-finance organisation, its work supports sustainability by safeguarding biodiversity, a foundation of ecological resilience, which underpins long-term ESG (environmental, social and governance) value through natural-capital preservation.
Structure and governance
CBD is a non-profit charitable organisation (registered 501(c)(3)) headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. It has grown from its original founders into a professional staff, including scientists, lawyers, policy-experts and communications specialists. The organisation also established an internal Justice, Equity, Diversity, Accessibility and Inclusion (JEDAI) committee, reflecting a commitment to inclusive governance and diverse representation across its staff and volunteers.
Programs and offerings
CBD operates multiple programmes focused on endangered species protection, habitat conservation, climate and environmental health, public lands, oceans and more. Its key outputs include scientific petitions, legal actions under federal conservation laws, habitat-designation campaigns, policy advocacy, and public education via media and publications. The organisation regularly publishes reports, species status reviews, and annual summaries of conservation achievements. These resources and interventions make CBD a significant actor in biodiversity conservation, offering valuable data, litigation precedent and policy-reform tools for sustainability practitioners concerned with ecological risk, biodiversity loss and natural-capital management.
Our mission: Saving life on Earth
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
We want those who come after us to inherit a world where the wild is still alive.
