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Greater protection efforts urgently needed, according to Map of Life 2026 Species Protection Report

October 26, 2026

The third-annual Species Protection Report revealed a concerning slowdown of conservation progress on land and modest progress in the oceans between early 2025 and 2026. Produced by Map of Life at the Yale Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, the report was released during the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17).

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News Bites

Villars Summit

March 18, 2026

Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland

Walter attended the 2026 Villars Summit in Switzerland, an event that brought together stakeholders in biodiversity and climate across sectors. He spoke on a panel about biodiversity and AI and gave final remarks during the Summit’s closing panel. Walter also had the opportunity to speak with chief scientists from several global conservation organizations about global biodiversity monitoring and BGC center products.

BGC Center Retreat

March 3, 2026

New Haven, USA

All members of the Biodiversity and Global Change Center, plus some of our colleagues from Map of Life Solutions, arrived in New Haven for a week-long retreat, where we discussed current projects, brainstormed new directions for our work, and spent some quality time together.

International Conservation Technology Conference

February 14, 2026

Lima, Peru

Dr. Meredith Palmer attended the 1st International Conservation Technology Conference in Lima, Peru. Hosted by the WILDLABS Community, this event brought together conservation practitioners, technologists, researchers, funders, corporate leaders, and policymakers to explore emerging topics in the conservation technology space. Meredith co-hosted a panel discussion on multimodal sensor data integration with Conservation X Labs, Conservation International, and Planet Labs, as well as delivering a presentation on conservation technology capacity building initiatives.

Hew Locke's Guyana: Climate Crisis

December 3, 2025

Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Claire participated in a conversation with Jemma Field, Associated Director of Research at the YCBA, about biodiversity, climate change, and colonialism in Guyana. Using the work of Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke, they discussed the new Global Biodiversity Alliance and the importance of equitable partnerships in conservation. (link to recording: https://britishart.yale.edu/exhibitions-programs/hew-lockes-guyana-climate-crisis)

COP30

November 10, 2025

Belém, Brazil

Alex Killion was invited to COP30 in Belem, Brazil for a panel on Guyana's pathway to low carbon development and biodiversity conservation leadership. He was joined by President Ali of Guyana, other heads of state, and UN Assistant Secretary-General Michelle Muschett.

Applied Conservation Technology Congress

November 3, 2025

Hanoi, Vietnam

At ACT CON, Meredith gave a keynote presentation on turning complex science into actionable insights, as well as two invited talks, one on the integration of multimodal sensor data and the other an overview of the National Biodiversity Information Systems.

Half-Earth Day

October 29, 2025

Chicago, Illinois

The 2025 Half-Earth Day Celebration was a full day of workshops, speakers, and performances in support of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation’s Half-Earth Project. Walter ran a science workshop on “Supporting conservation outcomes through novel technologies for local biodiversity assessment”. We officially released the 2025 Species Protection Report, and Walter presented the report’s key findings.

Living Data Conference

October 21, 2025

Bogotá, Colombia

Several Center members presented at the Living Data conference: Jeremy presented a talk on his paper about North American birds’ geographic redistributions; Beth presented global SDMs and associated Expert Tools efforts; Alex presented on the National Biodiversity Information Systems; and Walter presented on species population EBVs.

IUCN World Conservation Congress

October 7, 2025

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Claire attended the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi to represent the Center at this global event only held once every four years. She met with key partners, including Esri, The Nature Conservancy, Rainforest Trust, and the Jane Goodall Institute.

Shubhi Sharma's "Habitat Shared" Exhibit Now Live at the Peabody

September 29, 2025

New Haven, Connecticut

BGC Center PhD Candidate Shubhi Sharma's artwork is featured in a new exhibit at the Yale Peabody Museum titled "Habitat Shared". This exhibit features several pieces of her original colored pencil artwork which highlight the ordinary and often overlooked yet profound inter-species relationships within human environments. Shubhi worked with Peabody team members Sydney Muchnik, Andrew Todd, and Andrew Putnam to put together the exhibit. It will be up through May 26.

New York Climate Week

September 21, 2025

New York City

Walter presented a panel about "Innovating for Nature: Technologies applied for biodiversity data in Brazil" at the World Climate and Biodiversity Summit and Claire and Walter hosted a session "Putting species on the map: More effective planetary decision making with Map of Life" as part of the Yale @ Climate Week series.

Global Biodiversity Alliance Summit

July 23, 2025

Georgetown, Guyana

Our team attended the Summit to officially launch the Global Biodiversity Alliance (GBA), as collaborators with the Guyanese government and founding members of the GBA. During the event, we signed an official MOU with the government of Guyana, Alex and Claire both presented, and we worked with a coalition of partners to announce a comprehensive national biodiversity monitoring initiative for the country.

Wildlabs Geospatial Cafe

July 17, 2025

Elise, the Biodiversity Data Coordinator, was invited to speak at the Wildlabs Geospatial Cafe where she presented on the Map of Life Regions Tool.

Esri User Conference

July 13, 2025

San Diego, California

Elise, a Biodiversity Data Coordinator at the Center, attended the Esri User Conference to learn the latest and greatest in map making. Her dashboard submission was "Species Protection Index: Country and Province Explorer", and it was featured in the virtual Map Gallery.

International Congress for Conservation Biology

June 15, 2025

Brisbane, Australia

Claire gave a workshop detailing the Map of Life initiative and associated projects and programs and Tz-Hsuan presented his paper "Hidden suboptimality of cost and area minimization in conservation prioritization model" for which he was a finalist in the Best Oral Talk category.

Women in Nature Network Networking Event

April 1, 2025

Veracruz, Mexico

Claire attended the Women in Nature Network (WiNN) bi-annual in-person networking event, which brings together members of WiNN’s global community from around the world. As the co-chair of WiNN’s board of directors, Claire led the event’s organizing committee and presented in the opening and closing ceremonies.

Esri Developer & Technology Summit

March 11, 2025

Palm Springs, California

Kalkidan attended this four-day event for developers where she learned about Esri tools and technologies. Kalkidan also had one to one discussions with Esri developers to provide feedback and better understand how the Center can incorporate Esri tools into our existing workflows and data pipelines.

Oman Climate Week

February 21, 2025

Muscat, Oman

Alex and Claire were invited by the Chairman of the Oman Environment Authority (OEA) to attend Oman Climate Week, where they participated in the conference sessions and conducted workshops with leadership and staff of the OEA.

BioSpace25 Conference

February 10, 2025

Frascati, Italy

Center PhD Candidate Shubhi Sharma presented her work investigating the use of machine learning models for improving species distribution model estimates for data-deficient species at the BioSpace25 conference.

Featured News

Greater protection efforts urgently needed, according to Map of Life 2026 Species Protection Report

News Bites

Villars Summit

BGC Center Retreat

International Conservation Technology Conference

Hew Locke's Guyana: Climate Crisis

COP30

Applied Conservation Technology Congress

Half-Earth Day

Living Data Conference

IUCN World Conservation Congress

Shubhi Sharma's "Habitat Shared" Exhibit Now Live at the Peabody

New York Climate Week

Global Biodiversity Alliance Summit

Wildlabs Geospatial Cafe

Esri User Conference

International Congress for Conservation Biology

Women in Nature Network Networking Event

Esri Developer & Technology Summit

Oman Climate Week

BioSpace25 Conference

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