Peace

Saving 19 priority places

The diversity of life isn't evenly distributed around the globe. It is concentrated in certain areas, making them a greater priority for conservation.

Through an exhaustive study that involved a team of leading scientists, biologists and policy experts, we determined that the most effective way to make a lasting difference in preserving the delicate diversity ofnature is to identify those places that are of greatest significance.

The WWF Global 200 is our blueprint for identifying the areas of abundant and representative diversity around the world -- those places that must be saved in the next 50 years. We have now further refined our focus on 19 places that are of the highest priority, based on the wealth and diversity of life they support, thedestructive challenges they face, and our ability to impact them within the next decade.

These 19 spectacular places include the world's largest and most intact tropical rain forests, the most diverse freshwater systems, the most varied coral reefs, the most biologically significant deserts, and the most productive fishing grounds.

Amazon
The Amazon is a mosaic of landscapes and ecosystems—fromlowland tropical forests to flooded savannas dotted with palm trees and bamboo forests. It is the world’s largest river basin and the source of one-fifth of all fresh water on Earth. The Amazon contains one-third of the planet’s remaining rain forests, sustaining millions of species. Today, more than 30 million people live in the region. Read more

Amur-Heilong
The Amur-Heilong’s vast temperateforests are one of the last places harboring the world’s largest cat, the Amur tiger, and the world’s rarest cat, the Amur leopard. Its river is one of the world’s longest free-flowing rivers and winds through a remarkable fabric of forest, steppe grassland and taiga landscapes. Read more

Arctic
A vast area of fjords and tundra, jagged peaks and frozen seas, glaciers and icebergs, and ice andsnow, the Arctic is the largest and least fragmented of the inhabited regions on Earth. This immense landscape covers eight countries – the United States, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden – and is one of the most important places on the planet. Read more

Borneo and Sumatra
From the hot, humid lowlands to the cool, misty uplands, the rain forests of Borneo andSumatra teem with extraordinary life. The cries of gibbons can be heard through the early morning mist.Orangutans dwell in trees; elephants, tigers and rhinos roam freely over the dense forest floor; and hornbills soar through the skies. Read more

Chihuahuan Desert
In the Chihuahuan Desert, roadrunners scurry after collard lizards, while golden eagles search the desert brush from high above forblack-tailed jackrabbits. Forests of yucca and agave display unearthly beauty. Here, nearly one-fifth of the world’s cactus species thrive. Hundreds of bird species – including the vermilion flycatcher, black-chinned hummingbird and aplomado falcon- find food and shelter while helping to maintain the region’s delicate and imperiled natural balance. Read more

Coastal East Africa
Few places onEarth can match the vibrancy and diversity of life found in Coastal East Africa. From the shores of Lake Malawi—home to nearly 1,000 endemic species of fish—and the Eastern Arc Mountains and Miombo woodlands—where humans live alongside the highest collection of endemic and threatened species in all of Africa— to the Indian Ocean and the East African marine ecoregion, Coastal East Africa stretchesfor 2,900 miles, from southern Somalia to the shores of South Africa. Read more

Congo Basin
The Congo Basin is the world's second-largest rain forest and home to more than half of the world's 700 remaining mountain gorillas. These ancient forests extend over 500 million acres – an area equivalent to over one fourth of the continental U.S. – and span the boundaries of Cameroon, the Central...