Fireside Chat, Interview, Presentation
Dr. Cristián Samper, President & CEO of the WCS: Talks at GS Session Highlights
- Dr. Christian Sampere, CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), outlines the organization's reliance on diverse conservation models, including national parks, community reserves, and private reserves.
- Public-private partnerships are increasingly utilized for conservation, driven by business incentives such as big game reserves in Africa and carbon credit deals.
- In Madagascar's Makira National Park, WCS successfully sold carbon credits to U.S. companies, creating a "win-win" where conservation funds directly support local communities.
- WCS operates across 65 countries, with significant footprints in Central/East Africa (elephants, gorillas), Latin America, and Asia, notably maintaining a long-term tiger program in India and working in Southeast Asia for two decades in Myanmar.
- The organization's geographic priorities are determined by "human footprint maps" identifying areas where human impact is low and large species populations remain viable, combined with a focus on charismatic species.
- Conservation efforts face resistance from conflicting interests, particularly regarding agricultural expansion and logging in regions like the Amazon, prompting a push for "sustainable development" that balances protection with extractive activities.
- New York's five facilities (Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Staten Island Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and New York Aquarium) serve as a "window to the world," hosting 4.2 million visitors annually to reconnect urban populations with nature.
- Founded 119 years ago as the New York Zoological Society, the organization was instrumental in saving the American bison and now houses the oldest aquarium in the United States.
- Science is used to inform sustainable development, highlighting that tropical deforestation contributes more carbon emissions than the entire global transportation sector combined.
- The UN is preparing to adopt new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to formalize the balance between human livelihoods and natural capital.
- Brazil reduced Amazon deforestation rates by over 50% in the last five years, a success attributed to a $1 billion outcome-based payment deal from Norway to the Brazilian government.
- China is shifting its energy production away from coal, establishing over 2,000 protected areas including the Tibetan plateau's second-largest protected area, and investing in African infrastructure with a focus on environmental standards.
- Hurricane Sandy in 2012 submerged the New York Aquarium in Coney Island with 14-foot tides, causing total electrical failure but resulting in the survival of 99% of the animal collection.
- Following Sandy, the expansion project "Ocean Wonders" was temporarily paused to redesign and rebuild the facility with improved resilience.
- WCS has committed to a $250 million investment to rebuild and expand the New York Aquarium, with completion targeted for 2016.