Saving the world through software

The World Conservation Congress is happening in Barcelona this week, and two of our projects have launched. Yesterday, IUCN released the Red List, which was generated using the software we built for the Species Information Service. They also have a beautiful new website, with some great search and filtering functionality. About 1 in 4 species are threatened, and I'm glad that the press is really running with this very important story.

Today is marine protected area (MPA) day (many other things are going on, but this is our focus):

• An MPA layer was released on Google Earth
• UNF, IUCN, WCPA, and National Geographic launched WildCam, an underwater reef cam providing live feed from Glover's Reef Atoll in Belize
• Protect Planet Ocean, a marine protected areas portal, was released

Led by IUCN and the WCPA, Protect Planet Ocean is the result of an unprecedented partnership between many conservation NGOs. The Nature Conservancy, WWF, Natural England, Conservation International, PISCO, NOAA, MPA News, National Marine Sanctuaries, and the National MPA Center all worked together to envision and populate the portal. We were proud to facilitate and build the portal, and to work with all the wonderful volunteer resources and their contributions.