Exploring the Intersection of Land-Sea-Air to guide National Decisions (ISLAND) for Biological Conservation

The ISLAND (Intersection of Land-Sea-Air to guide National Decisions) project proposes a novel framework for advancing global biological conservation through a transdisciplinary and transnational approach. Rather than documenting species loss, this initiative focuses on identifying, cataloging, and evaluating successful intervention strategies that preserve biodiversity along three major migratory flyways: the Atlantic flyway on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, the Pacific flyway around California’s Channel Islands, and the trans-Pacific flyway in New Zealand’s Waitangi region. 

Through a series of in-person workshops and relationship-building efforts, the project seeks to build an international coalition of scholars, policymakers, indigenous leaders, and NGOs to share actionable knowledge and inform national policy. The core innovation lies in shifting conservation science from documentation to implementation by bridging research and action across geographies, institutions, and knowledge systems.

The impact of the project includes developing an open-access catalog of conservation practices, advancing theory on community and collective action, and seeding a global network dedicated to long-term biodiversity protection.