June 24, The Long Run, Partner of LT&C, hosted its 15th weekly hangout for its members, where they introduced their new partner – the Half-Earth Project.  Dr. Paula J. Ehrlich, President & CEO of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and lead of the Half-Earth Project was co-hosting the call. The cooperation of The Long Run and the Half-Earth Project is a great example of how to produce synergy between tourism and biodiversity protection, an example of linking tourism and conservation, which LT&C will have a closer look at on how it works in practice. Others may learn from this fruitful cooperation.

At the hangout (webinar) Paula shared insights with the members of The Long Run about the Half-Earth Project, a call to protect half the land and sea in order to manage sufficient habitat to reverse the species extinction crisis and ensure the long-term health of our planet.

The goal of The Long Run is to maintain or improve the integrity of ecosystems through effective, sustainable management practices that ensure ecosystems continue to benefit mankind in perpetuity. The Long Run partnered with the Half-Earth Project because they will be able to:

• Harness synergies and collaborate in order to push the sustainable travel and conservation agenda even further.  
  
• Share best practices and unique insights from their members to inspire others to join the movement and protect landscapes and seascapes for posterity.
  
• Seek opportunities to further promote the impacts of The Long Run and its members and further increase cross-pollination and lessons learned to help to achieve the organisation’s vision.

Some of the key points shared in the webinar:

• The ongoing mass extinction of the natural world ranks with pandemics, world war, and climate change as among the greatest threats that humanity has imposed on itself.
  
• “Unless humanity learns a great deal more about global biodiversity and moves quickly to protect it, we will soon lose most of the species composing life on Earth.”  E. O. Wilson states,
  
• Why one-half? If we protect half the global surface, the number of species protected will be 85% or more. At one-half and above, life on Earth enters the safe zone.
  
• Building on cutting-edge science, analytics, and technology, the Half-Earth Project is driving a differentiating scientific understanding of how to best support the most biodiverse places in the world as well as the people who call these paradises home.
  
• Advances in technology have allowed them to comprehensively map the geospatial location and distribution of the species of the earth at high enough resolution to drive decision-making about where there is the best opportunity to protect the most species.  
  
• The Half-Earth Future programs are an invitation to companies, communities, places and scientists to consolidate and direct their conservation efforts, and contribute to a Half-Earth future in their own ways. 

As a Community for a Half-Earth Future, The Long Run shows:

• How collectively the members of The Long Run are demonstrating that business can be a force for good and inspire others to make the world a better place. 
  
• That there is a potential for a strong alliance between what The Long Run is doing (the HOW to protect and conserve) with the WHY of the Half-Earth campaign.