Esri International User Conference 14 August 2012 | News story
IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Director-
General Julia Marton-Lefèvre gave a keynote presentation at the
Esri User Conference held in July 2012 in San Diego, California.
Attended by 15,000 people from 130 countries, this conference
showcased innovative applications and the power of Geographic
Information Systems (GIS). In her keynote speech, Julia Marton-
Lefèvre discussed the importance of geographic science in
understanding the world’s threatened species. Cutting-edge GIS
technology provided by Esri has already helped IUCN capture
distribution information for about 40,000 species on the IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species™. For example, we now know where
to find all the known mammals, birds, amphibians, reef-building
corals, sharks, tuna and a quarter of the world’s reptiles. GIS
also helps us locate areas of high biodiversity importance and
thereby guide decisions about conservation action and policy.
“Thanks to our collabo