Abstract

The Center for Conservation Innovation uses science, technology, and policy to advance conservation. One of our core domains of focus is on the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and we use data to understand and evaluate how the landmark conservation law is implemented. This seminar provided students taking Society and the Environment at George Washington University with an overview of the major provisions of the ESA, and how they work in practice. After covering this background, the students were walked through two case studies exemplifying the kinds of data and analyses that Defenders uses to generate novel insights into the ESA’s functioning, as well as the advocacy implications stemming from these results. The seminar gave students a deeper understanding of how the ESA works to protect imperiled species and the work that Defenders does to strengthen this law.