“To summarize my view of where we are at the present time in the conservation movement…we are winning battles in a losing war,” famed biologist, naturalist, and writer Edward O. Wilson said in a phone interview with Mongabay. E.O. Wilson is recognized as one of the leading scientists in the world for his theories of island biogeography and sociobiology. As an author, he unified concepts in science and the humanities, winning two Pulitzer Prizes in non-fiction. Now at age 93, he serves as a professor emeritus at Harvard University, chairman of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation board of advisors, and chairman of the Half-Earth council. Wilson champions the goal of Half-Earth— protecting half of the planet, both land and sea. In his 2016 book, Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight For Life, he makes the case that doing so would save more than 80% of all biodiversity. Wilson says that Half-Earth is a “moonshot idea,” a big concept to inspire and galvanize support and attention, much like the goal of reaching the moon in the 1960s— but that it is much more urgent. “In every, almost every complex issue, in health as well as of course the economy, this [saving biodiversity] is a vital subject, and does not bear easily any neglect,” Wilson said, “but is going to become increasingly heavy and harming in every issue central to human cooperation and civilization…we’ve come to recognize that the fauna and flora are fundamental in continued human existence.” “This is urgent…because if we lose…This article was originally published on Mongabay