What is our mission?
The Division of International Conservation (DIC), through the Wildlife Without Borders Regional, Species, and Global initiatives, seeks to strengthen the capacity of interested local conservation and natural resources managers, institutions, and communities in regions around the world to conserve wildlife, including species conservation and their habitats.

Where are we?
The office, located in Arlington, Virginia, is within easy access of the Ballston Metro Station and Route 66. A summary of where we are provides metro and car directions, our mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail address.

How are we organized?
DIC is one of three divisions within the International Affairs Program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is an agency within the Department of the Interior.

What work do we do?
U.S. International Conservation. The United States has a long-standing commitment to assisting other nations in the conservation of wildlife species—not only those international species that share or cross the United States’ borders, but also those that are not present on American soil. Because the planet’s wildlife is of aesthetic, recreational, economic, ecological, spiritual, and cultural benefit to all Earth’s inhabitants, and because U.S. consumer habits and policy have implications for wildlife far beyond our own borders, the United States federal government has charged the Service’s Division of International Conservation with the responsibility of supporting wildlife conservation initiatives in neighboring and remote countries.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service International Conservation. The Service is recognized as a worldwide leader in wildlife management and conservation. Its expertise in refuges, fisheries, endangered species management, enforcement and technology puts the Service in a unique position to influence and shape the outcome of wildlife conservation in other countries.

Additionally, many of the U.S. species the Service is charged to protect depend as much on the habitat conditions in foreign countries as the conditions in the United States. To conserve these migratory species and their habitat, the Service thinks and acts internationally. Service activities overseas and in neighboring countries also meet U.S. Government obligations contained in numerous treaties, laws, agreements, and cooperative programs with other nations.

Primary functions. DIC’s Latin America and Caribbean, Russia and East Asia, and Near East, South Asia and Africa Branches work together to accomplish the following international conservation goals:

1. Develop in-country personnel resources primarily through strengthening the capabilities of local institutions to develop and train local nationals to effectively manage natural resources.
2. Conserve habitats with a focus on areas already under protected status, but also including buffer zones, corridors, and other designations associated with protected areas.
3. Raise public awareness on a local and regional basis to promote conservation.
4. Catalyze conservation partnerships at local and international levels.
5. Promote communication and information exchange among communities, institutions, and countries; and enhance availability to resource users.
6. Enhance organization development in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of conservation activities with the ultimate goal of self-sufficiency.
7. Address conservation in a local context, effectively integrating local priorities and needs into all projects.
8. Benefit the conservation of wildlife populations and species, with an emphasis on threatened and endangered species and species at risk, as well as target species addressed by the Multinational Species Conservation Funds.

Latin America and Caribbean Branch. The principal goal of DIC’s Latin America and the Caribbean Branch is to strengthen the ability of this region’s conservation and natural resources managers, institutions, and communities to conserve biological diversity. This includes the conservation of species and ecosystems in which they reside. The Latin America and Caribbean Branch, through international treaties, conventions, protocols, agreements, and other regional initiatives such as the Western Hemisphere Migratory Species Initiative and the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trilateral Committee,cooperates with domestic and foreign governmental agencies, national and international non-governmental conservation organizations, and universities to accomplish this goal.

Russia and East Asia Branch. In 1972, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and its counterpart agencies in the Soviet Union launched a cooperative program to study and protect wildlife and their habitats. Since its inception, the program has grown to encompass a broad range of joint activities focusing on such topics as shared species of migratory birds; fish and marine mammals; refuges and other protected lands; and the vast ecosystem represented by the Bering and Chukchi Seas, which join the 2 countries. The principal goal of the Russia and East Asia program is to promote and collaborate in the conservation of wildlife resources in Russia and East Asia, with a special emphasis on species and populations shared with Russia. To accomplish this goal, the Branch cooperates with domestic and foreign governmental agencies, national and international non-governmental conservation organizations, universities, and other interested parties.

Near East, South Asia, and Africa Branch. DIC’s Near East, South Asia, and Africa Branch’s principle goal is to strengthen the capacity of conservation and natural resource managers, institutions, and communities of the Near East, South Asia, and Africa to conserve biological diversity. This includes species conservation and their ecosystems. In order to accomplish this goal, the Branch cooperates with domestic and foreign governmental agencies, national and international non-governmental conservation organizations, and universities through legal mandates, international treaties, conventions, protocols, agreements, the Multinational Species Conservation Funds (African and Asian elephant, great apes, rhinoceros and tiger, and marine turtle) and other regional initiatives.

Mexico Branch. The principal goal of DIC’s Mexico Branch is to strengthen Mexico’s capacity to conserve biological resources of global importance it harbors. The Branch will achieve this by working with partners, including federal, state, and municipal Mexican government entities, other countries, US State agencies, non governmental organizations at the international, national, regional, and grass-roots levels, academic and scientific institutions, private sector, peasant organizations, and Indigenous People; through supporting activities to develop local capacity for biodiversity conservation and management. The Mexico Branch also supports regional approaches, working with the governments of Mexico and Canada, through implementation of the North American Agreement for Environmental Cooperation; the Canada/Mexico/US Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management MOU, and related legislation.