World Solve

growing risk of mass species extinction remains one of the most urgent challenges of our time. Systems currently in place are inadequate for the scale and complexity of the problem. A successful approach must work where resources are scarcest and demonstrate clear, measurable results. It should identify possible harms, respect local agency, and show how the solution can be maintained and expanded by the communities it is meant to serve.

Historical records increasingly exist in fragile digital formats that may outlive current software, vendors, and hardware. The unresolved problem is preserving public memory across decades of technological change. The challenge is especially acute in informal settlements, where legacy systems, coordination failures, and weak oversight can magnify harm.

Species face extinction from multiple pressures. Protected areas and habitat corridors are needed.

Critical peatlands and ancient rainforests in Sumatra and Kalimantan are continuously drained and burned for monoculture crops, releasing vast carbon reservoirs and driving endangered species like orangutans toward extinction.

Dominant national languages in education and digital media are rapidly eradicating indigenous oral traditions and native languages across remote regions.

Poaching and illegal trade continue to threaten species like elephants, rhinos, and pangolins despite international protections, because enforcement remains inconsistent and demand persists. Closing this gap between law and enforcement remains an unresolved global conservation issue.

As temperatures rise, alpine species are forced to migrate to higher elevations, but many eventually run out of mountain left to climb, risking extinction. Protecting these increasingly squeezed ecosystems remains an unresolved conservation priority.

Illegal wildlife trade pushes species toward extinction while operating largely undetected across international borders. A more coordinated global tracking system could catch this trade before, not after, populations collapse.

Create rapid assessment, habitat protection, captive breeding, community stewardship, and funding models for species discovered in highly localized habitats.