Esri’s Jack Dangermond Receives California 30×30 Champion Award for Conservation Leadership

Jack Dangermond, the president of global mapping technology company Esri, has received California’s 30×30 Champion Award for his leadership in science, technology, philanthropy and partnership — advancing the state’s landmark conservation goal of protecting 30 percent of its lands and coastal waters by 2030.

Award presented at the 30×30 Partnership 2026 Summit

The award was presented to Dangermond by California Governor Gavin Newsom on September 29 during the 30×30 Partnership 2026 Summit at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, Esri announced on October 6 from Redlands, California.

The honour recognises individuals, California Native American tribes, organisations and partners whose leadership, collaboration, innovation or stewardship has helped realise the state’s conservation vision.

Why Dangermond was honoured

Dangermond was recognised for advancing the 30×30 initiative across science, technology, philanthropy and partnership. Through Esri, he has helped make geographic information system (GIS) technology a powerful tool for understanding California’s landscapes and advancing shared conservation goals — including CA Nature, the state’s online resource for the 30×30 initiative.

His personal philanthropic work has also helped protect significant natural areas in the state, including the 24,000-acre Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve. In a statement, Dangermond said he was honoured to receive the award and described Esri’s aim to help everyone — from the public and educators to scientists and government decision-makers — “turn data into meaningful action”.

California’s 30×30 goal — and the global backdrop

California set the first-in-the-nation 30×30 goal through an executive order in 2020, later reinforced by state law. The initiative seeks to protect biodiversity, expand access to nature and tackle climate change. Scientists around the world agree that conserving roughly one-third of the planet’s land and water by 2030 is needed to combat climate change and limit the mass extinction of plant and animal life.

The state has added more than one million acres to its conservation database in the past year alone, and officials say California is on track to meet the land conservation goal by 2030.

What the award means for climate and nature

Nature-based strategies — healthy soils, wetlands restoration, active forest management and green infrastructure in cities — are central to California’s plan to use its lands to fight climate change, conserve biodiversity and boost climate resilience. California is considered one of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots, with an estimated 5,500 plant species, 40 percent of them found nowhere else on Earth.

For Dangermond, whose GIS technology now underpins the state’s CA Nature conservation data platform, the award places a technology leader at the centre of California’s conservation story — and underlines how science, philanthropy and public policy can converge on a single goal: keeping a third of the land and water wild by 2030. Read more climate and nature stories in Watan News’ climate section.