Where: Mexico

What's at stake: One of the world's richest marine ecosystems, home to the last pristine gray whale nursery and the world's smallest and most endangered porpoise.

Threatened by: Oil and gas drilling, mega-tourism, harmful fishing practices, industrial projects

Animals include: Whales, including newborn baby grays; porpoises, including orcas and vaquitas; dolphins, sharks, seals, turtles, nearly 900 species of fish and hundreds of bird species, including peregrine falcons and the blue-footed booby.

• Each winter, hundreds of pregnant gray whales swim 4,000 miles from the Arctic to reach San Ignacio Lagoon, where they give birth.
• San Ignacio Lagoon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with a wetland complex that extends along 248 miles of coastline, providing critical habitat for migratory birds and waterfowl. It's home to the largest concentration of osprey nesting pairs in the world.
• In the lagoon, newborn gray whales are safe from killer orcas and can hone their swimming skills before the arduous journey back to Alaska.
• In 2000, our BioGems Initiative mobilized one million people from around the world and stopped the Mexican government and the Mitsubishi Corporation from building the world's largest salt factory on the banks of San Ignacio Lagoon, the world's last untouched gray whale nursery.
• The Gulf of California is home to 891 species of fish -- nearly 10 percent of which are found nowhere else in the world. Thirty-four species of marine mammals also inhabit the area, making it one of the world's most important nursery and feeding grounds for porpoises, dolphins and whales.
• Half of Mexico's fish supply, including sharks, northern milkfish, Spanish mackerel and corvine, comes from the Gulf of California. The gulf is also a magnet for sport-fishing, helping support the local communities of Cabo San Lucas, La Paz, Loreto, Guaymas and Mulege, among others.
• Each year in the Gulf of California, shrimp nets scoop up nearly 200,000 tons of fish other than shrimp, affecting as many as 400 different species of marine life.
• According to scientists, no more than 150 vaquita marinas survive in the Gulf of California, the last remaining habitat of this small porpoise. The main threat to vaquitas is accidental entanglement in nets set for fish and shrimp destined for export to the United States.