The Society is an international professional organization dedicated to promoting the scientific study of the phenomena that affect the maintenance, loss, and restoration of biological diversity. The Society's membership comprises a wide range of people interested in the conservation and study of biological diversity: resource managers, educators, government and private conservation workers, and students.

The Society was formed to help develop the scientific and technical means for the protection, maintenance, and restoration of life on this planet —its species, its ecological and evolutionary processes, and its particular and total environment.