New data analysis identifies the best ‘high-value biodiversity’ habitat areas on the planet

A team of scientists combined high-resolution data from highly threatened habitats with intact natural systems, revealing a first global map of the world’s remaining high-value biodiversity habitat areas. Surprisingly, only 18.6 percent of these areas are currently protected.

Publishing their results in the procedures of the National Academy of SciencesThe authors found that these high-value biodiversity habitat areas are found both in intact regions and in human-dominated landscapes. Furthermore, the authors discovered that these areas are in better condition than most other locations that were predicted to have supported a similar set of species.

Lead author Karel Mokany of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia said: “Most habitat conservation efforts to date have been directed at small areas of highly threatened habitats, but the Emerging debate suggests that retaining large intact natural systems may be just as important. ” We reconcile these perspectives by integrating global fine-resolution data on habitat condition and species assembly rotation “

The finely resolved assessment provides not only a measure of contextual integrity on the planet’s land surface, but it does so at a spatial resolution of relevance to conservation policy, planning and management at the regional or national level. This is particularly important in light of the ongoing discussions and negotiations on a post-2020 global biodiversity framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The authors noted that up to half a million species are under imminent threat of extinction in the coming decades, and that retaining the remaining natural habitat for biodiversity is crucial to limiting extinctions. Furthermore, there is a direct association between biodiversity loss and human health, as underlined by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, which is linked to commercial wildlife trade for human consumption, which is associated with habitat loss and overexploitation.

The study’s lead author, Dr. James Watson of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Queensland, said: “Given the irreversibility of species extinctions, society must now act to retain Earth’s unique evolutionary heritage. Now we know where to act: The high-value habitat that we have identified will be crucial for the persistence of all biodiversity in the future, which will require strong commitments by governments, companies and society to stop its loss and degradation ” .