Saving the Rarest Species
Identifying Key Sites for Conservation
According to a recent study, reserving 1.2% of the Earth’s surface for nature would be sufficient to save the most threatened species from going extinct. According to an analysis published in the journal Frontiers in Science, thousands of the closest-to-extinct mammals, birds, amphibians, and plants may be saved if protected areas were strategically expanded on land. To avert the impending extinction of rare animals and plants, the research team identified 16,825 sites from Argentina to Papua New Guinea that should be given priority for conservation in the upcoming five years.
Using the example of the peyote cactus, whose remaining range may be limited to small parts of the Chihuahuan desert in North America, Dr. Eric Dinerstein, lead author of the study and representative of the environmental organization Resolve, explained that the team was attempting to identify the world’s rarest species with limited habitats. According to him, “the majority of species on Earth are rare, which means that they either have extremely small ranges, occur at extremely low densities, or both.”
In place of focusing on everything that would be required to restore nature to Earth, this study aims to find ways to prevent nearing extinctions. As stated by scientists, maintaining ecosystems that are key to human cultures and halting the loss of biodiversity would need more than just growing protected areas. Researchers found half of the planet’s land area in 2020 that, if preserved, would improve natural carbon removal and stop the loss of biodiversity.
The Challenge of Government Prioritization
38% of the sites—dubbed “conservation imperatives” by the authors—are located within 2.5 kilometers (one and a half miles) of an existing protected area, suggesting that they may be possible quick wins. Over half of the places were located in the Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar, and Colombia together. As part of the UN biodiversity targets in 2022, states are enacted to secure thirty percent of the planet for wildlife. This is one of more than twenty aims aimed at ending the global deforestation loss by the end of this decade. The UN guesses that 16.6% of the planet’s land area and inland waters are protected. Given that some nations are now debating where to add more conservation areas.
The study did discover, however, that governments frequently failed to protect the biodiverse places that most urgently needed to be protected. According to the authors’ estimates, the most vulnerable species were present at only 7% of the sites in newly created protected areas between 2018 and 2023. “Just 7% of the new protected areas between 2018 and 2023 overlapped with the conservation imperative sites,” stated Dinerstein, “despite the recent talk about extinction, the biodiversity crisis, and what we should be doing.”
It appears as though nations are selecting non-rare locations to add to the global areas under protection by applying a reverse-selection method. This paper’s call to action is that, during the next five years, we must improve significantly, and that improvement is achievable.
The Cost and Feasibility of Conservation Efforts
Researchers estimated that over the next five years, protecting the important sites they identify will cover 1.6 million sq km (or 630,000 sq miles) and cost between $29 and $46 billion (or £23 and £36 billion). The creation of protected areas on government-owned land, the expansion of Indigenous rights and land titles, and the acquisition of more land could all be used to achieve this.
Global Data and Satellite Analysis: A Methodology
To determine the remaining habitat for threatened species, the study used satellite analysis to match worldwide data about mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and plants with protected areas that are currently in place. The majority of the regions designated for immediate conservation were found to be in the tropics, however, tundra, grasslands, and temperate broadleaf forests were also included. The findings are a helpful recommendation for quick action on extinctions, according to
Prof. Neil Burgess is the head scientist of the UN Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre, which is in charge of tracking global progress on extending protected areas.
Conclusion: Urgent Actions for the Next Five Years
Burgess stated that the paper served as a crucial reminder that “achieving 30% coverage by protected and conserved areas on its own is not enough, and that these areas’ location, quality, and effectiveness will determine whether they fulfill their role in contributing to halting biodiversity loss.”