Intact Wilderness
Unprotected areas with a large extent of intact wilderness. This includes continuous forests, shrublands, and grasslands that aren't identified in previous layers and makes up Layer 5 of the Global Safety Net (GSN).
An ecoregion-based approach to restoring the world's intact large mammal assemblages
Assemblages of large mammal species play a disproportionate role in the structure and composition of natural habitats. Loss of these assemblages destabilizes natural systems, while their recovery can restore ecological integrity. Here we take an ecoregion-based approach to identify landscapes that retain their historically present large mammal assemblages, and map ecoregions where reintroduction of 1–3 species could restore intact assemblages. Intact mammal assemblages occur across more than one-third of the 730 terrestrial ecoregions where large mammals were historically present, and 22% of these ecoregions retain complete assemblages across > 20% of the ecoregion area. Twenty species, if reintroduced or allowed to recolonize through improved connectivity, can increase the area of the world containing intact large mammal assemblages by 54% (11 116 000 km2). Each of these species have at least two large, intact habitat areas (> 10 000 km2) in a given ecoregion. Timely integration of recovery efforts for large mammals strengthens area-based targets being considered under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Amazonia Against the Clock
'Amazonia Against the Clock,' a groundbreaking report organized by COICA and published by Indigenous leaders and researchers, presents new data on deforestation and reaffirms the critical role of Indigenous peoples in protecting 80% of the Amazon by 2025.
A “Global Safety Net” to reverse biodiversity loss and stabilize Earth’s climate
Global strategies to halt the dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change are often formulated separately, even though they are interdependent and risk failure if pursued in isolation. The Global Safety Net maps how expanded nature conservation addresses both overarching threats. We identify 50% of the terrestrial realm that, if conserved, would reverse further biodiversity loss, prevent CO2 emissions from land conversion, and enhance natural carbon removal. This framework shows that, beyond the 15.1% of land area currently protected, 35.3% of the land area is needed to conserve additional sites of particular importance for biodiversity and stabilize the climate. Fifty ecoregions and 20 countries contribute disproportionately to proposed targets. Indigenous lands overlap extensively with the Global Safety Net.