The extinction of a wide array of life forms on our planet is a serious issue, mostly brought on by human activities such as habitat degradation, pollution, climate change, and resource overexploitation. However, scientists have found a potentially effective way to protect Earth’s species.
According to the US conservation organization Resolve, an effective strategy to preserve biodiversity is to protect just a small fraction of the planet’s territory. Limited to 1.2% of the Earth’s surface, researchers have identified critical worldwide locations known as Conservation Imperatives. Protecting these areas could “prevent all predicted extinctions if they were adequately protected,” the team stated. These important hotspots act as shelters for uncommon and threatened species, such as the Philippine tamaraw, and unique plant and animal life. Protecting these areas is like building arks for the planet’s wildlife to ensure their continued existence for years to come.
Mapping rare and endangered species’ distributions using six widely accepted biodiversity assessments was a step in identifying these regions. These maps were overlaid with the most recent worldwide map of protected areas to identify vulnerable locations that require immediate protection.
Co-author Andy Lee explained to Interesting Engineering, “Conservation Imperatives is mapped using the distributions of rare and endangered species via six widely used biodiversity assessments. These locations were overlapped with the latest map or global protected areas to identify unprotected sites needing immediate protections.”
High-resolution satellite imagery (100 meters) was also used to analyze land cover, refining the global map and pinpointing remaining wildlife habitats. The comprehensive study identified 16,825 critical conservation imperatives globally, covering about 164 million hectares. Notably, these hotspots are concentrated in tropical regions, primarily within five countries: the Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar, and Colombia.
Protecting these remaining habitats can prevent imminent extinction, provide vital source populations for future species recovery, and help halt the sixth great extinction. Lee emphasized, “Protecting these last remaining habitats can prevent imminent extinction, provide important source populations for the future recovery of these species, and spearhead the effort to halt the sixth great extinction.”
Interestingly, nearly 40% of these Conservation Imperatives are adjacent to existing protected areas, making their integration into current conservation plans or developing alternative methods more feasible. Researchers estimate that the annual cost of conserving these areas would be less than 0.2% of the US GDP, a small fraction of the expenditure on fossil fuel subsidies.
“We estimated it would cost US$169 billion to protect all tropic Conservation Imperatives and US$263 billion worldwide. Over the next five years, this equates to US$53 billion a year to protect all sites—less than 0.2% of the United States’ GDP. Half this amount would protect the bulk of the world’s rare and endangered species,” Lee shared with IE.
Data from hundreds of conservation projects were analyzed to estimate these costs, revealing that over one-third of the areas overlap with existing protected zones. This overlap could significantly reduce the cost of establishing and managing new protected areas in the long term. “Given these estimations, protecting the Conservation Imperatives is achievable and affordable,” Lee stated.
Protecting these hotspots is vital for wildlife and crucial in combating climate change. These regions, particularly forests, act as giant carbon sinks, absorbing harmful greenhouse gases. Therefore, preserving them benefits both the planet’s biodiversity and climate efforts. Conservation Imperatives are part of a broader strategy, the Global Safety Net framework, which aims to protect at least 30% of Earth’s land by 2030.
“It is a critical first step for maintaining ecosystem services and supporting the global climate objective of staying below a 1.5°C temperature rise. This integrated approach benefits both biodiversity and climate efforts,” Lee concluded.
