Under future climate change scenarios, bison will rely on connected habitats like the Broken Kettle Grassland Preserve in Iowa. © Chris Helzer/The Nature Conservancy
Land conservation is one of the key mechanisms by which we can fight ongoing biodiversity loss. Across our planet, about half of the land is in an intact condition able to be conserved, yet only 15% is currently protected. And of protected land, the majority is left unconnected. Because habitat loss and climate change are working together to drive biodiversity loss, any solutions must address both.
Two goals have emerged to protect biodiversity and human interests – to preserve about 50% of the land on earth, and keep global warming to 1.5°C or lower. The new “Global Safety Net” tool is designed to identify and prioritize lands suitable to meet those goals at the global scale. They confirm that most lands conserved to meet one of the needs meets the other as well, meaning we can have multiple benefits from each parcel of land we protect. In addition, only a relatively small amount of land would need to be conserved to connect all protected areas.
The Global Safety Net tool has similar goals to a new tool developed by The Nature Conservancy to identify lands in the U.S. resilient to climate change that will serve as valuable habitat for species under future climate change scenarios. Both seek to identify valuable future habitat for species under climate change scenarios, and that lands that will continue to sequester carbon and act as sinks.
Particularly relevant for today, preserving existing habitat for animals would have the further benefit of preventing spillover of diseases from animals to humans. For example, the chance for future zoonotic diseases, like the COVID-19 virus, could be reduced by preventing deforestation which increases human-wildlife contact.
Areas of the terrestrial realm where increased conservation action is needed to protect biodiversity and store carbon. From Dinerstein et al. 2020. Sci Adv 6(36): eabb2824.
Resources:
Dinerstein, E., Joshi, A.R., Vynne, C., Lee, A.T.L., Pharand-Deschênes, F., França, M., Fernando, S., Birch, T., Burkart, K., Asner, G.P. and Olson, D. 2020. A “Global Safety Net” to reverse biodiversity loss and stabilize Earth’s climate. Science Advances 6(36): eabb2824.
The Global Safety Net: home page and data
Resilient Lands Mapping Tool (The Nature Conservancy)
Resilient and Connected Landscape Story Map (The Nature Conservancy)
