A metric for spatially explicit contributions to science-based species targets

Louise Mair, Leon A. Bennun, Thomas M. Brooks, Stuart H. M. Butchart, Friederike C. Bolam, Neil D. Burgess, Jonathan M. M. Ekstrom, E. J. Milner-Gulland, Michael Hoffmann, Keping Ma, Nicholas B. W. Macfarlane, Domitilla C. Raimondo, Ana S. L. Rodrigues, Xiaoli Shen, Bernardo B. N. Strassburg, Craig R. Beatty, Carla Gómez-Creutzberg, Alvaro Iribarrem, Meizani Irmadhiany, Eduardo Lacerda, Bianca C. Mattos, Karmila Parakkasi, Marcelo F. Tognelli, Elizabeth L. Bennett, Catherine Bryan, Giulia Carbone, Abhishek Chaudhary, Maxime Eiselin, Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca, Russell Galt, Arne Geschke, Louise Glew, Romie Goedicke, Jonathan M. H. Green, Richard D. Gregory, Samantha L. L. Hill, David G. Hole, Jonathan Hughes, Jonathan Hutton, Marco P. W. Keijzer, Laetitia M. Navarro, Eimear Nic Lughadha, Andrew J. Plumptre, Philippe Puydarrieux, Hugh P. Possingham, Aleksandar Rankovic, Eugenie C. Regan, Carlo Rondinini, Joshua D. Schneck, Juha Siikamäki, Cyriaque Sendashonga, Gilles Seutin, Sam Sinclair, Andrew L. Skowno, Carolina A. Soto-Navarro, Simon N. Stuart, Helen J. Temple, Antoine Vallier, Francesca Verones, Leonardo R. Viana, James Watson, Simeon Bezeng, Monika Böhm, Ian J. Burfield, Viola Clausnitzer, Colin Clubbe, Neil A. Cox, Jörg Freyhof, Leah R. Gerber, Craig Hilton-Taylor, Richard Jenkins, Ackbar Joolia, Lucas N. Joppa, Lian Pin Koh, Thomas E. Lacher, Penny F. Langhammer, Barney Long, David Mallon, Michela Pacifici, Beth A. Polidoro, Caroline M. Pollock, Malin C. Rivers, Nicolette S. Roach, Jon Paul Rodríguez, Jane Smart, Bruce E. Young, Frank Hawkins, Philip J. K. McGowan

Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5, 836-844

April 08, 2021

The Convention on Biological Diversity’s post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework will probably include a goal to stabilize and restore the status of species. Its delivery would be facilitated by making the actions required to halt and reverse species loss spatially explicit. Here, we develop a species threat abatement and restoration (STAR) metric that is scalable across species, threats and geographies. STAR quantifies the contributions that abating threats and restoring habitats in specific places offer towards reducing extinction risk. While every nation can contribute towards halting biodiversity loss, Indonesia, Colombia, Mexico, Madagascar and Brazil combined have stewardship over 31% of total STAR values for terrestrial amphibians, birds and mammals. Among actions, sustainable crop production and forestry dominate, contributing 41% of total STAR values for these taxonomic groups. Key Biodiversity Areas cover 9% of the terrestrial surface but capture 47% of STAR values. STAR could support governmental and non-state actors in quantifying their contributions to meeting science-based species targets within the framework.

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CITATION

Mair, L., Bennun, L. A., Brooks, T. M., Butchart, S. H. M., Bolam, F. C., Burgess, N. D., … Ma, K. (2021). A metric for spatially explicit contributions to science-based species targets. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5(6), 836–844. doi:10.1038/s41559-021-01432-0