Title
Recent Catastrophic Declines in Wilderness and What This Means for Half Earth.
Author(s)
Watson, James
Published
2017
Abstract
Humans have altered terrestrial ecosystems for millennia, yet wilderness areas still remain as vital refugia where natural ecological and evolutionary processes operate with minimal human disturbance. Despite the myriad values of wilderness areas—as critical strongholds for endangered biodiversity, for carbon storage and sequestration, for buffering and regulating local climates, and for supporting many of the world’s most politically and economically marginalized communities—they are almost entirely ignored in multilateral environmental agreements. This is because they are assumed to be relatively free from threatening processes, and therefore are not a priority for conservation efforts. Here I challenge this assertion using new comparable maps of global wilderness and demonstrate alarming losses comprising a tenth (3.3 million km2) of global wilderness areas over the last two decades. These findings underscore an immediate need for international policies to recognize the vital values of wilderness and the unprecedented threats they face, and to underscore urgent large-scale, multifaceted actions needed to maintain them. I place these findings in a HalfEarth paradigm, which I believe is essential starting place for ensuring we halt the biodiversity crisis that is well underway.
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PUB26978