Protect the Last of the Wild Global Conservation Policy Must Stop the Disappearance of Earth’S Few Intact Ecosystems, Warn James E

COMMENT ECOLOGY Domestic safari finds HISTORY How the CIA CORRESPONDENCE Staff at the FAO OBITUARY Thomas Steitz, rich biodiversity down the co-opted science in can advise on data analysis ribosome Nobel laureate, back of the sofa p.31 the cold war p.32 and interpretation p.35 remembered p.36 TAYLOR WEIDMAN/ZREPORTAGE.COM/ZUMA TAYLOR A Xikrin woman walks back to her village from the Cateté River in Brazil. Protect the last of the wild Global conservation policy must stop the disappearance of Earth’s few intact ecosystems, warn James E. M. Watson, James R. Allan and colleagues. century ago, only 15% of Earth’s are free of industrial fishing, pollution and Earth’s intact ecosystems from disappear- surface was used to grow crops and shipping are almost completely confined to ing completely. raise livestock1. Today, more than the polar regions5. A77% of land (excluding Antarctica) and Numerous studies are revealing that LAST CHANCE 87% of the ocean has been modified by the Earth’s remaining wilderness areas are In 2016, we led an international team of direct effects of human activities2,3. This is increasingly important buffers against the scientists to map the world’s remaining illustrated in our global map of intact eco- effects of climate change and other human terrestrial wilderness3,4. This year, we pro- systems (see ‘What’s left?’). impacts. But, so far, the contribution of duced a similar map for intact ocean eco- Between 1993 and 2009, an area of terres- intact ecosystems has not been an explicit systems2 (see ‘Wild Earth’). The results of trial wilderness larger than India — a stag- target in any international policy framework, these efforts show that time is running out gering 3.3 million square kilometres — was such as the United Nations’ Strategic Plan for to safeguard the health of the planet — and lost to human settlement, farming, mining Biodiversity or the Paris climate agreement. human well-being. and other pressures4. In the ocean, areas that This must change if we are to prevent Some conservationists contend that ©2018 Spri nger Nature Li mited. All ri ghts reserved. 1 NOVEMBER 2018 | VOL 563 | NATURE | 27 COMMENT particular areas in fragmented and For example, the boreal forest is the most otherwise-degraded ecosystems are more intact ecosystem on the planet and holds important than undisturbed ecosystems6,7. one-third of the world’s terrestrial carbon. Fragmented areas might provide key ser- And intact forested ecosystems are able to vices, such as tourism revenue and benefits store and sequester much more carbon than to human health, or be rich in threatened are degraded ones8. In the tropics, logging biodiversity. Yet numerous studies are start- and burning now accounts for up to 40% ing to reveal that Earth’s most intact eco- of total above-ground carbon emissions14. systems have all sorts of functions that are In the ocean, seagrass meadows that are becoming increasingly crucial2,8,9. degraded (such as by sediment pollution) Wilderness areas are now the only places switch from being carbon sinks to major that contain mixes of species at near-natural carbon sources15. levels of abundance. They are also the only Moreover, models based on geography, areas supporting the ecological processes rainfall, degree of deforestation and so on that sustain biodiversity over evolution- are starting to reveal the degree to which ary timescales10. As such, they are impor- wilderness areas regulate the climate and tant reservoirs of genetic information, and water cycles — locally, regionally and glob- act as reference areas for efforts to re-wild ally. Such areas also provide a buffer against degraded land and seascapes. extreme weather and geological events. Sim- Various analyses reveal that wilderness ulations of tsunamis, for instance, indicate areas provide increasingly important ref- that healthy coral reefs provide coastlines uges for species that are declining in land- with at least twice as much protection as scapes dominated by people11. In the seas, highly degraded ones16. they are the last regions that still contain Wilderness regions are home to some viable populations of top predators, such as of the most politically and economically tuna, marlins and sharks9. marginalized indigenous communities on Safeguarding intact ecosystems is also key Earth. These people (who number in the to mitigating the effects of climate change, hundreds of millions) are reliant on intact which are making the refuge function of marine and terrestrial ecosystems for wilderness areas especially important. A resources such as food, water and fibre17. 2009 study, for instance, showed that Car- Many have established biological and cul- ibbean coral reefs that have low levels of tural connections with their environment pollution or fishing pressure recovered from over millennia. Securing the wilderness is coral bleaching up to four times faster than central to reducing their poverty and mar- did reefs with high levels of both12. And a ginalization — and to achieving numerous 2012 global meta-analysis revealed that the UN Sustainable Development Goals, from impacts of climate change on ecological reducing inequality to improving human the protection of wilderness areas an integral communities are more severe in fragmented well-being. part of their strategy for reducing emissions. landscapes13. As an example, under the UNFCCC Many wilderness areas are critical GLOBAL TARGETS process for reducing emissions from defor- sinks for atmospheric carbon dioxide. We believe that Earth’s remaining wilder- estation and forest degradation (REDD+), ness can be protected only if its importance landowners can be compensated if they is recognized within international policy refrain from clearing an area of tropical for- WILD EARTH frameworks. est that they’d planned to develop. However, Currently, some wilderness areas are there are no incentives for nations, private Mapping methods protected under national legislation such industry or communities to protect crucial as the 1964 US Wilderness Act, which carbon sinks, even when no imminent devel- To map Earth’s remaining terrestrial protects 37,000 km2 of federal land. But in opment is identified. This means that there wilderness, we used the best most nations, these areas are not formally is nothing to stop the slow erosion of these available data on eight indicators of defined, mapped or protected, and there places from small-scale and often unplanned human pressures at a resolution of is nothing to hold nations, private indus- industrial activity. Similar policies are needed 1 square kilometre. These were: built try, civil society or local communities to to protect other carbon-rich ecosystems, such environments, crop lands, pasture account for their long-term conservation. as seagrass meadows, and temperate and lands, population density, night-time What is needed is the establishment of boreal forests, especially in developed coun- lights, railways, major roadways and global targets within existing international tries that do not currently receive financial navigable waterways3,4. (Data were frameworks — specifically, those aimed at support under the UNFCCC. collected in 2009.) For our map of conserving biodiversity, avoiding dangerous Later this month, Egypt will host the intact ocean ecosystems, we used climate change and achieving sustainable 14th gathering of the Conference of the 2013 data on fishing, industrial development. Parties to the Convention on Biological shipping and fertilizer run-off, among There are several ways to do this imme- Diversity (CBD). Signatory nations, intra- 16 other indicators2. diately. The carbon sequestration and stor- governmental organizations such as the We identified wilderness land or age capacities of wilderness areas could be International Union for Conservation of ocean areas as those that were free of formally documented, and the importance Nature (IUCN), non-governmental organi- human pressures, with a contiguous of conserving them written into the policy zations and the scientific community will area of more than 10,000 km2 on land. recommendations of the UN Framework meet to work towards a strategic plan for J.E.M.W. et al. Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). the protection of biodiversity after 2020. Such a move would enable nations to make We urge participants at the meeting to 28 | NATURE | VOL 563 | 1 NOVEMBER 2018 ©2018 Spri nger Nature Li mited. All ri ghts reserved. ©2018 Spri nger Nature Li mited. All ri ghts reserved. Emperor penguins in the Ross Sea. include a mandated target for wilderness agreement to govern high-seas conserva- Signatory nations must now commit to conservation. In our view, a bold yet achiev- tion. Keeping Earth’s remaining marine implementing measures targeted at reduc- able target is to define and conserve 100% of wilderness off-limits to exploitation should ing human impacts, such as strict biosecurity all remaining intact ecosystems. be a key component of the new treaty. Strict procedures that minimize the risk of visitors PAUL NICKLEN/NGC PAUL A mandated global target will make it limits on government subsidies of harmful to Antarctica introducing invasive species. easier for governments, non-governmental fishing will also be crucial here; without organizations and entities such as the Global these, more than half of high-seas industrial LOCAL ACTION Environment Facility (a multinational fund- fishing would be unprofitable18. How can changes in policy at the global level ing programme that tackles environmental Our maps exclude Antarctica because it translate into effective national action? and sustainability problems) to leverage is off-limits to direct resource exploitation By our measure, 20 countries contain funding and mobilize action on the ground. such as mining, and the indirect effects of 94% of the world’s remaining wilderness It will also help to enable action under the human activities there are harder to meas- (excluding the high seas and Antarctica). various conventions that are attempting to ure. But it is a crucial wilderness area that More than 70% is in just five countries — protect biodiversity.

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