To prevent species extinctions, targeted action must focus on areas of threatened biodiversity facing intense human pressures. This objective is even more important in the run-up to 2030, the target date to conserve 30% of lands and waters globally. Conservation Imperatives (unprotected terrestrial sites that harbor rare, range-restricted, and threatened species) are critical to preventing imminent species losses. To prioritize among the 16,825 Conservation Imperatives Sites spanning 1.64 million km², we ranked each site using a prioritization framework based on four criteria: number of threatened species per site; irreplaceability of the site; the proportion of an ecoregion’s remaining habitat contained in the site; and conversion pressure. Our approach prioritizes 1,667 sites representing 501,426 km², or 0.4% of Earth’s terrestrial surface, that we suggest are most in need of urgent protection, with 87% of these sites occurring in 20 countries and in 250 ecoregions. This prioritization directly addresses the concern that protected areas must be targeted to protect endangered species, habitats and populations: 33% of the prioritized Conservation Imperatives Sites scored higher in irreplaceability than 90% of existing protected and conserved areas. Additionally, 52% are within 2.5 km of an existing protected area, making extending protection or restoring connectivity more feasible. Targeting conservation actions, especially in this small set of countries and ecoregions identified here, would contribute “high quality” areas for biodiversity as part of reaching the 30% coverage target by 2030.

Human–elephant conflict has become a conservation challenge in Asia and Africa resulting in considerable human fatalities annually. We deployed an AI‐embedded camera‐alert system in a conflict hotspot in West Bengal, India to determine if AI algorithms could accurately detect elephants and if real‐time alerts that triggered a rapid response could prevent serious incidents. The system successfully detected elephants near villages (266 events) and transmitted real‐time alerts () permitting quick response by field personnel to prevent conflict (, SD = 12.4 min to arrival). Matriarch herds of elephants were detected mostly at night when human traffic was minimal; lone adult bulls, the class most prone to conflict, were detected day and night. Frequent detections of humans (33,217 events) on routes used by elephants highlighted the value of real‐time monitoring especially during daytime. Twelve human fatalities and eighteen serious injuries occurred in the study area between 2019 and 2023 but none during deployment of the AI system, supporting the hypothesis that alerts integrated with rapid response can reduce conflict. Loss of lives and livelihoods underscore the urgency of applying this approach to other elephant ranges and adapting AI models to conflict‐prone species to provide early warning and promote coexistence.

During five previous mass extinction events, many of Earth’s species died out in a relatively short period of time–like the dinosaurs did 66 million years ago. Scientists believe that Earth is currently experiencing another mass extinction, the sixth such event, but the first to be caused by human activities. This is a wake-up call: over a million species could vanish during our lifetimes! But there is hope: we can save many species by protecting their homes, especially in tropical places where many unique animals and plants live. This article will explain how some of the spots that are currently protected fail to capture all of the places where these at-risk species actually live. To complete the safety net of protection, we must focus on other important areas, called Conservation Imperatives sites, which contain many threatened species but only cover a tiny part of the Earth’s surface. Saving these spots is urgent, and luckily it is not as expensive as you might think. Time is running out, and the sooner we start, the better our chances of preventing many animals and plants from disappearing forever.

Ambitious biodiversity goals to protect 30% or more of the Earth’s surface by 2030 (30x30) require strategic near-term targets. To define areas that must be protected to prevent the most likely and imminent extinctions, we propose Conservation Imperatives—16,825 unprotected sites spanning ~164 Mha of the terrestrial realm that harbor rare and threatened species. We estimate that protecting the Conservation Imperatives would cost approximately US$169 billion (90% probability: US$146—US$228 billion). Globally, 38% of the 16,825 sites are either adjacent to or within 2.5 km of an existing protected area, potentially reducing land acquisition and management costs. These sites should be prioritized for conservation action over the next 5 years as part of a broader strategy to expand the global protected area network. The expansion of global protected areas between 2018 and 2023 incorporated only 7% of sites harboring range-limited and threatened species, highlighting a renewed urgency to conserve these habitats. Permanently protecting only 0.74% of land found in the tropics, where Conservation Imperatives are concentrated, could prevent the majority of predicted near-term extinctions once adequately resourced. We estimate this cost to be from US$29 billion to US$46 billion per year over the next 5 years. Multiple approaches will be required to meet long-term protection goals: providing rights and titles to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) conserving traditional lands, government designation of new protected areas on federal and state lands, and land purchase or long-term leasing of privately held lands.

The recovery of wild tigers in India and Nepal is a remarkable conservation achievement, but it sets the stage for increased human-wildlife conflict where parks are limited in size and where tigers reside outside reserves. We deployed an innovative technology, the TrailGuard AI camera-alert system, which runs on-the-edge artificial intelligence algorithms to detect tigers and poachers and transmit real-time images to designated authorities responsible for managing prominent tiger landscapes in India. We successfully captured and transmitted the first images of tigers using cameras with embedded AI and detected poachers. Notifications of tiger images were received in real time, approximately 30 seconds from camera trigger to appearing in a smart phone app. We review use cases of this AI-based real-time alert system for managers and local communities and suggest how the system could help monitor tigers and other endangered species, detect poaching, and provide early warnings for human-wildlife conflict.

Assemblages of large mammal species play a disproportionate role in the structure and composition of natural habitats. Loss of these assemblages destabilizes natural systems, while their recovery can restore ecological integrity. Here we take an ecoregion‐based approach to identify landscapes that retain their historically present large mammal assemblages, and map ecoregions where reintroduction of 1–3 species could restore intact assemblages. Intact mammal assemblages occur across more than one‐third of the 730 terrestrial ecoregions where large mammals were historically present, and 22% of these ecoregions retain complete assemblages across > 20% of the ecoregion area. Twenty species, if reintroduced or allowed to recolonize through improved connectivity, can increase the area of the world containing intact large mammal assemblages by 54% (11 116 000 km2). Each of these species have at least two large, intact habitat areas (> 10 000 km2) in a given ecoregion. Timely integration of recovery efforts for large mammals strengthens area‐based targets being considered under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

After taking office, President Biden signed an executive order announcing his America the Beautiful plan to conserve 30% of US land and water by 2030. He challenged Americans to collaboratively “conserve, connect, and restore the lands, waters, and wildlife upon which we all depend” at a national scale (US Departments 2021, p. 9). Here, we take a major step in advancing President Biden's plan by envisioning a bold and science-based rewilding of publicly owned federal lands (hereafter, federal lands) in the American West. Beyond concerns for human survival and flourishing, a principled commitment to the natural world and a sense of moral urgency underpins the motivation for our proposal. In general, rewilding aims to reestablish vital ecological processes that can involve removing troublesome nonnative species and restoring key native species. Our rewilding call is grounded in ecological science and is necessary regardless of changing political winds. Our objective is to follow up on President Biden's vision to conserve, connect, and restore by identifying a large reserve network in the American West suitable for rewilding two keystone species, the gray wolf (Canis lupus) and the North American beaver (Castor canadensis). We focus first on the gray wolf, a wide-ranging species requiring extensive areas of habitat. Gray wolves were largely eradicated from the American West following Euro-American colonization and manifest conquest of the West. Through measures afforded by the US Endangered Species Act, in the midto late 1990s, gray wolves were reintroduced to portions of the northern Rocky Mountains and Mexican gray wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) to portions of New Mexico and Arizona. Nevertheless, the wolf 's current range in the 11 Western states is approximately 14% of its historical range (figure 1a). Once likely numbering in the tens of thousands, there may be as few as approximately 3500 wolves in the American West today (supplemental table S1). As an apex predator, wolves can trigger strong ecological effects on prey and plants across a variety of landscapes of western North America (Beschta and Ripple 2009). Beaver restoration forms a second key feature of our rewilding proposal. Beaver populations had once been robust across the American West but were decimated by an estimated 90% to 98% in the wake of settler colonialism and are now extirpated from many streams (Butler and Malanson 2005). By felling trees and shrubs and building dams, beavers enrich fish habitat, increase water and sediment retention, maintain water flows during drought, provide wet fire breaks, improve water quality, initiate recovery of incised channels, increase carbon sequestration, and generally enhance habitat for many riparian plant and animal species (Castro et al. 2015). Beaver restoration is a cost-effective means of repairing degraded riparian areas. Although riparian areas occupy less than 2% of the landscape, they provide habitat for up to 70% of wildlife species (Poff et al. 2012).

Working paper analysing the economic implications of the proposed 30% target for areal protection in the draft post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

Working paper analysing the economic implications of the proposed 30% target for areal protection in the draft post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

Global strategies to halt the dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change are often formulated separately, even though they are interdependent and risk failure if pursued in isolation. The Global Safety Net maps how expanded nature conservation addresses both overarching threats. We identify 50% of the terrestrial realm that, if conserved, would reverse further biodiversity loss, prevent CO2 emissions from land conversion, and enhance natural carbon removal. This framework shows that, beyond the 15.1% land area currently protected, 35.3% of land area is needed to conserve additional sites of particular importance for biodiversity and stabilize the climate. Fifty ecoregions and 20 countries contribute disproportionately to proposed targets. Indigenous lands overlap extensively with the Global Safety Net. Conserving the Global Safety Net could support public health by reducing the potential for zoonotic diseases like COVID-19 from emerging in the future.

The world’s forests are crucially important for both biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation. New forest status and forest change spatial layers using remotely sensed data have revolutionised forest monitoring globally, and provide fine-scale deforestation alerts that can be actioned in near-real time. However, existing products are restricted to representing tree cover and do not reflect the considerable spatial variation in the biological importance of forests. Here we link modelled biodiversity values to remotely sensed data on tree cover to develop global maps of forest biodiversity significance (based on the rarity-weighted richness of forest mammal, bird, amphibian and conifer species) and forest biodiversity intactness (based on the modelled relationship between anthropogenic pressures and community intactness). The strengths and weaknesses of these products for policy and local decision-making are reviewed and we map out future improvements and developments that are needed to enhance their usefulness.

The Global Deal for Nature (GDN) is a time-bound, science-driven plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on Earth. Pairing the GDN and the Paris Climate Agreement would avoid catastrophic climate change, conserve species, and secure essential ecosystem services. New findings give urgency to this union: Less than half of the terrestrial realm is intact, yet conserving all native ecosystems-coupled with energy transition measures-will be required to remain below a 1.5°C rise in average global temperature. The GDN targets 30% of Earth to be formally protected and an additional 20% designated as climate stabilization areas, by 2030, to stay below 1.5°C. We highlight the 67% of terrestrial ecoregions that can meet 30% protection, thereby reducing extinction threats and carbon emissions from natural reservoirs. Freshwater and marine targets included here extend the GDN to all realms and provide a pathway to ensuring a more livable biosphere.

If we want a whole Earth, Nature Needs Half: a response to Büscher et al.Büscher et al.'s () recent article 'Half-Earth or Whole Earth?Radical ideas for conservation, and their implications' raises some important issues for conservation, but it paints a misleading picture of the Nature Needs Half movement.Nature Needs Half expresses three main tenets: () habitat loss and degradation are the leading causes of biodiversity loss, () current protected areas are not extensive enough to stem further loss of biodiversity, and () it is morally wrong for our species to drive other species to extinction (Wilson, ).Conservation biologists agree that to maintain viable populations of most of Earth's remaining species, we will need to protect c. % of landscapes and seascapes from intensive human economic use (Noss & Cooperrider, ; Locke, ).This bold goal is necessary if we hope to bring our societies' massive displacement of other species to an end.Necessary, but not sufficient.Büscher et al. correctly note that setting aside more habitat for other species will not preserve them if we continue to misbehave in more developed areas: over-consuming and generating excessive pollution, for example.It is all one Earth, after all, and protected areas are often degraded by external actions.We also agree with Büscher et al. that any significant changes in land use, including Nature Needs Half, must be made with due consideration for the rights and interests of the world's poor and indigenous peoples (Kopnina, ).This accords with a consensus among conservationists that local communities should be actively involved in conservation efforts.However, intraspecies justice-justice for peopleshould not come at the expense of interspecies justice: the very existence of other species.Nature Needs Half proponents envision a world where all species can flourish (Goodall, ).This will require setting aside sufficient habitat for other species while living justly and prudently on the remainder.Supporters of Nature Needs Half agree with Büscher et al. on the need to challenge the neoliberal growth economy (Crist, ); our proposal does precisely that, by protecting many more areas from its ravenous demands for natural resources.Creating such a mutually flourishing world will also require limiting human numbers, another sharp challenge to the endless growth economy (and a subject ignored by Büscher et al.).The scientific consensus is clear: humanity is on a trajectory to cause a mass extinction unrivalled in the last  million years of life on Earth (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, ).This calamity can be avoided only by setting aside far more of Earth's land and seas for conservation, and by developing ecologically sustainable societies.We believe doing so is a moral imperative (Cafaro & Primack, ).We owe it to the many magnificent and unique forms of life that remain, who we have no right to exterminate, and we owe it to future human generations, who will be grateful to inherit a lively, diverse, resilient and beautiful biosphere.

We assess progress toward the protection of 50% of the terrestrial biosphere to address the species-extinction crisis and conserve a global ecological heritage for future generations. Using a map of Earth's 846 terrestrial ecoregions, we show that 98 ecoregions (12%) exceed Half Protected; 313 ecoregions (37%) fall short of Half Protected but have sufficient unaltered habitat remaining to reach the target; and 207 ecoregions (24%) are in peril, where an average of only 4% of natural habitat remains. We propose a Global Deal for Nature-a companion to the Paris Climate Deal-to promote increased habitat protection and restoration, national-and ecoregion-scale conservation strategies, and the empowerment of indigenous peoples to protect their sovereign lands. The goal of such an accord would be to protect half the terrestrial realm by 2050 to halt the extinction crisis while sustaining human livelihoods.

AbstractProtected areas across the range of the African savannah elephantLoxodonta africanaare increasingly being surrounded and isolated by agriculture and human settlements. Conflicts between people and crop-raiding elephants regularly lead to direct reprisals and diminish community support for conservation. We report on field trials in northern Tanzania that employed a new, humane way for wildlife managers to move elephants away from conflict zones, from distances of > 100 m, thereby enhancing the safety of wildlife managers, farmers and elephants. We deployed 10 unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) piloted by five trained teams of wildlife managers in the Tarangire–Manyara and Serengeti ecosystems. Game Scouts deployed the drones opportunistically during crop-raiding events at the peak of the maize ripening period in 2015 and 2016. In 100% of trials (n = 51) elephants responded to the presence of a drone by departing rapidly from crop fields (n = 38) and settlements (n = 13). The cost of five teams responsible for 617 km2in Tarangire–Manyara was estimated to be USD 15,520 for 1 year, and all drones remained operational for the duration of the study. The initial success of this tool warrants further testing of the utility of small unmanned aerial vehicles as part of the toolbox for wildlife managers and communities dealing with high levels of conflict with wildlife.

Real-time forest monitoring technologies could help track changes in tiger populations.

The Critically Endangered Sumatran rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis formerly ranged across Southeast Asia. Hunting and habitat loss have made it one of the rarest large mammals and the species faces extinction despite decades of conservation efforts. The number of individuals remaining is unknown as a consequence of inadequate methods and lack of funds for the intensive field work required to estimate the population size of this rare and solitary species. However, all information indicates that numbers are low and declining. A few individuals persist in Borneo, and three tiny populations remain on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and show evidence of breeding. Rhino Protection Units are deployed at all known breeding sites but poaching and a presumed low breeding rate remain major threats. Protected areas have been created for the rhinoceros and other in situ conservation efforts have increased but the species has continued to go locally extinct across its range. Conventional captive breeding has also proven difficult; from a total of 45 Sumatran rhinoceros taken from the wild since 1984 there were no captive births until 2001. Since then only two pairs have been actively bred in captivity, resulting in four births, three by the same pair at the Cincinnati Zoo and one at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Sumatra, with the sex ratio skewed towards males. To avoid extinction it will be necessary to implement intensive management zones, manage the metapopulation as a single unit, and develop advanced reproductive techniques as a matter of urgency. Intensive census efforts are ongoing in Bukit Barisan Selatan but elsewhere similar efforts remain at the planning stage.

Commodity crop expansion in the tropics presents the challenge of preserving tropical moist forest (TMF) ecosystems and their role in carbon sequestration. We propose an algorithm, specific to the TMF biome, which identifies 125 million ha of degraded, low-carbon density land (LCDL) in the Pantropical TMF belt for agricultural expansion. About 65 million ha of LCDL are in contiguous tracts >5,000 ha and <500 m elevation, meeting the prerequisites for commercial-scale oil palm production, the fastest-expanding industrialized commodity crop in the TMF. These areas could support expansion of commercial agriculture for another 25-50 years without further conversion of TMF. Confining agricultural expansion to the LCDL can avoid the release of approximately 13 billion tons of CO2 while saving valuable tropical biodiversity. The simplicity and transparency of this easily monitored metric could prove useful to producers, governments, investors, environmental stewards, and consumers and enhance good governance in tropical regions.