In 2002, world leaders committed, through the Convention on Biological Diversity, to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. We compiled 31 indicators to report on progress toward this target. Most indicators of the state of biodiversity (covering species' population trends, extinction risk, habitat extent and condition, and community composition) showed declines, with no significant recent reductions in rate, whereas indicators of pressures on biodiversity (including resource consumption, invasive alien species, nitrogen pollution, overexploitation, and climate change impacts) showed increases. Despite some local successes and increasing responses (including extent and biodiversity coverage of protected areas, sustainable forest management, policy responses to invasive alien species, and biodiversity-related aid), the rate of biodiversity loss does not appear to be slowing.

/pdf/global-biodiversity-indicators-of-recent-declines-2cdh004kpg.pdf

Global Biodiversity: Indicators of Recent Declines

We conducted an analysis of global forest cover to reveal that 70% of remaining forest is within 1 km of the forest’s edge, subject to the degrading effects of fragmentation. A synthesis of fragmentation experiments spanning multiple biomes and scales, five continents, and 35 year sd emonstrates that habitatfragmentation reduces biodiversity by 13 to 75% and impairs key ecosystem functions by decreasing biomass and altering nutrient cycles. Effects are greatest in the smallest and most isolated fragments, and they magnify with the passage of time. These findings indicate an urgent need for conservation and restoration measures to improve landscape connectivity, which will reduce extinction rates and help maintain ecosystem services.

/pdf/habitat-fragmentation-and-its-lasting-impact-on-earth-s-25cwkisryd.pdf

Habitat fragmentation and its lasting impact on Earth’s ecosystems

Urgent need for conservation and restoration measures to improve landscape connectivity. We conducted an analysis of global forest cover to reveal that 70% of remaining forest is within 1 km of the forest’s edge, subject to the degrading effects of fragmentation. A synthesis of fragmentation experiments spanning multiple biomes and scales, five continents, and 35 years demonstrates that habitat fragmentation reduces biodiversity by 13 to 75% and impairs key ecosystem functions by decreasing biomass and altering nutrient cycles. Effects are greatest in the smallest and most isolated fragments, and they magnify with the passage of time. These findings indicate an urgent need for conservation and restoration measures to improve landscape connectivity, which will reduce extinction rates and help maintain ecosystem services.

Supplementary Materials for Habitat fragmentation and its lasting impact on Earth's ecosystems

Roughly 53% of Brazil's native vegetation occurs on private properties. Native forests and savannahs on these lands store 105 ± 21 GtCO2e (billion tons of CO2 equivalents) and play a vital role in maintaining a broad range of ecosystem services ( 1 ). Sound management of these private landscapes is critical if global efforts to mitigate climate change are to succeed. Recent approval of controversial revisions to Brazil's Forest Code (FC)—the central piece of legislation regulating land use and management on private properties—may therefore have global consequences. Here, we quantify changes resulting from the FC revisions in terms of environmental obligations and rights granted to land-owners. We then discuss conservation opportunities arising from new policy mechanisms in the FC and challenges for its implementation.

/pdf/cracking-brazil-s-forest-code-1sfztco1be.pdf

Cracking Brazil's Forest Code

Identifying priority areas for biodiversity is essential for directing conservation resources. Fundamentally, we must know where individual species live, which ones are vulnerable, where human actions threaten them, and their levels of protection. As conservation knowledge and threats change, we must reevaluate priorities. We mapped priority areas for vertebrates using newly updated data on >21,000 species of mammals, amphibians, and birds. For each taxon, we identified centers of richness for all species, small-ranged species, and threatened species listed with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Importantly, all analyses were at a spatial grain of 10 × 10 km, 100 times finer than previous assessments. This fine scale is a significant methodological improvement, because it brings mapping to scales comparable with regional decisions on where to place protected areas. We also mapped recent species discoveries, because they suggest where as-yet-unknown species might be living. To assess the protection of the priority areas, we calculated the percentage of priority areas within protected areas using the latest data from the World Database of Protected Areas, providing a snapshot of how well the planet’s protected area system encompasses vertebrate biodiversity. Although the priority areas do have more protection than the global average, the level of protection still is insufficient given the importance of these areas for preventing vertebrate extinctions. We also found substantial differences between our identified vertebrate priorities and the leading map of global conservation priorities, the biodiversity hotspots. Our findings suggest a need to reassess the global allocation of conservation resources to reflect today’s improved knowledge of biodiversity and conservation.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/110/28/E2602.full.pdf

Global patterns of terrestrial vertebrate diversity and conservation.

http://www.dpi.inpe.br/Miguel/Michelle/Referencias/Ecologia_da_Paisagem/BiologicalConservation_SpecialIssue_2009/02_Ribeiro_et_al_biocons_2009.pdf

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest:: how much is left and how is the remaining forest distributed? Implications for conservation

Understanding the dynamics of native forest loss and gain is critical for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services, especially in regions experiencing intense forest transformations We quantified native forest cover dynamics on an annual basis from 1990 to 2017 in Brazil's Atlantic Forest Despite the relative stability of native forest cover during this period (~28 Mha), the ongoing loss of older native forests, mostly on flatter terrains, have been hidden by the increasing gain of younger native forest cover, mostly on marginal lands for mechanized agriculture Changes in native forest cover and its spatial distribution increased forest isolation in 364% of the landscapes The clearance of older forests associated with the recut of 27% of younger forests has resulted in a progressive rejuvenation of the native forest cover We highlight the need to include native forest spatiotemporal dynamics into restoration programs to better estimate their expected benefits and unexpected problems

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/advances/7/4/eabc4547.full.pdf

Hidden destruction of older forests threatens Brazil’s Atlantic Forest and challenges restoration programs

Selecting sites for ecological restoration Is an imperative, although challenging task We developed a spatially explicit model to support site design and prioritization towards ecological restoration We considered seven distinct and flexible templates, two based on legislation requirements and five on landscape spatial parameters, such as corridor design, enhancements in patch size and shape, and proximity to larger sources areas, thus, with different resilience capacities We tested the approach on two different scales of analysis: applying the legislation based templates in the Atlantic Plateau of Sao Paulo, which is part of the Atlantic Forest biome, and the landscape based templates in one of its sub-watersheds (∼ 150,000 ha), and then calculated landscape indexes to compare the current forest configuration to the resulted simulated restored ones We showed that our protocol is flexible, transparent and repeatable, thus, could help in decision making towards conservation management

http://doi.editoracubo.com.br/10.4322/natcon.2013.025

Márcia Makiko Hirota

Papers

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest:: how much is left and how is the remaining forest distributed? Implications for conservation

Hidden destruction of older forests threatens Brazil’s Atlantic Forest and challenges restoration programs

Site Selection for Restoration Planning: A Protocol With Landscape and Legislation Based Alternatives