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dc.contributor.authorWatson, James EM
dc.contributor.authorShanahan, Danielle F
dc.contributor.authorDi Marco, Moreno
dc.contributor.authorAllan, James
dc.contributor.authorLaurance, William F
dc.contributor.authorSanderson, Eric W
dc.contributor.authorMackey, Brendan
dc.contributor.authorVenter, Oscar
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-12T01:30:41Z
dc.date.available2018-12-12T01:30:41Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.identifier.issn0960-9822
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.cub.2016.08.049
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/100138
dc.description.abstractHumans have altered terrestrial ecosystems for millennia [1], yet wilderness areas still remain as vital refugia where natural ecological and evolutionary processes operate with minimal human disturbance [2, 3, 4], underpinning key regional- and planetary-scale functions [5, 6]. Despite the myriad values of wilderness areas—as critical strongholds for endangered biodiversity [7], for carbon storage and sequestration [8], for buffering and regulating local climates [9], and for supporting many of the world’s most politically and economically marginalized communities [10]—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 [11, 12]. Here we challenge this assertion using new comparable maps of global wilderness following methods established in the original “last of the wild” analysis [13] to examine the change in extent since the early 1990s. We demonstrate alarming losses comprising one-tenth (3.3 million km2) of global wilderness areas over the last two decades, particularly in the Amazon (30%) and central Africa (14%). We assess increases in the protection of wilderness over the same time frame and show that these efforts are failing to keep pace with the rate of wilderness loss, which is nearly double the rate of protection. Our 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.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherCell Press
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom2929
dc.relation.ispartofpageto2934
dc.relation.ispartofissue21
dc.relation.ispartofjournalCurrent Biology
dc.relation.ispartofvolume26
dc.subject.fieldofresearchConservation and biodiversity
dc.subject.fieldofresearchBiological sciences
dc.subject.fieldofresearchBiomedical and clinical sciences
dc.subject.fieldofresearchPsychology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode410401
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode31
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode32
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode52
dc.titleCatastrophic Declines in Wilderness Areas Undermine Global Environment Targets
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
gro.hasfulltextNo Full Text
gro.griffith.authorMackey, Brendan


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