"As striking as these wilderness numbers are, they underscore more than ever the critical importance of protecting the biodiversity hotspots, areas which represent only 1.4 percent of the Earth's land area but which contain 44 percent of all vascular plants and 35 percent of all mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians as endemics, meaning they are found nowhere else," said Mittermeier.
"By targeting the 25 biodiversity hotspots plus the five high-biodiversity wilderness areas, we could save a vastly disproportionate number of the world's species," added Thomas Brooks, Senior Director for CI's Conservation Synthesis Program. "The conservation community would be wise to allocate their scarce resources accordingly."
The wilderness areas are also critical for the survival of many of the world's remaining indigenous groups, who traditionally live at low densities over extensive areas, but have been driven to cultural extinction by the pace of development over much of the planet.
"The high-biodiversity wilderness areas are major storehouses of biological diversity but, just as importantly, they provide critical ecosystem services to the planet," said co-author Gustavo Fonseca, Conservation International's Executive Vice President of Programs and Science. "That means they regulate clean water for the planet, reduce the effects of global warming, encourage pollination and wildlife migration--and, of course, have enormous recreational, aesthetic and spiritual value to people."
The 24 wilderness areas analyzed in the PNAS paper, along with several o
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Contact: Brad Phillips
b.phillips@conservation.org
202-912-1532
Conservation International
18-Aug-2003