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Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity

Author

Listed:
  • H. S. Grantham

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • A. Duncan

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • T. D. Evans

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • K. R. Jones

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • H. L. Beyer

    (University of Queensland)

  • R. Schuster

    (Carleton University)

  • J. Walston

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • J. C. Ray

    (Wildlife Conservation Society Canada)

  • J. G. Robinson

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • M. Callow

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • T. Clements

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • H. M. Costa

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • A. DeGemmis

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • P. R. Elsen

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • J. Ervin

    (One United Nations Plaza)

  • P. Franco

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • E. Goldman

    (World Resources Institute)

  • S. Goetz

    (Northern Arizona University)

  • A. Hansen

    (Montana State University)

  • E. Hofsvang

    (Rainforest Foundation Norway)

  • P. Jantz

    (Northern Arizona University)

  • S. Jupiter

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • A. Kang

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • P. Langhammer

    (Global Wildlife Conservation
    Arizona State University)

  • W. F. Laurance

    (College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University)

  • S. Lieberman

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • M. Linkie

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • Y. Malhi

    (University of Oxford)

  • S. Maxwell

    (University of Queensland)

  • M. Mendez

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • R. Mittermeier

    (Global Wildlife Conservation)

  • N. J. Murray

    (College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University
    James Cook University, Townsville)

  • H. Possingham

    (University of Queensland
    The Nature Conservancy)

  • J. Radachowsky

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • S. Saatchi

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • C. Samper

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • J. Silverman

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • A. Shapiro

    (World Wide Fund for Nature Germany, Space+Science)

  • B. Strassburg

    (International Institute of Sustainability)

  • T. Stevens

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • E. Stokes

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • R. Taylor

    (World Resources Institute)

  • T. Tear

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • R. Tizard

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • O. Venter

    (University of Northern British Columbia)

  • P. Visconti

    (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis)

  • S. Wang

    (Global Conservation Program)

  • J. E. M. Watson

    (Global Conservation Program
    University of Queensland)

Abstract

Many global environmental agendas, including halting biodiversity loss, reversing land degradation, and limiting climate change, depend upon retaining forests with high ecological integrity, yet the scale and degree of forest modification remain poorly quantified and mapped. By integrating data on observed and inferred human pressures and an index of lost connectivity, we generate a globally consistent, continuous index of forest condition as determined by the degree of anthropogenic modification. Globally, only 17.4 million km2 of forest (40.5%) has high landscape-level integrity (mostly found in Canada, Russia, the Amazon, Central Africa, and New Guinea) and only 27% of this area is found in nationally designated protected areas. Of the forest inside protected areas, only 56% has high landscape-level integrity. Ambitious policies that prioritize the retention of forest integrity, especially in the most intact areas, are now urgently needed alongside current efforts aimed at halting deforestation and restoring the integrity of forests globally.

Suggested Citation

  • H. S. Grantham & A. Duncan & T. D. Evans & K. R. Jones & H. L. Beyer & R. Schuster & J. Walston & J. C. Ray & J. G. Robinson & M. Callow & T. Clements & H. M. Costa & A. DeGemmis & P. R. Elsen & J. Er, 2020. "Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-19493-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Arlindo Ananias Pereira da Silva & Adriano Roberto Franquelino & Paulo Eduardo Teodoro & Rafael Montanari & Glaucia Amorim Faria & Cristóvão Henrique Ribeiro da Silva & Dayane Bortoloto da Silva & Wal, 2022. "The fewer, the better fare: Can the loss of vegetation in the Cerrado drive the increase in dengue fever cases infection?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-16, January.
    2. Guangdong Li & Chuanglin Fang & Yingjie Li & Zhenbo Wang & Siao Sun & Sanwei He & Wei Qi & Chao Bao & Haitao Ma & Yupeng Fan & Yuxue Feng & Xiaoping Liu, 2022. "Global impacts of future urban expansion on terrestrial vertebrate diversity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Samuel Xin Tham Lee & Zachary Amir & Jonathan H. Moore & Kaitlyn M. Gaynor & Matthew Scott Luskin, 2024. "Effects of human disturbances on wildlife behaviour and consequences for predator-prey overlap in Southeast Asia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. White, Thomas & Bromwich, Talitha & Bang, Ashley & Bennun, Leon & Bull, Joseph W. & Clark, Michael & Milner-Gulland, E.J. & Prescott, Graham & Starkey, Malcolm & zu Ermgassen, Sophus Olav Sven Emil, 2023. "The Nature Positive Journey for Business: A research agenda to enable private sector contributions to the global biodiversity framework," OSF Preprints nya52, Center for Open Science.
    5. Caroline S. S. Franca & U. Martin Persson & Tomás Carvalho & Marco Lentini, 2023. "Quantifying timber illegality risk in the Brazilian forest frontier," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 6(11), pages 1485-1495, November.
    6. Deutschmann, Emanuel & Gabrielli, Lorenzo & Recchi, Ettore, 2023. "Roads, rails, and checkpoints: Assessing the permeability of nation-state borders worldwide," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    7. Jun Ma & Jiawei Li & Wanben Wu & Jiajia Liu, 2023. "Global forest fragmentation change from 2000 to 2020," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Zhu, Benhui & Hashimoto, Shizuka & Cushman, Samuel A, 2023. "A two concentric circles model incorporating availability of ecosystem services and affordability of humans to clarify the ecological security concept," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 481(C).

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