Most species are rare, meaning they are few in number or cover a small range, or both. As a result, a new study concludes, humans can preserve much of the great diversity of life on Earth by marking out just 1.2 percent of the planet for protection.
For the study, experts mapped the wilderness still available to rare and threatened plants and animals. They then identified hotspots for rare wildlife that have yet to be protected. In total, they found 16,825 such sites, which together span an area smaller than Wisconsin.
Experts then estimated the cost of protecting these sites, which amounted to $263 billion, less than the yearly revenue of Shell Oil. The findings were published in Frontiers in Science.
Earth has previously seen five mass extinctions, and many experts believe that, by burning fossil fuels and destroying wilderness, humans are now driving a sixth mass extinction. To help avert crisis, countries have set a target of protecting 30 percent of land and sea, but there is much debate as to which areas are most deserving of protection.
Some scientists have warned that by focusing too much on the size of protected lands, officials may fail to safeguard areas that are especially rich in wildlife. Authors of the new study call for prioritizing hotspots for rare species, arguing that doing so would be sufficient to stave off a sixth extinction.
“What will we bequeath to future generations? A healthy, vibrant Earth is critical for us to pass on,” lead author Eric Dinerstein, an analyst at the environmental nonprofit Resolve, said in a statement. “So we’ve got to get going. We’ve got to head off the extinction crisis.”
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