Biodiversity
Forest carbon in Amazonia: the unrecognized contribution of indigenous territories and protected natural areasBackgroundAmazonia stores an estimated 80–120 Pg of aboveground carbon, and changes in this stock have global climate implications. Indigenous territories (ITs) and protected natural areas (PNAs) together cover roughly one-third to one-half of the Amazon region, yet their specific contribution to maintaining forest carbon has often been overlooked in regional mitigation discussions. Quantifying their role is important for designing REDD+, climate finance, and land rights policies that reflect on-the-ground conservation performance. Open access copy available |
Ecosystem Services of Mangroves: A Systematic Review and Synthesis of Contemporary Scientific LiteratureBackgroundMangroves provide many ecosystem services, such as breeding grounds for aquatic organisms, sediment accumulation sites, coastal protection, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. Beyond ecological functions, mangroves also sustain coastal livelihoods by providing natural resources and contributing to local economies. However, anthropogenic pressures from coastal development, agriculture, and aquaculture degrade mangrove ecosystems and the important ecosystem services they provide. Therefore, it is important to quantify and describe mangrove ecosystem services to better inform coastal policymakers and managers interested in mangrove conservation. Open access copy available |
A meta-analysis of the ecological and economic outcomes of mangrove restorationBackgroundMangrove forests provide many ecosystem services to local and global communities that are both ecologically and economically important. Global mangrove loss and degradation decrease the provision of ecosystem services; however, mangrove restoration projects can reverse these effects and support critical ecosystem services. Therefore, syntheses of different restoration project outcomes are necessary to encourage global political support and investment into preserving mangroves and their vital ecosystem services. Open access copy available |
The construction of biodiversity in conservation policy discourse: A multiscalar analysisBackgroundOpen access copy available |
Enhancing climate change mitigation in protected areasBackgroundProtected areas (PAs) cover roughly 15–17% of the Earth’s land surface and contain a large share of remaining intact ecosystems, many of which store high densities of carbon. With global terrestrial ecosystems absorbing about 3 GtC yr⁻¹, understanding how much of this sink is associated with PAs is important for integrating biodiversity and climate strategies. However, evidence on PA effectiveness for carbon protection, across thousands of sites and multiple biomes, is dispersed and unevenly synthesized. Open access copy available |
Don’t judge species on their originsBackgroundThis commentary suggests that the long-standing “native versus non-native species” debate has created a widespread bias in conservation as it encourages the idea that introduced species are inherently harmful, despite limited quantitative evidence supporting broad claims of catastrophic biodiversity loss. As global changes (such as climate change, nitrogen eutrophication, increased urbanization, and other land-use changes) cause ecosystems to be unable to restore to their historical states, categorizing species based on their origin increasingly mismatches ecological reality, influencing policy, funding, and management priorities. Open access copy available |
Valuing natural capital and ecosystem services toward the goals of efficiency, fairness, and sustainabilityBackgroundNatural capital (NC) and ecosystem services (ES) are fundamental to sustaining human life, but valuing them requires a whole-system understanding of the interdependencies between humans and nature. Conventional economic valuation, based solely on individual willingness-to-pay, is too narrow for this complex task. Available with subscription or purchase |
Diverse values of nature for sustainabilityBackgroundDespite 25 years of progress in valuing ecosystem services, a global biodiversity crisis persists, underpinned by a "values crisis." Current policies and decisions often prioritize a narrow subset of market-based instrumental values, ignoring the diverse ways people relate to and benefit from nature. This paper, based on the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Values Assessment, synthesizes over 50,000 sources to address this gap. Open access copy available |
Land availability and policy commitments limit global climate mitigation from forestationBackgroundOpen access copy available |
The changing global carbon cycle: linking plant–soil carbon dynamics to global consequencesBackgroundOpen access copy available |
