Saving two-thirds of Earth’s plant species is achievable: researchers

TORONTO – An ambitious goal set out in 2010 to protect 60 per cent of the Earth’s plant species is achievable, according to an international team of scientists.

In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, researchers argue that protecting just 17 per cent of the Earth’s land could help preserve more than two-thirds of the world’s plant species.

Researchers from Duke University, North Carolina State University and Microsoft Research said that a lofty goal set out in the 2010 Convention on Biological Diversity – to protect 60 per cent of the Earth’s plant species – can be achieved.

With one caveat. Land preservation must happen in very specific regions around the planet.

“To achieve these goals, we need to protect more land, on average, than we currently do, and much more in key places such as Madagascar, New Guinea and Ecuador,” said Stuart L. Pimm, professor at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.

According to the researchers, there are certain places in the world with higher concentrations of endemic plant species, meaning they are found nowhere else in the world.

These endemic species located in small regions are at a much higher risk of being threatened or endangered than those in larger regions, said Microsoft Research scientist Lucas N. Joppa.

The researchers analyzed data from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, England, on more than 100,000 plant species.

Based on this data and the researchers’ computations, North Carolina State University research scholar Clinton N. Jenkins created a global map, which identifies high-priority regions for plant conservation.

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Pimm said that although fractions of land are being protected in high-priority regions, as new national parks are established, there is still a lot of work to be done.

“We’re getting tantalizingly close to achieving the Convention of Biological Diversity’s global goals. But the last few steps remaining are huge ones,” he said.

The researchers said the (very challenging) next step is to make decisions within those identified regions to secure land for conservation.

Pimm and Jenkins lead Saving Species, a non-profit conservation group, which works with local groups to purchase and protect threatened land critical for biodiversity.