Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • COMMENT

Protect the last of the wild

Global conservation policy must stop the disappearance of Earth’s few intact ecosystems, warn James E. M. Watson, James R. Allan and colleagues.
  1. James E. M. Watson

    1. James E. M. Watson is a professor of conservation science at the University of Queensland, and director of the Science and Research Initiative at the Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Oscar Venter

    1. Oscar Venter is an associate professor at the Natural Resource and Environmental Studies Institute, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, Canada.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  3. Jasmine Lee

    1. Jasmine Lee is a PhD candidate in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  4. Kendall R. Jones

    1. Kendall R. Jones is a conservation planning specialist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  5. John G. Robinson

    1. John G. Robinson is executive vice-president of conservation and science at the Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  6. Hugh P. Possingham

    1. Hugh P. Possingham is chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, Virginia, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  7. James R. Allan

    1. James R. Allan is a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

A woman walks through the Amazon forest

A Xikrin woman walks back to her village from the Cateté River in Brazil. Credit: Taylor Weidman/zReportage.com/ZUMA

A century ago, only 15% of Earth’s surface was used to grow crops and raise livestock1. Today, more than 77% of land (excluding Antarctica) and 87% of the ocean has been modified by the direct effects of human activities2,3. This is illustrated in our global map of intact ecosystems (see ‘What’s left?’).

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 563, 27-30 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07183-6

References

  1. Klein Goldewijk, K., Beusen, A., van Drecht, G. & de Vos, M. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 20, 73–86 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Jones, K. R. et al. Curr. Biol. 28, 2506–2512 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Allan, J. R., Venter, O. & Watson, J. E. M. Sci. Data 4, 170187 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Watson, J. E. M. et al. Curr. Biol. 26, 2929–2934 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Halpern, B. S. et al. Nature Commun. 6, 7615 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Kareiva, P. & Marvier, M. BioScience 62, 962–969 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ricketts, T. H. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 102, 18497–18501 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Watson, J. E. M. et al. Nature Ecol. Evol. 2, 599–610 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. D’agata, S. et al. Nature Commun. 7, 12000 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Soulé, M. E. et al. Pacific Conserv. Biol. 10, 266–279 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Betts, M. G. et al. Nature 547, 441–444 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Carilli, J. E., Norris, R. D., Black, B. A., Walsh, S. M. & McField, M. PLoS ONE 4, e6324 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Mantyka-pringle, C. S., Martin, T. G. & Rhodes, J. R. Glob. Change Biol. 18, 1239–1252 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Houghton, R. A., Byers, B. & Nassikas, A. A. Nature Clim. Change 5, 1022–1023 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Howard, J. et al. Front. Ecol. Environ. 15, 42–50 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Kunkel, C. M., Hallberg, R. W. & Oppenheimer, M. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L23612 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Current State and Trends (Island Press, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Sala, E. et al. Sci. Adv. 4, eaat2504 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Watson, J. E. M., Dudley, N., Segan, D. B. & Hockings, M. Nature 515, 67–73 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links