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The exceptional value of intact forest ecosystems

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 2, pages 599–610 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

As the terrestrial human footprint continues to expand, the amount of native forest that is free from significant damaging human activities is in precipitous decline. There is emerging evidence that the remaining intact forest supports an exceptional confluence of globally significant environmental values relative to degraded forests, including imperilled biodiversity, carbon sequestration and storage, water provision, indigenous culture and the maintenance of human health. Here we argue that maintaining and, where possible, restoring the integrity of dwindling intact forests is an urgent priority for current global efforts to halt the ongoing biodiversity crisis, slow rapid climate change and achieve sustainability goals. Retaining the integrity of intact forest ecosystems should be a central component of proactive global and national environmental strategies, alongside current efforts aimed at halting deforestation and promoting reforestation.

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Fig. 1: The global extent of intact forest.
Fig. 2: Forest degradation and carbon loss.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for funding this research, and C. Holtz, A. Rosenthal, B. Mackey, D. DellaSalla, C. Kormos, J. Funk, J. Feidler, S. Lewis, B. Mercer, S. Rumsey, P. Dargusch and E. Sanderson for conversations around different ideas that have been presented within this manuscript. A special thank you to B. Simmons for creating the figure in Box 2.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: James E. M. Watson, Tom Evans.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    James E. M. Watson, Brooke Williams, Ayesha Tulloch, Claire Stewart, Alvaro Salazar, Clive McAlpine, Sean Maxwell, Hedley Grantham & Rebecca K. Runting

  2. Wildlife Conservation Society, Global Conservation Program, Bronx, New York, NY, USA

    James E. M. Watson, Tom Evans, Brooke Williams, Ayesha Tulloch, Joe Walston, John G. Robinson, Michael Painter, David Wilkie, Hedley Grantham, Cristián Samper & Stephanie Wang

  3. Natural Resources & Environmental Studies Institute, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada

    Oscar Venter

  4. Canadian Forest Service, Sault Ste, Marie, Ontario, Canada

    Ian Thompson

  5. Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Justina C. Ray

  6. The Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment and Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Kris Murray

  7. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Peter Potapov

  8. Division of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA

    Christopher Filardi

  9. Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS) and College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

    William F. Laurance

  10. Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, MA, USA

    Richard A. Houghton

  11. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden

    Lars Laestadius

  12. Forest Trends Association, Washington DC, USA

    Gustavo A. Silva-Chávez

  13. Global Programme on Nature for Development, United Nations Development Programme, New York, NY, USA

    Jamison Ervin

  14. Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    David Lindenmayer

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Contributions

J.E.M.W. and T.E. conceived the study. The remaining authors provided ideas and critical feedback.

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Correspondence to James E. M. Watson.

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Supplementary Table

Description of each study represented in Figure 2 with associated references

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Watson, J.E.M., Evans, T., Venter, O. et al. The exceptional value of intact forest ecosystems. Nat Ecol Evol 2, 599–610 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0490-x

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