Conserving critical sites for biodiversity provides disproportionate benefits to people |
| |
Authors: | Larsen Frank W Turner Will R Brooks Thomas M |
| |
Affiliation: | Science & Knowledge Division, Conservation International, Arlington, Virginia, United States of America. frankwugtlarsen@gmail.com |
| |
Abstract: | Protecting natural habitats in priority areas is essential to halt the loss of biodiversity. Yet whether these benefits for biodiversity also yield benefits for human well-being remains controversial. Here we assess the potential human well-being benefits of safeguarding a global network of sites identified as top priorities for the conservation of threatened species. Conserving these sites would yield benefits--in terms of a) climate change mitigation through avoidance of CO(2) emissions from deforestation; b) freshwater services to downstream human populations; c) retention of option value; and d) benefits to maintenance of human cultural diversity--significantly exceeding those anticipated from randomly selected sites within the same countries and ecoregions. Results suggest that safeguarding sites important for biodiversity conservation provides substantial benefits to human well-being. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录! |
|