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Aim: Colombia has committed to ambitious forest restoration targets which include a 1 million ha Bonn Challenge commitment and 6.47–8.31 million ha (rehabilitation and restoration, respectively) under the National Restoration Plan. Determining where and how to implement programs to achieve these targets remains a significant challenge. Location: Colombia. Methods: We adopt a multi‐objective optimisation framework for restoration planning and apply it to Colombia. We explore cost‐effective solutions that leverage the potential for assisted natural regeneration benefits while accounting for opportunity and establishment costs of restoration and maximising biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation benefits. We explore four politically relevant restoration area‐based targets (1, 6, 6.47 and 8.31 million ha) and identify minimum cost, and suites of maximum benefit and cost‐effective solutions. Results: We identify solutions that simultaneously perform well across biodiversity and carbon objectives, despite trade‐offs between these objectives. We find that cost‐effective solutions can achieve on average 91.1%, 90.8%, 90.5% and 90.1% of maximum carbon benefit and 100% of the maximum biodiversity benefit while significantly reducing costs. On average, the cost‐effective solutions reduce the cost by 87.5%, 56.8%, 59.6% and 46.2% compared to the maximum benefit solutions considering one, six, 6.47 and 8.31 million ha restoration targets, respectively. Main Conclusions: Colombia has committed to bold restoration and conservation targets, such as those under the new 2030 Convention on Biological Diversity Global Biodiversity Framework. Strategic forest restoration planning will play an important role in achieving Colombia's biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation goals. We provide quantitative evidence to inform planning for environmentally and economically sensible restoration policy and practice in the country. Our framework and results can help guide Colombia towards meeting its ambitious forest restoration targets cost‐effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most species were affected by all three categories of fire intensity; 268 threatened species were affected by very-high-intensity fires, 273 were affected by high-intensity fires, and 273 were affected by moderate- and low-intensity fires. The top three actions required by most species were habitat protection (100% of all species; I n i = 290), fire suppression (57% of all species, I n i = 166), and invasive plant management (36% of all species, I n i = 103). To identify threatened species highly affected by the megafire, we used two decision rules for all EPBC Act listed species: >10% of habitat affected by fire + <2000 km SP 2 sp area of occupancy remaining or >10% of habitat affected by fire + <20,000 km SP 2 sp extent of occurrence remaining. The benefit of acting in a location accounts for the number of species being managed there, proportion of fire-affected habitat for each species, and risk of species extinction. [Extracted from the article]

The main effort to secure threatened species globally is to set aside land and sea for their conservation via governance arrangements such as protected areas. But not even the biggest protected area estate will cover enough area to halt most species declines. Consequently, there is a need for assessments of how species habitats are distributed across the tenure landscape, to guide policy and conservation opportunities. Using Australia as a case study, we assess the relationship between land tenure coverage and the distributions of nationally listed threatened species. We discover that on average, nearly half (48%) of Australian threatened species' distributions occur on privately owned (freehold) lands, despite this tenure covering only 29% of the continent. In contrast, leasehold lands, which cover 38% of Australia, overlap with only 6% of species' distributions while protected area lands (which cover 20%) have an average of 35% of species' distributions. We found the majority (75%; n = 1199) of species occur across multiple land tenures, and those species that are confined to a single tenure were mostly on freehold lands (13%; n = 201) and protected areas (9%; n = 139). Our findings display the opportunity to reverse the current trend of species decline with increased coordination of threat management across land tenures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid climate change is impacting biodiversity, ecosystem function, and human well‐being. Though the magnitude and trajectory of climate change are becoming clearer, our understanding of how these changes reshape terrestrial life zones—distinct biogeographic units characterized by biotemperature, precipitation, and aridity representing broad‐scale ecosystem types—is limited. To address this gap, we used high‐resolution historical climatologies and climate projections to determine the global distribution of historical (1901–1920), contemporary (1979–2013), and future (2061–2080) life zones. Comparing the historical and contemporary distributions shows that changes from one life zone to another during the 20th century impacted 27 million km2 (18.3% of land), with consequences for social and ecological systems. Such changes took place in all biomes, most notably in Boreal Forests, Temperate Coniferous Forests, and Tropical Coniferous Forests. Comparing the contemporary and future life zone distributions shows the pace of life zone changes accelerating rapidly in the 21st century. By 2070, such changes would impact an additional 62 million km2 (42.6% of land) under "business‐as‐usual" (RCP8.5) emissions scenarios. Accelerated rates of change are observed in hundreds of ecoregions across all biomes except Tropical Coniferous Forests. While only 30 ecoregions (3.5%) had over half of their areas change to a different life zone during the 20th century, by 2070 this number is projected to climb to 111 ecoregions (13.1%) under RCP4.5 and 281 ecoregions (33.2%) under RCP8.5. We identified weak correlations between life zone change and threatened vertebrate richness, levels of vertebrate endemism, cropland extent, and human population densities within ecoregions, illustrating the ubiquitous risks of life zone changes to diverse social–ecological systems. The accelerated pace of life zone changes will increasingly challenge adaptive conservation and sustainable development strategies that incorrectly assume current ecological patterns and livelihood provisioning systems will persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected areas are highly heterogeneous in their effectiveness at buffering human pressure, which may hamper their ability to conserve species highly sensitive to human activities. Here, we use 60 million bird observations from eBird to estimate the sensitivity to human pressure of each bird species breeding in the Americas. Concerningly, we find that ecoregions hosting large proportions of high‐sensitivity species, concentrated in tropical biomes, do not have more intact protected habitat. Moreover, 266 high‐sensitivity species have little or no intact protected habitat within their distributions. Finally, we show that protected area intactness is decreasing faster where high‐sensitivity species concentrate. Our results highlight a major mismatch between species conservation needs and the coverage of intact protected habitats, which likely hampers the long‐term effectiveness of protected areas at retaining species. We highlight ecoregions where protection and management of intact habitats, complemented by restoration, is urgently needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shortfalls in our knowledge of the most basic parameters, such as overall range and population size, ensure evidence-based conservation of poorly known or 'missing' species is inherently difficult. Often, the only source of such knowledge is anecdotal reports, which are usually considered too unreliable to be of value. Methods that help conservation decision-makers use anecdotal records of poorly known or 'missing' species to decide where conservation action should occur, and how urgent that action might be, will support better conservation decisions for those species. Here, we use a Delphi-style process based on expert opinion to assess the largely anecdotal sightings record of the Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis), an endangered species from arid central Australia that underwent a significant decline following the arrival of Europeans. Our results clarify the patterns and possible causes of this decline and subsequent range contraction. We conclude that the species persists in only two broad regions, and is probably extinct throughout much of its former range. Our method is applicable to other poorly known species with a similarly sporadic and largely anecdotal sightings record. This method could be used to clarify the historical and current distribution and status of such species, a critical first step in understanding their conservation requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2010, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 to address the loss and degradation of nature. Subsequently, most biodiversity indicators continued to decline. Nevertheless, conservation actions can make a positive difference for biodiversity. The emerging Post‐2020 Global Biodiversity Framework has potential to catalyze efforts to "bend the curve" of biodiversity loss. Thus, the inclusion of a goal on species, articulated as Goal B in the Zero Draft of the Post‐2020 Framework, is essential. However, as currently formulated, this goal is inadequate for preventing extinctions, and reversing population declines; both of which are required to achieve the CBD's 2030 Mission. We contend it is unacceptable that Goal B could be met while most threatened species deteriorated in status and many avoidable species extinctions occurred. We examine the limitations of the current wording and propose an articulation with robust scientific basis. A goal for species that strives to end extinctions and recover populations of all species that have experienced population declines, and especially those at risk of extinction, would help to align actors toward the transformative actions and interventions needed for humans to live in harmony with nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological and paleoecological evidence shows that by 10,000 BCE, all human societies employed varying degrees of ecologically transformative land use practices, including burning, hunting, species propagation, domestication, cultivation, and others that have left long-term legacies across the terrestrial biosphere. Yet, a lingering paradigm among natural scientists, conservationists, and policymakers is that human transformation of terrestrial nature is mostly recent and inherently destructive. Here, we use the most up-to-date, spatially explicit global reconstruction of historical human populations and land use to show that this paradigm is likely wrong. Even 12,000 y ago, nearly three quarters of Earth's landwas inhabited and therefore shaped by human societies, including more than 95% of temperate and 90% of tropical woodlands. Lands now characterized as "natural," "intact," and "wild" generally exhibit long histories of use, as do protected areas and Indigenous lands, and current global patterns of vertebrate species richness and key biodiversity areas are more strongly associated with past patterns of land use than with present ones in regional landscapes now characterized as natural. The current biodiversity crisis can seldom be explained by the loss of uninhabited wildlands, resulting instead from the appropriation, colonization, and intensifying use of the biodiverse cultural landscapes long shaped and sustained by prior societies. Recognizing this deep cultural connection with biodiversity will therefore be essential to resolve the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Degradation and loss of natural habitat is the major driver of the current global biodiversity crisis. Most habitat conservation efforts to date have targeted small areas of highly threatened habitat, but emerging debate suggests that retaining large intact natural systems may be just as important. We reconcile these perspectives by integrating fine-resolution global data on habitat condition and species assemblage turnover to identify Earth's high-value biodiversity habitat. These are areas in better condition than most other locations predicted to have once supported a similar assemblage of species and are found within both intact regions and human-dominated landscapes. However, only 18.6% of this high-value habitat is currently protected globally. Averting permanent biodiversity loss requires clear, spatially explicit targets for retaining these unprotected high-value habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human activities are altering natural areas worldwide. While our ability to map these activities at fine scales is improving, a simplistic binary characterization of habitat and non‐habitat with a focus on change in habitat extent has dominated conservation assessments across different spatial scales. Here, we provide a metric that captures both habitat loss, quality and fragmentation effects which, when combined, we call intactness. We identify nine categories of intactness of the world's terrestrial ecoregions based on changes in intactness across a 16‐year period. We found that highly impacted and degraded categories are predominant (74%) and just 6% of ecoregions are on improving trajectories. It is essential that management of degrading processes be targeted in international agendas in order to ensure that Earth's remaining intact ecosystems are effectively conserved and restored in order to achieve effective conservation outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancing technology represents an unprecedented opportunity to enhance our capacity to conserve the Earth's biodiversity. However, this great potential is failing to materialize and rarely endures. We contend that unleashing the power of technology for conservation requires an internationally coordinated strategy that connects the conservation community and policy-makers with technologists. We argue an international conservation technology entity could (1) provide vision and leadership, (2) coordinate and deliver key services necessary to ensure translation from innovation to effective deployment and use of technology for on-the-ground conservation across the planet, and (3) help integrate innovation into biodiversity conservation policy from local to global scales, providing tools to monitor outcomes of conservation action and progress towards national and international biodiversity targets. This proposed entity could take the shape of an international alliance of conservation institutions or a formal intergovernmental institution. Active and targeted uptake of emerging technology can help society achieve biodiversity conservation goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many apex scavenger species, including nearly all obligate scavengers, are in a state of rapid decline and there is growing evidence these declines can drastically alter ecological food webs. Our understanding of how apex scavengers regulate populations of mesoscavengers, those less‐efficient scavengers occupying mid‐trophic levels, is improving; yet, there has been no comprehensive evaluation of the evidence around the competitive release of these species by the loss of apex scavengers. Here we present current evidence that supports the mesoscavenger release hypothesis, the increase in mesoscavengers and increase in carrion in the face of declining apex scavengers. We provide two models of scavenger dynamics to demonstrate that the mesoscavenger release hypothesis is consistent with ecological theory. We further examine the ecological and human well‐being implications of apex scavenger decline, including carrion removal and disease regulation services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Environmental regulation failed to prevent habitat loss for an endangered species. • Some habitat loss also occurred without government oversight. • Regulatory processes approved over 400 developments without any conditions. Abstract Australia's high species extinction rate shows no sign of abating, with at least three vertebrate extinctions recorded within the last decade. In each case, scientists have published 'post-mortems' examining the context of these recent extinctions. By tracing the decline of a once-widespread and common bird to the point that it has disappeared from over 80% of its original range, and describing the circumstances under which habitat loss continues to be approved despite its formal protection, we present a 'pre-mortem' for the endangered, and endemic, southern black-throated finch (Poephila cincta cincta). The southern black-throated finch has suffered extensive habitat loss historically, much of which was unregulated. In 2000, Australia increased environmental regulation, and the southern black-throated finch was listed under the Commonwealth's Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act. Despite the increased environmental regulation and formal protection, habitat loss for the southern black-throated finch has continued, mostly incrementally but resulting in large cumulative loss. In the face of steep population decline and range contraction of BTF, five large coal mines were approved between 2012 and 2015 by both State and Commonwealth governments that will remove most of the largest area of high quality habitat that remains. We outline the policy settings under which the decline occurred, with a particular focus on recent ongoing habitat loss occurring within a highly regulated environment. We show that despite Australia's comparatively strong governance and regulatory frameworks, legally permitted habitat loss continues even for imperilled taxa formally listed under State and Commonwealth environment protection laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: Distribution; status; threatened species; conservation EN Distribution status threatened species conservation 181 183 3 07/11/20 20200501 NES 200501 On Wednesday, 12 February 1845, Charles Sturt and his horse Punch were 50 kilometres south of the Wilson River and Cooper Creek junction in far south-western Queensland. If that scientific record relies largely on sight records, the process for assessing the veracity of those sight records will be the foundation for defining that species' conservation status. We know now the Night Parrot's persistence narrative was correct, at least in some places, but false positives however they arise, could have a serious impact on Night Parrot conservation (Olsen and Menkhorst [3]). [Extracted from the article]

A population of Night Parrots (Pezoporus occidentalis) was discovered in 2013 in western Queensland and has become the primary focus of efforts aimed at conserving habitat and protecting the species from extinction. Critical information on nesting habitat and location, breeding season and behaviour, clutch size and breeding success is currently limited to anecdotal 19th-century observations and accounts by early natural historians. Here we describe several breeding attempts at Pullen Pullen Reserve. Our observations include nest and fledgling descriptions, habitat and clutch characteristics, breeding seasonality, adult breeding behaviour and vocalisations. We also identify a King Brown Snake (Pseudechis australis) as the predator responsible for one nesting failure. Our observations confirm historical reports of nesting habitat, egg and clutch size and breeding seasonality and provide important new information on vocalisations and adult behaviour around an active nest. These new data provide a basis for future studies and conservation management of this enigmatic threatened species. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Biodiversity conservation policies incorporating a no net loss ( NNL) principle are being implemented in many countries. However, there are linguistic and conceptual inconsistencies in the use of terms underlying these NNL policies., We identify inconsistencies that emerge in the usage of eight key terms and phrases associated with NNL policies: biodiversity, frames of reference (i.e. baselines, counterfactuals), no net loss, mitigation hierarchy, biodiversity offset, in-kind/out-of-kind, direct/indirect and multipliers., For each term, we make recommendations to support conceptual convergence, reduce ambiguity and improve clarity in communication and policy documentation. However, we also warn of the challenges in achieving convergence, especially given the linguistic inconsistencies in several of these key concepts among countries in which NNL policies are employed., Policy implications. The recommendations made in this article, on improving clarity and supporting convergence on key no net loss ( NNL) concepts, should help eliminate ambiguity in policy documentation. This is crucial if policymakers are to design robust policies that are (i) transparent, (ii) translatable into practice in a consistent manner and (iii) sufficiently understood and supported by stakeholders to be effective in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic conversion of natural habitats is the greatest threat to biodiversity and one of the primary reasons for establishing protected areas (PAs). Here, we show that PA establishment outpaced habitat conversion between 1993 and 2009 across all biomes and the majority ( n = 567, 71.4%) of ecoregions globally. However, high historic rates of conversion meant that 447 (56.2%) ecoregions still exhibit a high ratio of conversion to protection, and of these, 127 (15.9%) experienced further increases in this ratio between 1993 and 2009. We identify 41 'crisis ecoregions' in 45 countries where recent habitat conversion is severe and PA coverage remains extremely low. While the recent growth in PAs is a notable conservation achievement, international conventions and associated finance mechanisms should prioritize areas where habitat is being lost rapidly relative to protection, such as the crisis ecoregions identified here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is currently not on course to achieve most of the Convention on Biological Diversity's Aichi Targets to address biodiversity loss. One challenge for those implementing actions to achieve them may be the complexity and lack of clarity in the wording of the targets, which also make it difficult to stimulate and quantify progress. Drawing on experience in developing and measuring indicators to assess progress toward targets, we identify four key issues: ambiguity, quantifiability, complexity, and redundancy. The magnitude of required commitments under some targets is rendered ambiguous by the use of imprecise terms (e.g., 'substantially'), while many targets contain poorly defined operational terms (e.g., 'essential services'). Seventy percent of targets lack quantifiable elements, meaning that there is no clear binary or numeric threshold to be met in order for the target to be achieved. Most targets are excessively complex, containing up to seven different elements, while one-third of them contain redundancies. In combination, these four issues make it difficult to operationalize the targets and to ensure consistent interpretation by signatories. For future policy commitments, we recommend the adoption of a smaller number of more focused headline targets (alongside subsidiary targets) that are specific, quantified, simple, succinct, and unambiguous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earth's extinction crisis is escalating, and threat classification schemes are increasingly important for assessing the prominent drivers and threats causing species declines. However, a complementary framework for assessing the conservation responses needed to abate these threatening processes is lacking. Here we draw on expert knowledge and published literature to develop a threat-abatement framework which groups threats based on the shared conservation goal of the actions needed to abate their impact and apply it to 1532 threatened species across the Australian continent. Our analysis shows that the most important conservation actions across Australia are to retain and restore habitat, due to the threats posed by habitat destruction and degradation (via logging, mining, urbanisation, roads, and agriculture) to 86 % of Australia's threatened species. Most species also require the effective control of invasive species and diseases (82 %) and improved fire management (66 %). Countering individual threats will not be enough to support species survival or recovery, because almost all species (89 %) require multiple, integrated management responses to redress their threats. Our threat abatement framework enables rapid identification of broad conservation responses to aid recovery of threatened species and can be applied in other regions, scales and contexts. • Threat classifications need complementary conservation responses to inform action • We develop a threat-abatement framework and apply it to Australian threatened species • The most important conservation action in Australia is to retain and restore habitat • Control of invasive species/diseases and improved fire management are also important • Greater emphasis on conservation responses is needed to redress the extinction crisis [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Heritage Convention could make a bigger and more systematic contribution to global wilderness conservation by: (1) ensuring the World Heritage List includes full coverage of Earth's wilderness areas with outstanding universal value and (2) more effectively protecting the ecological integrity of existing World Heritage sites. Here, we assess current coverage of global-scale wilderness areas within natural World Heritage sites and identify broad gaps where new wilderness sites should be identified for inclusion in the World Heritage List. We also consider how existing mechanisms under the Convention can improve the ecological integrity of existing sites by expanding or buffering them, and by promoting connectivity between World Heritage sites, between World Heritage sites and other protected areas, or both. We suggest that the Convention should consider a new mechanism called a 'World Heritage Wilderness Complex' to facilitate a wilderness approach. Finally, we map three landscapes and one seascape to illustrate how World Heritage Wilderness Complexes might be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past twelve years the number of papers that explore the impacts of climate change on biodiversity in the conservation literature has grown on average by 20% annually. By categorising these papers on their primary research questions, we show that the vast majority of these articles (88.6%) focus only on those impacts that arise directly as a result of climate change, ignoring the potentially significant indirect threats that arise from human adaptation responses. This pattern has remained fairly consistent throughout the review period (2000-2012), with a trend towards more articles considering both direct and indirect impacts towards the end of the period. We also find a bias in the time-frames considered by published articles that project future impacts of climate change on biodiversity, with more than three-quarters (77.9%) of papers only considering impacts after 2031, and almost half (49.1%) only considering impacts after 2051. This focus on long-term, direct impacts creates a mismatch, not only with the life-cycles of species and timescales of many ecological processes, but also with most management and policy timelines and the short-term nature of human decision making processes. The focus on studying the long-term, direct impacts of climate change on biodiversity is likely a function of the lack of availability of climate projections on shorter temporal scales; a perception that short-term impacts will be minor; and, insufficient integration with the social and political sciences. While the direct impact of changes in mean climatic conditions will significantly change the biosphere by the end of the century, near term changes in seasonality and extreme events coupled with human adaptation responses are likely to have substantial impacts much sooner, threatening the survival of species and ecosystems. It is therefore essential that we balance our research efforts to facilitate a better understanding of these more imminent threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urgency of conservation concerns in the tropics, linked with the limitations imposed on research efforts by the tropical environment has resulted in the development of methods for rapid assessment of biological communities. One such method, the MacKinnon list technique, has been increasingly applied in avifaunal surveys worldwide. Using paired tropical bird data sets from Ecuadorian cloud forest and Madagascan littoral forest, we compare the performance of the MacKinnon list with that of the more standard method of point counts in indicating when a site has been adequately surveyed, estimating the magnitude of species richness, quantifying relative species abundance, and providing an α-index of diversity. In species-rich Ecuadorian cloud forest, neither method produced data indicating adequate survey effort, despite extensive sampling, whereas in the relatively species-poor Madagascan littoral forests, data collected by both methods indicated that the area had been sufficiently surveyed with comparable sampling effort. Species richness estimates generated from MacKinnon list data provided a more accurate estimate of the magnitude of the species richness for the Ecuadorian avifauna, whereas estimates for the Madagascan avifauna stabilised with relatively few samples using either method. Data collected by each method reflected different patterns of relative abundance among the five most abundant species, with MacKinnon list data showing a bias towards solitary and territorial species and against monospecific flocking species relative to the point count data. As a consequence of this bias, MacKinnon list data also fail to reflect accurately the structure of communities as quantified by an index of community evenness. Point counts, on the other hand, failed to capture the full species complement of the species-rich Ecuadorian study area. As techniques for the rapid assessment of unsurveyed areas, both methods are subject to biases that limit their value, if used alone, in collecting data of scientific and management value. We propose a hybrid rapid assessment methodology that capitalises on the strengths of both techniques while compensating for their weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minimising the environmental impacts of biofuel production is an urgent global challenge. Over the next decade, increased demand for sugarcane-based ethanol in Brazil could result in over one million hectares of the nation's native forest and grassland being replaced directly by sugarcane or indirectly by displaced crops and pastureland. Here we integrate future ethanol demand scenarios in Brazil within a spatially-explicit planning framework aimed at minimising impacts of ethanol-driven agricultural expansion on aboveground carbon stocks and 453 species of immediate conservation concern. We show that ethanol-driven agricultural expansion that is blind to carbon and biodiversity values would release 44.9 million tonnes of CO 2 equivalent (MtCO 2 eq), and would impact habitat for at least 273 species. When compared to this conservation-blind scenario, agricultural expansion that avoids carbon and biodiversity values would reduce emissions by 87% (5.8 MtCO 2 eq) and would avoid impacts on habitat for 113 species. These findings are immediately relevant to policy makers seeking to guide ethanol-driven land-use change away from important environmental areas in Brazil. Our planning methodology can also be extended to other natural areas at risk of bioenergy-driven agricultural expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to an article on mining and ecosystem management in the threatened littoral forests of Madagascar that was published in a previous issue.

Anthropogenic pressures are driving insect declines across the world. Although protected areas (PAs) play a prominent role in safeguarding many vertebrate species from human-induced threats, insects are not widely considered when designing PA systems or building strategies for PA management. We review the effectiveness of PAs for insect conservation and find substantial taxonomic and geographic gaps in knowledge. Most research focuses on the representation of species, and few studies assess threats to insects or the role that effective PA management can play in insect conservation. We propose a four-step research agenda to help ensure that insects are central in efforts to expand the global PA network under the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Insects dominate the biosphere and play a central role in ecosystem processes, but they are rapidly declining across the world. Protected areas (PAs) are designed to insulate biodiversity from human-induced threats, but they have been mainly designated for vertebrates and plants. Most research on insects in PAs focuses on the representation of species, and few studies assess threats to insects or the role that effective PA management can play. We propose a four-step research agenda to help to ensure that insects are central in efforts to expand the global PA network under the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of armed conflict on deforestation in biodiverse regions across Earth remains poorly understood. Its association with factors like illegal crop cultivation can obscure its effect on deforestation patterns. We used Colombia, a global biodiversity hotspot with a complex political history, to explore the association of both armed conflict and coca cultivation with deforestation patterns. We generated spatial predictions of deforestation pressure based on the period 2000–2015 to understand how armed conflict and coca cultivation are associated with spatial patterns of deforestation and assess the spatial distribution of deforestation pressure induced by armed conflict and coca cultivation. Deforestation was positively associated with armed conflict intensity and proximity to illegal coca plantations. A deforestation model including 14 variables was 78% accurate in predicting deforestation at a 10 km2 resolution. On their own armed conflict and coca cultivation had a notable effect, particularly in the Amazon, but in combination with other variables it was small. Deforestation pressure induced by armed conflict and coca cultivation was highest in Tumaco and Catatumbo regions and in la Macarena, Sierra Nevada and San Lucas mountains—all areas of high biodiversity and conservation importance. In some regions, lack of governance after the peace accords is increasing armed conflict, and our results suggest that those increases in conflict may increase deforestation in those areas. The methods used here can be replicated to help understand the complex ways in which armed conflict affects deforestation patterns in other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is shifting the ranges of species. Simple predictive metrics of range shifts such as climate velocity, that do not require extensive knowledge or data on individual species, could help to guide conservation. We review research on climate velocity, describing the theory underpinning the concept and its assumptions. We highlight how climate velocity has already been applied in conservation-related research, including climate residence time, climate refugia, endemism, historic and projected range shifts, exposure to climate change, and climate connectivity. Finally, we discuss ways to enhance the use of climate velocity in conservation through tailoring it to be more biologically meaningful, informing design of protected areas, conserving ocean biodiversity in 3D, and informing conservation actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]