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The successful implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s post-2020Global Biodiversity Framework will rely on effective translation of targets from global tonational level and increased engagement across diverse sectors of society. Species conserva-tion targets require policy support measures that can be applied to a diversity of taxonomicgroups, that link action targets to outcome goals, and that can be applied to both global andnational data sets to account for national context, which the species threat abatement andrestoration (STAR) metric does. To test the flexibility of STAR, we applied the metric to vascular plants listed on national red lists of Brazil, Norway, and South Africa. The STARmetric uses data on species’ extinction risk, distributions, and threats, which we obtainedfrom national red lists to quantify the contribution that threat abatement and habitatrestoration activities could make to reducing species’ extinction risk. Across all 3 coun-tries, the greatest opportunity for reducing plant species’ extinction risk was from abatingthreats from agricultural activities, which could reduce species’ extinction risk by 54% inNorway, 36% in South Africa, and 29% in Brazil. Species extinction risk could be reducedby a further 21% in South Africa by abating threats from invasive species and by 21% inBrazil by abating threats from urban expansion. Even with different approaches to red-listing among countries, the STAR metric yielded informative results that identified wherethe greatest conservation gains could be made for species through threat-abatement andrestoration activities. Quantifiably linking local taxonomic coverage and data collection toglobal processes with STAR would allow national target setting to align with global targetsand enable state and nonstate actors to measure and report on their potential contributionsto species conservation. habitat restoration, national red lists, species’ extinction risk, threat reduction, threatened species, vascular plants

With a wide distribution across eastern South America, the Brazilian Atlantic Forest is a mosaic of lowland and montane vegetation types, such as evergreen forest, semideciduous and deciduous forest, mixed forest (e.g., Araucaria), mangroves, and restingas. It has long been recognized as having one of the most diversified biotas on the planet, with high levels of endemism of plants and animals. Due to its location, European colonization and exploration began six centuries ago in the coastal areas, spreading to the interior and increasing over the last 70 years. In response to long-standing deforestation, many conservation actions have been planned and performed by federal and state governments, NGOs, and universities. Here, we compiled some of these initiatives, showing the conservationists’ goals and multi-institutional actions to save species and ecosystems across the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Furthermore, we confirmed here that with a dialogue among government, NGOs, and universities, it is possible to design and perform actions to the conservation of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Mountaintop rupestrian grasslands or campos rupestres are unique ecosystems with high plant biodiversity. The southern Espinhaco mountains in Brazil are particularly important because they currently harbor 255 threatened plant species at risk of extinction owing to overspread farming, mining and uncontrolled fire in the region. Using the best available data on the distribution of these threatened species, distribution of farming and mining activities, and up-to-date data on fire frequency, here we developed a systematic conservation plan for all these species and pinpointed priority regions for taking different conservation actions. We found that it is possible to protect, on average, more than 25% of the threatened species ranges, avoiding sites with extensive use for farming and mining and favoring areas with intensive fire frequency while constraining the management to a relatively small area of only 17% of the region. The analysis accounts for what is already protected within protected areas in the region and is, therefore, complementary to the work already held by the actors and environmental organizations of the region. We offer maps of priority areas with their respective level of protection and suggest conservation actions at different levels of engagement to be implemented in the priority areas. These priority areas are part of a national species recovery plan for the region in Brazil and will likely support stakeholders and decision makers in its application in the forthcoming years.

The risk assessment is made up of risk analyses of species extinction in a given time, following the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) criteria. In Brazil, the data necessary for risk assessments have poor quality, so we proposed the articulation of previous processes to improve data quality. The main objective of this work was to reassess the extinction risk of Brazilian species of Combretaceae previously considered as threatened, updating conservation data available for these taxa. Our results showed that the processes of taxonomic proceedings; data gathering; data analysis; georeferencing and communication improved the assessments consistency, specially due to systematization of the whole process. Of the 11 selected species for reassessment, five were threatened in the categories VU, EN, CR e CR* and six under significant threat of extinction. However the deficiency of herbaria data, the lack of digitalization of the majority of country collections and the limited access to available literature represent the main obstacles for extinction risk assessments of the Brazilian flora. A avaliação do risco de extinção consiste em analisar a probabilidade de uma espécie se extinguir em determinado tempo, segundo os critérios da International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). No Brasil, a baixa qualidade dos dados para a avaliação de risco faz necessária a articulação de processos anteriores para a obtenção de dados suficientes. O objetivo deste trabalho foi reavaliar o risco de extinção das espécies de Combretaceae previamente consideradas ameaçadas de extinção, a partir da atualização dos dados relacionados à conservação destes táxons. Nossos resultados mostram que a articulação dos processos de consolidação taxonômica; importação e análise de dados; georreferenciamento e comunicação otimizaram a obtenção e sistematização de dados, enriquecendo as avaliações. Das 11 espécies selecionadas para reavaliação de risco, cinco encontram-se ameaçadas nas categorias VU, EN, CR e CR* e seis não estão ameaçadas. A integração dos processos e o resultado das avaliações foram consistentes. No entanto a deficiência de informações geográficas nas fichas de herbário, a falta de digitalização da maioria das coleções do País e a dificuldade de acesso a referências bibliográficas representam os principais obstáculos para a categorização do risco de extinção da flora brasileira.

Increased human pressure on the planet’s resources has lead to extensive loss and degradation of natural habitats increasing overall species’ extinction risk. This has led to the consensus that protected areas are an essential strategy for maintaining biodiversity and the ecological services it provides (Chape et al., 2005; Gaston et al., 2008; Pimm et al., 2014). During the twentieth century, protected areas were created under several different categories of protection in almost all countries around the world (Phillips, 2004). Currently, the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) acknowledges the existence of more than 160,000 protected areas worldwide, covering more than 13% of the Earth’s land surface (WDPA, 2012). Brazil holds an outstanding position with fourth largest network of protected areas in the world (Gurgel et al., 2009), encompassing 12.4% of the national land area (WDPA, 2012). Protecting nature in wilderness regions is already recognized as an important way to preserve biodiversity. However