Newswise — New York, Oct. 15, 2024 – The interlinked global crises of biodiversity loss, climate change, and threats to human and wildlife health are continuing to accelerate, posing existential threats to biodiversity and human well-being, and undermining efforts to implement the Global Biodiversity Framework. Maintaining and improving ecological integrity–structure, composition, and function–is central to addressing all three of these crises, and its importance is reflected within the GBF and the UNFCCC Paris Agreement.
Areas with high ecological integrity help protect biodiversity, are more resilient to climate change, deliver climate adaptation and mitigation benefits, support Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and provide health benefits to people and wildlife. Ecological integrity is a holistic way to conceive of the health of an ecosystem, along a full gradient from highly intact and fully functional systems with their full complement of species, to deeply degraded or fragmented systems with impaired function.
In many parts of the world, Indigenous Peoples have safeguarded nature for many millennia. Despite Indigenous and non-Indigenous conservation efforts, however, almost two-thirds of the world’s terrestrial surface and more than half of the ocean has been degraded or highly modified. Protecting remaining areas of high ecological integrity and restoring degraded ecosystems, incorporating both science and Indigenous and traditional knowledge, will be essential to nature's survival and our collective future.
These efforts would benefit from a clear target and a simple metric for measuring ecological integrity. In line with monitoring frameworks for the Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement, the Wildlife Conservation Society and partners are working to develop robust metrics for Parties to identify, conserve, and restore ecological integrity. Our goal is to complement, not replace, existing metrics by providing an index of ecological integrity (a “Nature Health Index”) that can be developed quickly and updated over policy-relevant timeframes.
Please visit wcs.org/integrity or contact Rachel Neugarten ([email protected]) to learn more.
WCS will have a delegation of scientists and policy experts attending The UN Biodiversity Conference in Cali, Colombia, Oct. 21 to Nov 1, 2024. One of our priorities will be to ensure Parties incorporate ecological integrity into their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and associated national targets that contribute to achievement of the GBF 2030 and 2050 objectives. To learn more about all four of our priorities go here: https://www.wcs.org/cbd-cop16#priorities
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Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
WCS combines the power of its zoos and an aquarium in New York City and a Global Conservation Program in more than 50 countries to achieve its mission to save wildlife and wild places. WCS runs the world’s largest conservation field program, protecting more than 50 percent of Earth’s known biodiversity; in partnership with governments, Indigenous People, Local Communities, and the private sector. It’s four zoos and aquarium (the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and the New York Aquarium ) welcome more than 3.5 million visitors each year, inspiring generations to care for nature. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org. Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: +1 (347) 840-1242. Listen to the WCS Wild Audio podcast HERE.
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