The 2020 World Wildlife Fund Living Planet report that just came out paints a dire picture of the state of the world’s biodiversity—a nearly 70% average decline in wildlife populations since 1970. And the latest UN Global Biodiversity Outlook report gives the sobering news that the nations that signed the Convention on Biodiversity have not met the goals they established. But a new scientific paper published last week in Science Advances, provides a vision for what needs to be done to stop and reverse the declines. And it showcases the critically important need for increasing support of Indigenous-led conservation in Canada, in both Boreal and Arctic ecosystems.
Fortunately, as the authors point out in the paper, there is good news.
They show that the most important areas for conservation of biodiversity have major overlap with the most important areas for climate stabilization. This includes the massive carbon banks of the Boreal Forest biome of Canada and Alaska.
And there is more good news—many of these globally important places for biodiversity and climate are being conserved by Indigenous governments.
