A major organizational report found that wildlife populations within UNESCO World Heritage sites for biodiversity have remained stable despite steep global declines since 1970.
Around the world, wildlife populations have been declining at alarming rates. Forests are disappearing, coral reefs are bleaching, grasslands are shrinking, and countless species are struggling to survive amid climate change, pollution, habitat loss, and the expansion of human development.
Yet a new global report suggests there are still places where biodiversity is holding on remarkably well. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), wildlife populations within UNESCO World Heritage sites for biodiversity have remained broadly stable despite an estimated 73% global decline in wildlife populations since 1970.
The findings come from the landmark report, People and Nature in UNESCO-Designated Sites: Global and Local Contributions, which assessed 2,260 UNESCO-designated sites spanning more than 13 million square kilometers worldwide. Together, these sites include World Heritage Sites, Biosphere Reserves, and UNESCO Global Geoparks.
The scale of the network is enormous. The UNESCO sites collectively cover an area larger than China and India combined and encompass more than 60% of the world’s mapped species. Around 40% of those species are found nowhere else on Earth. The report suggests these protected and managed landscapes are functioning as some of the world’s most important ecological refuges.
Researchers used data from the Living Planet Index, one of the world’s largest biodiversity monitoring systems, to compare wildlife trends globally with trends inside UNESCO-designated areas. Globally, vertebrate wildlife populations have fallen sharply over the past five decades.
However, populations within UNESCO World Heritage sites for biodiversity remained relatively stable overall, with some species even recovering after earlier declines. Scientists say this demonstrates the importance of long-term conservation management and habitat protection. The findings suggest that when ecosystems receive consistent stewardship and legal protection, wildlife populations are far more likely to remain resilient over time.
Many of the world’s most threatened species now rely heavily on UNESCO-designated areas. According to the report, roughly one-third of the world’s remaining elephants, tigers, and pandas live within UNESCO sites.
The report also highlights critically endangered species that survive almost entirely within these protected zones. All remaining vaquitas, the world’s rarest marine mammal, are found inside UNESCO-designated sites, along with the remaining Javan rhinoceroses and the majority of Sumatran orangutans.
UNESCO World Heritage sites for biodiversity are also playing an increasingly important role in climate regulation. The report estimates these sites collectively store around 240 gigatons of carbon, roughly equivalent to nearly two decades of current global carbon emissions if released into the atmosphere.
Their forests alone account for approximately 15% of all carbon absorbed annually by forests worldwide. That makes the sites important not only for wildlife protection, but also for global climate stability.
Importantly, the report emphasizes that these landscapes are not isolated wilderness areas empty of people. The biodiversity sites are home to approximately 900 million people, around 10% of the global population. More than 1,000 languages are spoken across the sites, and at least one-quarter overlap with Indigenous territories.
UNESCO World Heritage sites for biodiversity are far from empty wilderness, sheltering around 900 million people, more than 1,000 languages, and at least one-quarter overlapping with Indigenous territories, as seen in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef where over 70 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clan groups play an active role in community management. Photo by Joan Li on Unsplash.
Researchers say Indigenous stewardship and local community management often play a major role in maintaining ecosystem resilience and biodiversity health. The report, therefore, frames conservation not as a separation of humans from nature, but as a set of supporting systems in which people and ecosystems coexist sustainably.
Still, the findings come with serious warnings. Despite their resilience, UNESCO World Heritage sites for biodiversity are facing mounting environmental pressures. UNESCO estimates nearly 90% of the sites already experience high levels of environmental stress.
Climate-related hazards affecting the sites have increased by roughly 40% over the past decade. Researchers warn that more than one in four UNESCO-designated areas could reach ecological tipping points by 2050 if current trends continue.
Potential risks include disappearing glaciers, collapsing coral reefs, severe droughts, increasing wildfires, and forests shifting from carbon sinks into carbon sources. Deforestation remains a significant concern as well. Since 2000, more than 300,000 square kilometers of tree cover have been lost within UNESCO-designated areas, largely due to agricultural expansion and logging.
The report calls for stronger climate action, ecosystem restoration, increased transboundary cooperation, and greater inclusion of Indigenous and local communities in environmental governance.
Scientists say the findings ultimately show that conservation efforts can work when ecosystems receive meaningful protection and long-term stewardship. In a world where biodiversity loss often dominates environmental headlines, UNESCO World Heritage sites for biodiversity offer a rare example of relative ecological stability.
The report also highlights an important lesson: protecting ecosystems is not just about preserving scenery or individual species. These landscapes regulate climate, support livelihoods, store carbon, protect water systems, preserve cultural heritage, and sustain some of the planet’s last major refuges for wildlife.
As global biodiversity pressures continue to intensify, the future of many species may increasingly depend on how effectively these protected areas are managed. According to UNESCO’s findings, those efforts are already making a measurable difference.
