Carla Archibald,Brooke Williams,Ayesha Tulloch,Frankie Cho,Yi Fei Chung,Courtney Morgans,Marie C. Dade,James Brazill‐Boast,Scott Benitez Hetherington,Michael J. Drielsma,Kelly Fielding,Sarah Bekessy,Daniel Lunney,Clive A. McAlpine,Jonathan R. Rhodes
{"title":"Systematic Conservation Planning for Private Land Can No Longer Overlook People","authors":"Carla Archibald,Brooke Williams,Ayesha Tulloch,Frankie Cho,Yi Fei Chung,Courtney Morgans,Marie C. Dade,James Brazill‐Boast,Scott Benitez Hetherington,Michael J. Drielsma,Kelly Fielding,Sarah Bekessy,Daniel Lunney,Clive A. McAlpine,Jonathan R. Rhodes","doi":"10.1111/con4.70066","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/con4.70066","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Expanding conservation on private land is essential for many countries to achieve global biodiversity conservation and restoration targets. Planning in these socially and environmentally diverse landscapes requires approaches that are fit for purpose that account for both human and ecological values. Although systematic conservation planning offers a structured framework to address human‐nature interdependencies, its applicability to private land conservation is not well understood. We reviewed 66 peer‐reviewed systematic conservation planning studies across 44 countries to evaluate how people, including landholders and other stakeholders, are incorporated into private land conservation planning. Although landholders and other stakeholders are central to private land conservation outcomes, 21% of studies did not consider these perspectives at all, and only 29% engaged these groups directly through stakeholder workshops, participatory planning, or landholder surveys. Most studies (73%) relied on indirect socio‐economic proxies to represent social values, which may miss key insights into feasibility and long‐term success. We apply the results of the review to propose an enhanced systematic conservation planning framework tailored to private land conservation contexts. We argue that when landholders’ and other stakeholders’ perspectives are integrated into the planning process, private land conservation efforts are more likely to be beneficial for both people and nature.","PeriodicalId":157,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Letters","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148895077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tara G. Martin,Carlos A. Arnillas,Anni Arponen,Kadambari Devarajan,Ken Ehrlich,Heather M. Kharouba,Ana Carolina Prado‐Valladares,Helen M. Regan,Libby Rumpff,Florian Schnabel,Marten Winter,Kristiina Visakorpi,Julia K. Baum,Marc W. Cadotte,Abbey Camaclang,Javiera B. Chinga,Mariana C. Chiuffo,Emily Clark,Sharon Collinge,Roger D. Cousens,Marilyn Grell‐Brisk,Rebecca W. Kariuki,Alexandra‐Maria Klein,Monica D. Ortiz,Jennifer M. T. Magel,Sofie McComb,Jonathan W. Moore,Hazel Norman,Daniel Stewart,Bruno E. Soares,Gisela C. Stotz,Michael Williams,Florencia A. Yannelli,Lesley A. Hughes
{"title":"With Knowledge Comes Responsibility: Increasing Conservation Scientists’ Impact in a Time of Global Crises","authors":"Tara G. Martin,Carlos A. Arnillas,Anni Arponen,Kadambari Devarajan,Ken Ehrlich,Heather M. Kharouba,Ana Carolina Prado‐Valladares,Helen M. Regan,Libby Rumpff,Florian Schnabel,Marten Winter,Kristiina Visakorpi,Julia K. Baum,Marc W. Cadotte,Abbey Camaclang,Javiera B. Chinga,Mariana C. Chiuffo,Emily Clark,Sharon Collinge,Roger D. Cousens,Marilyn Grell‐Brisk,Rebecca W. Kariuki,Alexandra‐Maria Klein,Monica D. Ortiz,Jennifer M. T. Magel,Sofie McComb,Jonathan W. Moore,Hazel Norman,Daniel Stewart,Bruno E. Soares,Gisela C. Stotz,Michael Williams,Florencia A. Yannelli,Lesley A. Hughes","doi":"10.1111/con4.70076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/con4.70076","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss continue despite overwhelming scientific evidence of their impacts on human well‐being and planetary health. Those of us working in the fields of conservation and ecology are acutely aware that current efforts to avert these crises are profoundly inadequate. But how are we, as professionals working in these fields, responding? We engage in many different activities from generating knowledge and educating students to communicating research findings. Some of us work to implement science‐based evidence and advocate for policy change. A few of us engage in activism. In this perspective, we explore how to increase our impact by re‐prioritizing how we spend our time on various activities and focus our efforts on actions most likely to lead to positive change. We offer an exercise to self‐reflect and identify pathways to increase our impact. The escalating crises demand an urgent re‐think from us all in how we currently spend our time.","PeriodicalId":157,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Letters","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148895028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Max D. Jones,Washington Tapia Aguilera,Jorge Carrión‐Tacuri,Christian Sevilla,James P. Gibbs,Elizabeth A. Hunter
{"title":"Ecological Costs of Waiting to Restore Ecosystem Engineers: The Case of Giant Tortoises in the Galápagos Islands","authors":"Max D. Jones,Washington Tapia Aguilera,Jorge Carrión‐Tacuri,Christian Sevilla,James P. Gibbs,Elizabeth A. Hunter","doi":"10.1111/con4.70083","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/con4.70083","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the Galápagos Islands, giant tortoises ( Chelonoidis spp.) engineer terrestrial ecosystems. Endemic tortoise lineages have been lost from Floreana and Pinta Islands, resulting in ecosystem shifts, with tortoise population restoration currently being considered using hybrids that include ancestry from the now extinct C. niger of Floreana Island. We combined long‐term vegetation monitoring with simulation of vegetation responses to tortoises, and tortoise translocation scenarios to assess whether using C. niger hybrids as ecological replacements on Pinta Island could restore ecosystem function without compromising restoration on Floreana Island. Woody plants have increased by >100% on Pinta Island between 2011 and 2022 in the absence of ecologically effective numbers of tortoises, but re‐establishment of tortoises at a moderate density (0.7 tortoises/ha) could reverse those trends and delay restoration on Floreana Island by ca. one decade while preventing continued ecosystem degradation on Pinta Island. We demonstrate the feasibility of restoring ecological replacements and the importance of rewilding ecosystem engineers before ecosystem shifts become irreversible.","PeriodicalId":157,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Letters","volume":"51 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148895027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Erik Meijaard, Divya Narain, Marc Ancrenaz, Serge A. Wich, Rona A. Dennis, Martine Maron
{"title":"Financier Performance Standard Misaligned With Emerging Nature Positive Requirements: An Orangutan Case Study","authors":"Erik Meijaard, Divya Narain, Marc Ancrenaz, Serge A. Wich, Rona A. Dennis, Martine Maron","doi":"10.1111/con4.70078","DOIUrl":"10.1111/con4.70078","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Aimed at conserving biodiversity and sustainably managing natural resources, the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Performance Standard 6 (PS6) is a key environmental safeguard for development projects. Among the species most affected by projects subject to PS6 are great apes, whose survival depends on stringent conservation measures. Of these great ape species, the three orangutan (<i>Pongo</i> spp.) species are rapidly declining due to habitat loss and fragmentation and unsustainable mortality rates. We assessed the types of net outcomes PS6 requires when development projects affect the habitat of Critically Endangered orangutans, which are highlighted in the PS6 for special protection needs. While PS6 may require relative gains—for example, slowing the rate of biodiversity decline compared to a deteriorating baseline—it falls short of requiring the absolute gains necessary to halt biodiversity loss by 2030, in line with international commitments such as the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Implementation of PS6 in areas of critical orangutan habitat is, therefore, unlikely to prevent further losses for species like orangutans. In the context of a review of the IFC's Performance Standards, which were last updated in 2019, we recommend revisions that align PS6 with global commitments to absolute improvements in biodiversity.</p>","PeriodicalId":157,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Letters","volume":"19 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/con4.70078","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148809901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Martine Maron, Michelle Ward, Jeremy S. Simmonds, Brendan A. Wintle, Hugh P. Possingham, Ruben Venegas, Donald Butler, Andrew Macintosh, April E. Reside, Laura Sonter, Daniel C. Dunn, Ailsa Kerswell, Jaana Dielenberg, James E. M. Watson
{"title":"Ecological Irreplaceability in the Era of Nature Positive","authors":"Martine Maron, Michelle Ward, Jeremy S. Simmonds, Brendan A. Wintle, Hugh P. Possingham, Ruben Venegas, Donald Butler, Andrew Macintosh, April E. Reside, Laura Sonter, Daniel C. Dunn, Ailsa Kerswell, Jaana Dielenberg, James E. M. Watson","doi":"10.1111/con4.70073","DOIUrl":"10.1111/con4.70073","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Global biodiversity decline has breached safe limits, prompting ambitious goals to halt and reverse nature loss. Meeting these goals requires a shift from minimizing losses to securing an absolute net gain of nature and biodiversity. We argue that foundational to this is respecting ecological irreplaceability—the recognition that some ecological assets, such as certain ecosystem types and habitat features upon which species depend, cannot plausibly be restored or replaced within timeframes relevant to the conservation of those ecosystems and species. Despite this ecological reality, many policy settings, particularly around environmental impact assessment and planning, are underpinned by the assumption that lost nature is replaceable. We outline ecological irreplaceability and its implications in the context of nature-positive ambitions. We show how it can be operationalized as the basis of a necessary, fundamental shift in biodiversity policy and conservation decision-making. Embedding the concept in policy is essential to safeguard the potential to achieve nature-positive goals and restore credibility to policy mechanisms that have too often enabled cumulative and irreversible biodiversity loss.</p>","PeriodicalId":157,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Letters","volume":"19 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/con4.70073","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148687816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Katie I. Murray, Tanya Berger-Wolf, Daniel Schofield, Kimberley Hockings, Dave Hodgson
{"title":"Open sharing in Conservation AI: Benefits and Barriers","authors":"Katie I. Murray, Tanya Berger-Wolf, Daniel Schofield, Kimberley Hockings, Dave Hodgson","doi":"10.1111/con4.70065","DOIUrl":"10.1111/con4.70065","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Recent advances in artificial intelligence, particularly deep learning, are transforming conservation science, unblocking data-filled bottlenecks and automating decision processes to help protect biodiversity. The power of deep learning algorithms depends on the size and quality of training datasets, and their uptake depends on the sharing of both code and training data. We use bibliometrics to highlight existing research trends in the growth and distribution of artificial intelligence in publications using biodiversity sensors and then discuss the benefits and barriers to sharing openly. Our survey of 611 publications (2000–2024) shows a rapid increase in the number of publications using artificial intelligence to process biodiversity sensor data over the past decade. Yet, of these, only 16.9% shared new datasets and 18.0% shared code, while 64.0% shared no resources (code, dataset, or graphical user interface). Acoustic datasets (audio, seismic) were twice as likely to be shared compared to visual datasets (camera traps, UAVs, satellites). We discuss the reasons to share and not to share in this field—specifically data security, ownership, and fragmentation—and propose infrastructure and governance frameworks for sharing sensitive data and complex algorithms. Updated sharing frameworks are required to balance the benefits of open and ethical conservation science.</p>","PeriodicalId":157,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Letters","volume":"19 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/con4.70065","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148582174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Enabling Nature-Based Solutions by Embracing Their Limits: Insights From Governing in Complexity","authors":"Kerry A. Waylen, Rakhyun E. Kim","doi":"10.1111/con4.70074","DOIUrl":"10.1111/con4.70074","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Nature-based solutions (NbS) have become a central concept in contemporary conservation. While much scholarship and practice aim to refine and upscale NbS, we argue that it is important to recognize their inherent limits, which stem from the complexity of socio-ecological systems. Drawing on literatures about governing in complexity, we identify three fundamental sources of limitation: bounded steerability of complex adaptive systems, inescapable contestation of plural values and power, and persistent cross-scale misfits between ecological and institutional dynamics. These manifest as recurrent limits for NbS, including shifting priorities, unavoidable trade-offs, recurring conflicts, unexpected outcomes, external shocks, and contested knowledge. We outline implications for policy, practice, and research: emphasizing humility, adaptivity, and reflexivity as necessary conditions for advancing NbS without overstating their promise.</p>","PeriodicalId":157,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Letters","volume":"19 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/con4.70074","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148459310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cross-Ecosystem Biodiversity Action Is Systemically Overlooked","authors":"Tianna Peller, Florian Altermatt","doi":"10.1111/con4.70067","DOIUrl":"10.1111/con4.70067","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) stands as the world's foremost strategy for biodiversity protection. However, despite emphasizing ecosystem connectivity, the GBF remains largely organized around discrete ecosystem types, biomes, and political jurisdictions. Consequently, it falls short of explicitly addressing a fundamental ecological reality: biodiversity is shaped by biotic and abiotic processes that transcend ecosystem and institutional boundaries. Biodiversity in one type of ecosystem can strongly depend on ecological processes occurring in another, yet these cross-ecosystem dependencies frequently fall outside existing governance structures. In this perspective, we confront the oversight of cross-ecosystem dependencies in biodiversity management and policy as a systemic problem. We present evidence showing how ecological change propagates across ecosystem interfaces (e.g., aquatic-terrestrial) through biotic and abiotic pathways, and how institutional fragmentation undermines coordinated conservation action across these same boundaries and scales. We discuss how failing to account for cross-ecosystem dependencies of biodiversity undermines the GBF's vision for halting and reversing biodiversity loss. Finally, we outline pathways for integrating cross-ecosystem biodiversity dependencies into global biodiversity policy, through creative interpretation of ecosystem connectivity and integrity, implementation within National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, and the development of cross-ecosystem indicators and management frameworks.</p>","PeriodicalId":157,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Letters","volume":"19 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/con4.70067","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148432249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amanda E. Arnold, Jay H. Matsushiba, Nicholas K. Dulvy
{"title":"Sharks, Rays, and MPAs: A Global Assessment of Marine Protected Area Coverage in National Waters Across Species Ranges","authors":"Amanda E. Arnold, Jay H. Matsushiba, Nicholas K. Dulvy","doi":"10.1111/con4.70071","DOIUrl":"10.1111/con4.70071","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Global conservation agreements emphasize protected area coverage targets, such as the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's 30 × 30 target, yet their effectiveness in safeguarding biodiversity remains uncertain. We measure the intersection between marine protected area (MPA) coverage and the distribution of sharks and rays. Using global range maps and MPA boundaries within national exclusive economic zones, we calculate the percent of species’ ranges within MPAs, focusing on no-take areas. We reveal significant shortfalls in species-level protection. Within national waters, no Critically Endangered species has more than 5% of its range in no-take MPAs, and 79% of threatened species have less than 1%. We also find that the WDPA contains major gaps in take-status reporting, as only one third of countries (34%) report take-status information for any MPAs to the WDPA, further limiting estimates of meaningful protection. These results highlight the implementation gap between global coverage targets and biodiversity outcomes, reinforcing the need for species-focused protection.</p>","PeriodicalId":157,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Letters","volume":"19 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/con4.70071","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148415580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lyla O'Brien, Fabio Castelli, Adam Felton, Tobias Kuemmerle, Martin Mikoláš, Catalina Munteanu, Francesco Maria Sabatini, Johan Svensson, Miroslav Svoboda, Kris Vandekerkhove, Georg Winkel, Marcus Lindner
{"title":"Priority Actions for the Conservation of Primary and Old-Growth Forests in Europe","authors":"Lyla O'Brien, Fabio Castelli, Adam Felton, Tobias Kuemmerle, Martin Mikoláš, Catalina Munteanu, Francesco Maria Sabatini, Johan Svensson, Miroslav Svoboda, Kris Vandekerkhove, Georg Winkel, Marcus Lindner","doi":"10.1111/con4.70054","DOIUrl":"10.1111/con4.70054","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Primary and old-growth forests are important for nature and society. Although global commitments to their conservation are increasing and the EU has aligned itself with these efforts, these forests remain critically threatened. Consequently, to meet its own targets rooted in global commitments, the EU needs a strategy that ensures their conservation. The Nature Restoration Regulation offers a promising framework for this. We outline four priority actions for the conservation of these forests and explain how they can be achieved under the Regulation: (1) assess progress and address barriers to identifying, mapping, and protecting primary and old-growth forests and implement a logging moratorium; (2) prevent degradation from anthropogenic pressures and protect natural processes; (3) expand strict protection and establish buffer zones; and (4) improve connectivity and create secondary old-growth forests through passive and active restoration. Additionally, we highlight how the Regulation provides an opportunity to address further policy gaps.</p>","PeriodicalId":157,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Letters","volume":"19 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/con4.70054","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148342524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}