A Global Deal For Nature: Guiding principles, milestones, and targets

2019/04/05 by Eric Dinerstein, Carly Vynne, Enric Sala +16 · 2 citations
Environmental Science · #Sustainability and Climate Change Governance #Coastal and Marine Management #Climate Change and Geoengineering

paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaw2869

openalex publication_date 2019/04/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

The Global Deal for Nature (GDN) is a time-bound, science-driven plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on Earth. Pairing the GDN and the Paris Climate Agreement would avoid catastrophic climate change, conserve species, and secure essential ecosystem services. New findings give urgency to this union: Less than half of the terrestrial realm is intact, yet conserving all native ecosystems-coupled with energy transition measures-will be required to remain below a 1.5°C rise in average global temperature. The GDN targets 30% of Earth to be formally protected and an additional 20% designated as climate stabilization areas, by 2030, to stay below 1.5°C. We highlight the 67% of terrestrial ecoregions that can meet 30% protection, thereby reducing extinction threats and carbon emissions from natural reservoirs. Freshwater and marine targets included here extend the GDN to all realms and provide a pathway to ensuring a more livable biosphere.

Citations

• Bolder Thinking for Conservation
• The Global 200: Priority Ecoregions for Global Conservation
• The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection
• A safe operating space for humanity
• Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas
• The velocity of climate change
• Freshwater Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Biogeographic Units for Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation
• Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities
• No saturation in the accumulation of alien species worldwide
• An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm
• The interaction of human population, food production, and biodiversity protection
• Tropical forests are a net carbon source based on aboveground measurements of gain and loss
• Natural climate solutions
• No-take marine reserves are the most effective protected areas in the ocean
• Unveiling the patterns and trends in 40 years of global trade in CITES-listed wildlife
• Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene
• Space for nature
• Continued Emissions of the Ozone‐Depleting Substance Carbon Tetrachloride From Eastern Asia
• Achieving the Paris Climate Agreement Goals

Cited by

• Marine protected area [wikipedia]
• Ocean [wikipedia]