Did you know that in the first half of 2017, WILD made it easier for people like you to help end the biodiversity crisis and halt the Sixth Great Extinction? You read that right! In April of this year WILD and the core members of the Nature Needs Half Network met for the first time to develop a global ground game that will protect 50% of the planet by 2050, fifty by fifty.
How do we plan to tackle a problem this big? One region at a time, of course.
For decades now scientists have recognized that protected areas are the cornerstone of biodiversity. Among these, Eric Dinerstein and his team of research scientists found that the future of Earth’s biodiversity requires protecting approximately half of the planet’s 846 ecoregions. Drawing from this research, the Nature Needs Half Network is in the process of choosing 3-4 pilot ecoregions in which to focus the Network’s efforts and prove that ending the extinction crisis is as easy as protecting one region at a time.
When we create early successes in pilot ecoregions we demonstrate that protecting half the planet is possible. We also build support for Nature Needs Half strategies and targets and encourage others to adopt our goals and lead their own efforts in the coming decades.
This makes it easier for you to engage in one of the most crucial movements of our time by taking one of the following steps:
- Sign your organization up as a Nature Needs Half member.
- Recommend partnerships that could support success in a pilot ecoregion, or suggest an ecoregion you think should be a pilot region.
- Read Eric’s paper to learn more about the importance of protecting ecoregions to end the biodiversity crisis.
- Follow Nature Needs Half on Facebook to keep informed about urgent calls-to-action that could make the difference for an ecoregion.
- Get ready to share the new roll-out of the Nature Needs Half Network site in early 2018. The new site will help connect you to Nature Needs Half Network efforts in your ecoregion and provide regular updates on protected area status in pilot ecoregions.
Of Earth’s 846 ecoregions, 98 (12%) are already half-protected. Which ecoregion will be next to cross the 50% target? Stay tuned to find out. Or better yet, help make it happen by supporting the WILD Foundation and our coalition stewardship of the Nature Needs Half Network.
Life’s full of sycronisity! Not always in a positive way. Close on WILD Foundation’s current mission statement Nature Needs Half Network and just 3 days ago I received an e-mail from my friend Andrew Zaloumus informing me with the shattering news that he has resigned from his a post as CEO of iSimangagliso Wetland Park which includes St Lucia Lake Game Reserve in northern Zululand. Andrew and his team have done an outstanding job for the past 17 years restoring the ecological integrity and biodiversity of a unique estuarine ecosystem where once Zambezi Sharks, hippo, crocodile, marine and freshwater fish and abundant water birds shared the bounty of a healing lake whose salinity had risen three times that of the sea due to exotic tree plantations contiguous to the lake. After removal life is returning It has World Heritage status.