Has land use pushed terrestrial biodiversity beyond the planetary boundary? A global assessment

Tim Newbold, Lawrence N Hudson, Andrew P Arnell, Sara Contu, Adriana De Palma, Simon Ferrier, Samantha L L Hill, Andrew J Hoskins, Igor Lysenko, Helen R P Phillips, Victoria J Burton, Charlotte W T Chng, Susan Emerson, Di Gao, Gwilym Pask-Hale, Jon Hutton, Martin Jung, Katia Sanchez-Ortiz, Benno I Simmons, Sarah Whitmee, Hanbin Zhang, Jörn P W Scharlemann, Andy Purvis

Land use and related pressures have reduced local terrestrial biodiversity, but it is unclear how the magnitude of change relates to the recently proposed planetary boundary ("safe limit"). We estimate that land use and related pressures have already reduced local biodiversity intactness--the average proportion of natural biodiversity remaining in local ecosystems--beyond its recently proposed planetary boundary across 58.1% of the world's land surface, where 71.4% of the human population live. Biodiversity intactness within most biomes (especially grassland biomes), most biodiversity hotspots, and even some wilderness areas is inferred to be beyond the boundary. Such widespread transgression of safe limits suggests that biodiversity loss, if unchecked, will undermine efforts toward long-term sustainable development.