Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Mar 29;14(3):e1002413.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002413. eCollection 2016 Mar.

Conservation Research Is Not Happening Where It Is Most Needed

Kerrie A Wilson  1 , Nancy A Auerbach  1 , Katerina Sam  2   3 , Ariana G Magini  1 , Alexander St L Moss  4 , Simone D Langhans  5 , Sugeng Budiharta  1   6 , Dilva Terzano  7 , Erik Meijaard  1   8
Affiliations

Conservation Research Is Not Happening Where It Is Most Needed

Kerrie A Wilson et al. PLoS Biol. .

Abstract

Target 19, set by the Convention on Biological Diversity, seeks to improve the knowledge, science base, and technologies relating to biodiversity. We will fail to achieve this target unless prolific biases in the field of conservation science are addressed. We reveal that comparatively less research is undertaken in the world's most biodiverse countries, the science conducted in these countries is often not led by researchers based in-country, and these scientists are also underrepresented in important international fora. Mitigating these biases requires wide-ranging solutions: reforming open access publishing policies, enhancing science communication strategies, changing author attribution practices, improving representation in international processes, and strengthening infrastructure and human capacity for research in countries where it is most needed.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Global distribution of publications on biodiversity conservation (S1 Data).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. CBD (2010) The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Decision X/2. 18 to 29 October 2010. Nagoya, Japan.
    1. Wilson KA, Evans M, C., Di Marco M, Green DC, Boitani L, et al. (2011) Prioritizing conservation investments for mammal species globally. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366: 2670–2680. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Freudenberger L, Hobson P, Schluck M, Kreft S, Vohland K, et al. (2013) Nature conservation: priority-setting needs a global change. Biodiversity and Conservation 22: 1255–1281.
    1. Boakes EH, McGowan PJK, Fuller RA, Ding CQ, Clark NE, et al. (2010) Distorted Views of Biodiversity: Spatial and Temporal Bias in Species Occurrence Data. PLoS Biol 8: e1000385 doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000385 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Collen B, McRae L, Loh J, Deinet S, De Palma A, et al. (2013) Tracking Change in Abundance: The Living Planet Index Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation: Wiley-Blackwell; pp. 71–94.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources