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
Review
. 2019 Apr 19;5(4):eaaw2869.
doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw2869. eCollection 2019 Apr.

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

E Dinerstein  1 , C Vynne  1 , E Sala  2 , A R Joshi  3 , S Fernando  1 , T E Lovejoy  4 , J Mayorga  2   5 , D Olson  6 , G P Asner  7 , J E M Baillie  2 , N D Burgess  8 , K Burkart  9 , R F Noss  10 , Y P Zhang  11 , A Baccini  12 , T Birch  13 , N Hahn  1   14 , L N Joppa  15 , E Wikramanayake  16
Affiliations
Review

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

E Dinerstein et al. Sci Adv. .

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. The world’s 846 terrestrial ecoregions and depiction of 30% protection by the 2030 milestone.
(A) The 846 terrestrial ecoregions. (B) Levels of protection by 2030.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Increasing representation of important terrestrial, freshwater, and marine biodiversity sites for global 2030 targets.
(A) Terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity sites. (B) Marine biodiversity sites. RR, IUCN Sites of Range Rarity; TS, Threatened Species Sites.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Coastal ecoregions, pelagic provinces, and marine protected areas of the world oceans.
(A) Coastal ecoregions and pelagic provinces. (B) Map of marine protected areas.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

  • Area-based conservation in the twenty-first century.
    Maxwell SL, Cazalis V, Dudley N, Hoffmann M, Rodrigues ASL, Stolton S, Visconti P, Woodley S, Kingston N, Lewis E, Maron M, Strassburg BBN, Wenger A, Jonas HD, Venter O, Watson JEM. Maxwell SL, et al. Nature. 2020 Oct;586(7828):217-227. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2773-z. Epub 2020 Oct 7. Nature. 2020. PMID: 33028996 Review.
  • Reimagining infrastructure for a biodiverse future.
    van Rees CB, Hernández-Abrams DD, Shudtz M, Lammers R, Byers J, Bledsoe BP, Bilskie MV, Calabria J, Chambers M, Dolatowski E, Ferreira S, Naslund L, Nelson DR, Nibbelink N, Suedel B, Tritinger A, Woodson CB, McKay SK, Wenger SJ. van Rees CB, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Nov 14;120(46):e2214334120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2214334120. Epub 2023 Nov 6. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023. PMID: 37931104 Free PMC article.
  • Climate change mitigation and nature conservation both require higher protected area targets.
    Roberts CM, O'Leary BC, Hawkins JP. Roberts CM, et al. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2020 Mar 16;375(1794):20190121. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0121. Epub 2020 Jan 27. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2020. PMID: 31983343 Free PMC article.
  • Prioritizing conservation actions in urbanizing landscapes.
    Ettinger AK, Buhle ER, Feist BE, Howe E, Spromberg JA, Scholz NL, Levin PS. Ettinger AK, et al. Sci Rep. 2021 Jan 12;11(1):818. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-79258-2. Sci Rep. 2021. PMID: 33436640 Free PMC article.
  • Business-as-usual trends will largely miss 2030 global conservation targets.
    Palomo I, González-García A, Ferraro PJ, Muradian R, Pascual U, Arboledas M, Bullock JM, Bruley E, Gómez-Baggethun E, Lavorel S. Palomo I, et al. Ambio. 2025 Feb;54(2):212-224. doi: 10.1007/s13280-024-02085-6. Epub 2024 Nov 7. Ambio. 2025. PMID: 39508928 Free PMC article.
See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Rockström J., Steffen W., Noone K., Persson Å., Chapin F. S. III, Lambin E. F., Lenton T. M., Scheffer M., Folke C., Schellnhuber H. J., Nykvist B., de Wit C. A., Hughes T., van der Leeuw S., Rodhe H., Sörlin S., Snyder P. K., Costanza R., Svedin U., Falkenmark M., Karlberg L., Corell R. W., Fabry V. J., Hansen J., Walker B., Liverman D., Richardson K., Crutzen P., Foley J. A., A safe operating space for humanity. Nature 461, 472–475 (2009). - PubMed
    1. S. Teske, Achieving the Paris Climate Agreement (Springer, 2019).
    1. Tallis H. M., Hawthorne P. L., Polasky S., Reid J., Beck M. W., Brauman K., Bielicki J. M., Binder S., Burgess M. G., Cassidy E., Clark A., Fargione J., Game E. T., Gerber J., Isbell F., Kiesecker J., McDonald R., Metian M., Molnar J. L., Mueller J. L., O’Connell C., Ovando D., Troell M., Boucher T. M., McPeek B., An attainable global vision for conservation and human well-being. Front. Ecol. Environ. 16, 563–570 (2018).
    1. Griscom B. W., Adams J., Ellis P. W., Houghton R. A., Lomax G., Miteva D. A., Schlesinger W. H., Shoch D., Siikamäki J. V., Smith P., Woodbury P., Zganjar C., Blackman A., Campari J., Conant R. T., Delgado C., Elias P., Gopalakrishna T., Hamsik M. R., Herrero M., Kiesecker J., Landis E., Laestadius L., Leavitt S. M., Minnemeyer S., Polasky S., Potapov P., Putz F. E., Sanderman J., Silvius M., Wollenberg E., Fargione J., Natural climate solutions. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 114, 11645–11650 (2017). - PMC - PubMed
    1. Martin T. G., Watson J. E. M., Intact ecosystems provide best defence against climate change. Nat. Clim. Chang. 6, 122–124 (2016).

LinkOut - more resources