One Earth
Volume 3, Issue 3, 18 September 2020, Pages 371-382
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Article
Change in Terrestrial Human Footprint Drives Continued Loss of Intact Ecosystems

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.08.009Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • We show that 58.4% of terrestrial Earth is under moderate or intense human pressure

  • Between 2000 and 2013, 1.9 million km2 of intact land became highly modified

  • Globally tropical grasslands and Southeast Asian forests were the most impacted

  • Greater efforts are urgently needed to retain Earth's remaining intact ecosystems

Science for Society

Humans have influenced the terrestrial biosphere for millennia, converting much of Earth's surface to anthropogenic land uses. Nevertheless, there are still some ecosystems that remain free from significant direct human pressure (and as such, considered “intact”), thereby providing crucial habitats for imperilled species and maintaining the ecosystem processes that underpin planetary life-support systems. Our analyses show that, between 2000 and 2013, 1.9 million km2—an area approximately the size of Mexico—of land relatively free of human disturbance became highly modified. This loss has profound implications for the biodiversity that require intact land for their continued survival and for people who rely on the services that intact ecosystems provide. Our results showcase the urgent need to safeguard Earth's last intact ecosystems and suggest that greater efforts are needed to ameliorate human pressures.

Summary

Human pressure mapping is important for understanding humanity's role in shaping Earth's patterns and processes. Our ability to map this influence has evolved, thanks to powerful computing, Earth-observing satellites, and new bottom-up census and crowd-sourced data. Here, we provide the latest temporally inter-comparable maps of the terrestrial human footprint and assessment of change in human pressure at global, biome, and ecoregional scales. In 2013, 42% of terrestrial Earth could be considered relatively free of direct anthropogenic disturbance, and 25% could be classed as “wilderness” (the least degraded end of the human footprint spectrum). Between 2000 and 2013, 1.9 million km2—an area the size of Mexico—of land relatively free of human disturbance became highly modified. The majority of this occurred within tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannah, and shrubland ecosystems, but the rainforests of Southeast Asia also underwent rapid modification. Our results show that humanity's footprint is eroding Earth's last intact ecosystems, and greater efforts are urgently needed to retain them.

Key words

human pressure
cumulative pressure mapping
ecosystem degradation
human modification
human footprint
wilderness
wild lands
biodiversity
conservation
land use change

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