Scientists have found that only 3% of the land is unpolluted by humans.
Today’s world is a far cry from the Earth of 500 years ago. According to new research, only about 3 percent of the land surface may be ecologically intact, and they are still home to all their native species, untouched by human activity.
The finding, published in the April 15 issue of the Journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, is far below previous estimates based on satellite imagery that about 20 to 40 percent of the land’s ecosystems are untouched.
In this new study, scientists conducted an extensive survey of forest cover and species loss to better understand what is happening under the global tree canopy.
I was surprised to see how low (the 3 percent rate) actually is,” said Andrew Plumptre, a conservation biologist at the University of Cambridge. It shows how rare it is to have such intact places. It’s frightening how far the world looks from where it was 500 years ago.”
The term “ecosystem” describes the complex relationships within a natural area that contribute entirely to maintaining a healthy and balanced diversity of life. Lose just one or two key species and the entire system could collapse.
Habitats that remain pristine today contain the same abundance of species as they did in 1500 AD, primarily in areas considered less suitable for human habitation, including the Sahara Desert and Greenland, and the colder regions of northern Canada.
Other intact habitats, located in areas under extreme pressure from deforestation and development, include parts of the Latin American Amazon.
The authors concluded that these areas should be the focus of future conservation. Although the study found that only 11 percent of the area is currently protected.
Says Pluputre, “The idea of focusing on unimpaired areas is so that there is no need to work hard to remove the human footprint.”
However, some scientists have questioned this extremely low figure, saying it may be due to the study’s particularly narrow definition of “unimpaired habitat” – those with intact, historic plant and animal resources.
Stuart Pimm, a conservation scientist at Duke University, said, “We need to take real action to ensure the survival of species and ecosystems.”
He also disputed the study authors’ call to protect areas that remain unimpaired, noting that frozen or desert lands are not the most species-rich areas. Pimm said, “Encouraging countries to protect remote, sparsely populated areas does little for biodiversity.”
The momentum for conservation has increased over the past year as governments, including the United States, have pledged to protect more land. A U.N.-led effort aims to protect 30 percent of the planet’s lands and waters by 2030, up from the roughly 17 percent currently under some form of protection.
However, some environmentalists argue that the global conservation goal should be much higher than 30 percent in order to prevent mass species die-offs. a 2019 U.N. report estimated that as many as 1 million species are threatened with extinction due to human activity.
Pimm said, “Reaching 30 percent (of the planet’s land and waters) by 2030 (to protect) is a nice slogan, but it will not help if the areas to be protected are not carefully chosen.”
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