Closing Window of Opportunity: Mapping Threats... to Important Areas for Conservation in the Pantropics
Oil & gas and mining operations post serious threats to areas of particular importance for biodiversity in topical forests and to the local and Indigenous communities that govern them. This spatial analysis maps the conservation areas most at risk.
Report link: Earth Insight (2024)
There is a closing window of opportunity to protect critical ecosystems before they are further fragmented. This research and report co-published by Earth Insight, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB), the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), Campaign for Nature, One Earth, and Wild Heritage explores what is at stake for Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), Indigenous Territories, and Protected Areas in the Amazon and Congo Basins and Southeast Asia.
The global effort to protect our planet's most vital ecosystems is reaching a crucial tipping point. Extractive industries such as oil, gas, and mining are expanding in some of the world's most ecologically important areas, particularly across the pantropical belt. As these industries expand, the window to safeguard these critical ecosystems and the Indigenous Territories they encompass is rapidly closing. Urgent, coordinated global action is needed to prevent irreversible damage to these natural areas that sustain life on Earth.
Top findings of the report include:
- 518 KBAs in the pantropics are under active and potential oil and gas concessions.
- Over 180 million hectares of high-integrity forests are either undergoing or have planned fossil fuel extraction projects across the pantropics.
- Oil and gas blocks overlap with 14% of KBAs and 12% of Indigenous Territories by area in the Amazon.
- Oil and gas blocks overlap with 40% of KBA area in the Congo Basin, while mining concessions overlap with 16% of KBA area.
- In Southeast Asia, 14% of the total area of KBA’s is overlapped by oil and gas blocks.
Lead researcher: Erinn Drage, Earth Insight (EI)
Contributing researchers: Bart Wickel (EI), Anna Bebbington (EI), Tiffany Hsu (EI), Lara Jordan (EI), Tyson Miller (EI), Stephen Woodley (IUCN), Brian O’Donnell (Campaign For Nature), Cyril Kormos (Wild Heritage), Jennifer Corpuz (IIFB), and Karl Burkart (One Earth)