Scientists find only 3% of land areas unblemished by humans

Very little of today’s world resembles Planet Earth from 500 years ago. In fact, only about 3 percent of land surfaces might be ecologically intact – still home to their full range of native species and unblemished by human activity, according to new research.

The finding – published Thursday in the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change – is far lower than previous estimates based on satellite images, which suggested around 20 percent to 40 percent of land ecosystems were undamaged. For the new study, however, scientists conducted an extensive survey of forest cover and species losses to understand better what was happening beneath the world’s tree canopies.

“I was particularly surprised to see how low it really is,” said Andrew Plumptre, a conservation biologist at the University of Cambridge. “It shows how rare such intact places are. It’s scary just how little the world looks like what it was just 500 years ago.”

The term ecosystem describes the complex relationships within a natural area that, altogether, help to sustain a healthy and balanced diversity of life. Lose just one or two key species, and the whole system could fall apart.

Today’s still- pristine habitats, containing the same species abundance as in the year 1500, were mostly found in regions considered less hospitable for humans, including the Sahara Desert and chilly regions of Greenland and northern Canada.

Other intact habitats were in areas under extreme pressure from deforestation and development, including parts of the Amazon in Latin America. The authors argue that these areas should be a priority for future conservation. Though currently, only 11 percent of these areas are under protection, the study found.

“The idea of focusing on intact areas is so that you don’t have to work to remove the human footprint,” said Plumptre. Some scientists, however, questioned the extremely low figure, saying it could be attributed to the study using a particularly narrow definition of “intact habitats” – those with their full, historical collection of animals and plants. “We need practical actions to ensure species and ecosystems survive,” said Stuart Pimm, a conservation scientist at Duke University.

Human footprint indices can play an

essential role in identifying areas with

potential for ecological restoration

through reintroduction of extirpated

species.

dongfeng@ globaltimes. com. cn