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The exceptional value of intact forest ecosystems

2018; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 2; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/s41559-018-0490-x

2397-334X

James E. M. Watson, Tom Evans, Oscar Venter, Brooke Williams, Ayesha Tulloch, Claire Stewart, Ian D. Thompson, Justina C. Ray, Kris A. Murray, Álvaro Salazar, Clive McAlpine, Peter Potapov, Joe Walston, John G. Robinson, Michael Painter, David Wilkie, Christopher E. Filardi, William F. Laurance, R. A. Houghton, Sean L. Maxwell, Hedley S. Grantham, Cristián Samper, Stephanie Wang, Lars Laestadius, Rebecca K. Runting, G. Silva-Chavez, Jamison Ervin, David B. Lindenmayer,

Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies

As the terrestrial human footprint continues to expand, the amount of native forest that is free from significant damaging human activities is in precipitous decline. There is emerging evidence that the remaining intact forest supports an exceptional confluence of globally significant environmental values relative to degraded forests, including imperilled biodiversity, carbon sequestration and storage, water provision, indigenous culture and the maintenance of human health. Here we argue that maintaining and, where possible, restoring the integrity of dwindling intact forests is an urgent priority for current global efforts to halt the ongoing biodiversity crisis, slow rapid climate change and achieve sustainability goals. Retaining the integrity of intact forest ecosystems should be a central component of proactive global and national environmental strategies, alongside current efforts aimed at halting deforestation and promoting reforestation. Forests that are free of significant human-induced degradation should be accorded urgent conservation priority, it is argued, owing to evidence that they hold particular value for biodiversity, carbon sequestration and storage, water provision, and the maintenance of indigenous cultures and human health.