Biodiversité

A l’occasion de cette 9ème édition de la Fête des mares, la SNPN et ses partenaires souhaitent « retisser » les liens du vivant, non seulement par la valorisation du bénéfice des mares sur la restauration des réseaux écosystémiques, mais aussi par le réapprentissage du lien sensible et culturel entre les humains et ces petites zones humides, objets hybrides de nature, foisonnants de vie.

The European Union’s (EU) network of protected sites, Natura 2000, could be further connected with green infrastructure to create a trans-European nature network. According to a European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing, published today, highways and other infrastructure currently disconnect about 15 % of the Natura 2000 sites from other nature areas, reducing their capacity for ecosystem services.

Fragmentation of ecosystems leads to loss of biodiversity in the remaining habitat patches, but retaining connecting corridors can reduce these losses. Using long-term data from a large, replicated experiment, Damschen et al. show quantitatively how these losses are reduced. In their pine savanna system, corridors reduced the likelihood of plant extinction in patches by about 2% per year and increased the likelihood of patch colonization by about 5% per year. These benefits continued to accrue over the course of the 18-year experiment.

Dans le cadre de la 8ème conférence annuelle « Our Océan », qui se tient actuellement au Panama avec des experts et ministres du monde entier, la France a officiellement rejoint le jeudi 2 mars 2023 le Corridor Marin de Conservation du Pacifique tropical Est (CMAR).

A ‘Blueprint’ to save critical ecosystems and stabilize the Earth’s climate.

More than two years in development, the Global Safety Net is the first comprehensive global-scale analysis of terrestrial areas essential for biodiversity and climate resilience, totaling 50.4% of the Earth's land. The report was published in Science Advances and highlights the importance of protecting and restoring the natural world to address three converging crises -- climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and the emergence of novel viruses such as COVID-19.

Expansive development for urbanization, agriculture, and resource extraction has resulted in much of the Earth’s vegetation existing as fragmented, isolated patches. Conservation planning typically deprioritizes small, isolated patches, as they are assumed to be of relatively little ecological value, instead focusing attention on conserving large, highly connected areas. Yet, our global analysis shows that, if we gave up on small patches of vegetation, we would stand to lose many species that are confined to those environments, and biodiversity would decline as a result. We should rethink the way we prioritize conservation to recognize the critical role that small, isolated patches play in conserving the world’s biodiversity. Restoring and reconnecting small isolated vegetation patches should be an immediate conservation priority.