Just five countries hold 70% of the world’s remaining untouched wilderness areas and urgent international action is needed to protect them, according to new research by the University of Queensland (UQ) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
Australia, the US, Brazil, Russia, and Canada as the five countries that hold the vast majority of the world’s remaining wilderness.
They found that more than 77% of land – excluding Antarctica – and 87% of oceans had been modified by human intervention.
The researchers say that the planet’s remaining wilderness can be protected “only if it is recognised within international policy frameworks”. They’re calling for an international target that protects 100% of all remaining intact ecosystems.
“It’s achievable to have a target of 100%,” Watson said. “All nations need to do is stop industry from going into those places.”
John Robertson, the executive vice president for global conservation at WCS said, “Already we have lost so much. We must grasp these opportunities to secure the wilderness before it disappears forever,” he said.
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