LIFE on Earth is not spread evenly across the globe, and neither is the impact of the mass extinction afflicting the planet.

Some three quarters of the mammals, birds and amphibians that are most endangered live in habitats that cover just 2.3 per cent of the Earth’s surface — an area about the size of India. Since the concept of biodiversity hotspots was developed 17 years ago by the Oxford University ecologist Norman Myers, it has become increasingly clear that efforts to protect other species will stand or fall on the success of conservation in these zones. More than 400 scientists have spent four years reappraising which areas are most valuable and which most at risk to draw up the most accurate map yet showing where life is closest to the edge.

The results, published in the book Hotspots Revisted, from the charity Conservation International, reveal 34 regions of high concern, shown in the map above. Some of the 11 new hotspots, such as the East Melanesian Islands, have been added because of accelerating ecological damage that has left more species threatened.

Others — the Horn of Africa and the Madrean pine-oak woodlands of Japan — now qualify because new data have revised the number of native species significantly upwards.

“The biodiversity hotspots are the environmental emergency rooms of the planet,” Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International and editor of Hotspots Revisited, said.

“This assessment underscores the value of hotspots for defining conservation priorities. We must act decisively to avoid losing these irreplaceable storehouses of the Earth’s life forms.”

www.biodiversityhotspots.org

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