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Protecting natural habitats in priority areas is essential to halt the loss of biodiversity. Yet whether these benefits for biodiversity also yield benefits for human well-being remains controversial. Here we assess the potential human well-being benefits of safeguarding a global network of sites identified as top priorities for the conservation of threatened species. Conserving these sites would yield benefits - in terms of a) climate change mitigation through avoidance of CO2 emissions from deforestation; b) freshwater services to downstream human populations; c) retention of option value; and d) benefits to maintenance of human cultural diversity - significantly exceeding those anticipated from randomly selected sites within the same countries and ecoregions. Results suggest that safeguarding sites important for biodiversity conservation provides substantial benefits to human well-being. © 2012 Larsen et al.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Environmental Sciences
Research Group:	Environmental management
Research Field:	Environmental management not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Environmental Management
Objective Group:	Other environmental management
Objective Field:	Other environmental management not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Brooks, TM (Dr Thomas Brooks)
ID Code:	83486
Year Published:	2012
Web of Science® Times Cited:	28
Deposited By:	Geography and Environmental Studies
Deposited On:	2013-03-14
Last Modified:	2017-11-03
Downloads:	334 View Download Statistics