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Protected areas are the cornerstone of conservation efforts worldwide but their effectiveness in non-forested landscapes has been rarely assessed. Using remote sensing and matching statistics, we showed that protected areas in the Caucasus are ineffective against rangeland degradation, mainly due to livestock grazing.

Megafauna habitats have steadily declined throughout the Holocene, with the most significant losses in recent centuries due to human activity. However, modern trends of less intensive land use and more robust conservation efforts are reversing Holocene defaunation trends.

In South America’s major deforestation regions, conservation funds often go to recognized area-based conservation, and follow previous investments. Different biomes have not only received varying level of funding, but also saw different funding allocation strategies in terms of targeting forest cover/deforestation or not.

Land use is a major cause of the biodiversity crises and therefore also a potential solution. In a new paper in Conservation Letters, we discuss how land use is often oversimplified in conservation assessments, policy and planning – and how linking Land System Science and Conservation Science can overcome this and lead to a better representation of land use in conservation science and practice.

We propose a new method for integrating expert range maps in species distribution models using an ensemble approach called stacked generalization. Our approach helps to improve the mapping of species’ realized ranges and thus holds considerable potential for biogeographic research and conservation planning.

We used an integrated approach, combining human behavior and landscape structure, to map “coexistence landscapes” for pumas and people in the Argentine Dry Chaco. Our findings show that to sustain viable puma populations while minimizing local conflicts, we need to: (1) protect safe habitat and movement areas, (2) mitigate livestock predation in risky areas, and (3) restore connectivity in severed and matrix areas.

A new paper examines how forest-dependent people (Indigenous and Criollo peoples) in the Pilcomayo basin of the Gran Chaco have lost access to surface water (e.g., rivers, streams, ponds) over time due to the expansion of commodity agriculture.

La pérdida de biodiversidad es una crisis mundial que amenaza el bienestar humano, y el principal motor de esta crisis es cómo realizamos el uso de la tierra. El impacto del uso de la tierra puede producirse en forma directa, por ejemplo a través de la destrucción o degradación del hábitat, o indirectamente, por ejemplo cuando áreas remotas se vuelven más accesibles a los cazadores. Por lo tanto, la planificación y las medidas de conservación destinadas a proteger la biodiversidad y la naturaleza deben tener en cuenta las numerosas amenazas asociadas al uso de la tierra.

Biodiversity loss is a global crisis threatening human well-being, and the main driver of this crisis is how we use land. The impact of land use happens directly, for example through the destruction or degradation of habitat, and indirectly, for example when remote areas become more accessible to hunters. Conservation planning and action with the aim to protect biodiversity and nature must therefore address the many threats associated with land use.