Conservation Priorities in response to climate change

Use the viewer below to explore the SPARC priorities for biodiversity conservation under climate change.

1. Priorities for conservation action are blue-green color ramp where dark blue is the greatest priority for conservation. Priorities were determined through an analysis of which areas best represent all plant and vertebrates in both current climate and in projected future climates. Two future climate pathways are provided here: RCP2.6 (low) and RCP8.5 (high)

2. Layers marked ‘redistributed by country’ re-scale the priorities to emphasize the most important areas within each national boundary.

3. The performance of existing protected areas was included in the prioritization — but the protected areas themselves are not mapped as high priority (i.e. priorities are for additional conservation action).

4. Urban areas and areas of intensive agriculture were excluded from the prioritization. Developed area masks layers are provided in the viewer below to see which areas were excluded.

A description of the methods used in the prioritization can be found here: Methods Documentation