Global biodiversity loss from outsourced deforestation

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Conservation Biology
• Global Ecology

Background:

• Globalization enables countries to externalize environmental costs, such as biodiversity loss, through land use.
• Understanding the impact of consumption on biodiversity loss in other countries is incomplete.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify global range losses of forest vertebrates from 2001 to 2015.
• To attribute these losses to deforestation caused by the consumption patterns of 24 developed countries.
• To identify global hotspots of biodiversity loss outsourced through international supply chains.

Main Methods:

• Quantified global range losses for forest vertebrates.
• Attributed deforestation-driven biodiversity loss to consumption in 24 developed countries.
• Mapped geographical concentrations of these international impacts.

Main Results:

• Driver countries caused greater cumulative species range loss outside their borders than within.
• International biodiversity impacts were geographically concentrated, creating global hotspots of outsourced loss.
• External impacts were greatest on species in nearby regions, with some distant impacts noted.

Conclusions:

• Developed countries significantly outsource biodiversity loss through their consumption of agricultural and forestry products.
• Mapping these outsourced losses is crucial for understanding and mitigating global conservation challenges.
• Consumption-driven deforestation poses a significant threat to forest vertebrates worldwide, particularly in regions supplying global supply chains.