What are Conservation Imperatives?
“Protecting 1.2% of Earth would prevent most extinctions.”
The most important places to protect on Earth
Conservation Imperatives are rare-species sites that must be protected now to prevent the most likely near-term extinctions. They represent the last unprotected pockets of land harboring rare, range-restricted, and threatened species. The concept was introduced in the 2024 Frontiers in Science article by Dinerstein et al., titled "Conservation Imperatives: A Global Map of Priority Sites for Protecting Biodiversity".
Despite covering only 1.22% of the Earth’s surface, these 16,825 sites hold the highest concentrations of threatened species globally. Protecting them offers a science-based and cost-effective path to safeguard biodiversity and avoid mass extinctions, especially in tropical forests where 75% of CI sites are located. These sites are essential to achieving global biodiversity targets and preventing irreversible loss.
Why does this matter?
We are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, driven by habitat destruction, climate change, and other human activities. To counter this crisis, we must focus efforts where they will have the greatest impact—on the most irreplaceable ecosystems and species. Conservation Imperatives are the most urgent conservation priorities on the planet.
These sites are not currently included in formal protected areas such as national parks or reserves, even though they often host species found nowhere else on Earth. If lost, these habitats would result in global extinction for many species.
"Protecting CI sites is both affordable and achievable—but must be done within the next five years to make a difference."
— Dinerstein et al., 2024
Alarmingly, recent global progress in expanding protected areas has mostly failed to cover CI sites. Of the 120 million hectares of land protected between 2018 and 2023, only 11 million hectares provided habitat for rare or endangered species—and just 2.4% of those protections occurred in tropical moist forests, where CI sites are most concentrated.
Explore the Conservation Imperatives global map here:
How are they found?
Researchers used a data-driven, global-scale method to identify CI sites, overlaying three core elements:
Species rarity and threat – using six major biodiversity datasets, they mapped the distribution of rare, range-restricted, and IUCN Red List species
Protected area coverage – compared those species maps with the World Database on Protected Areas to identify gaps
Land cover analysis – excluded areas already converted to cropland, urban zones, or bare ground, using high-resolution satellite data (100m scale)
Only areas with viable, natural habitat remaining—and that are home to rare and endangered species not yet protected—were designated as Conservation Imperatives.
Who leads the work?
Permanent land conservation is best stewarded and unfolded by local communities, Indigenous Peoples, and civil associations who have long called the regions home, and who live in harmony with the animal and plant populations.
It is community and local leadership, in concert with national laws, international funding and management endowments, and people like you, who come to together to demarcate a permanent protected area. We welcome you to this community!
Where are they?
Conservation Imperatives are heavily concentrated in biodiversity hotspots:
87% of the sites are found in just 30 countries
59% are located in five nations: the Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar, and Colombia
75% occur in tropical and subtropical moist forests, some of the most endangered ecosystems on Earth
38% are within just 2.5 km of an existing protected area—highlighting how close many of these priorities are to being secured
This proximity also creates strategic opportunities to expand and connect protected areas efficiently, using CI sites as extensions or buffer zones.