Framing
Biodiversity refers to the variety of life forms that make up ecosystems. Biodiversity supports core Earth systems processes that humans depend on to survive. Today, species are going extinct faster than at any time since the dinosaurs. We are in the midst of a mass extinction event for the 6th time in the history of life on Earth. Changes in land use, invasive species and disease, climate change, and pollution are the main threats to biodiversity. Over 90% of biodiversity loss is caused by the use and processing of natural resources. Humans directly impact 75% of ice-free land, mainly with agriculture, resource extraction, built-up land, and recreation.
Policy spotlight
* 2030 California Target (Executive Order N-82-20): Minimum 30% of all land and sea areas are protected. * 2050 World Target (IUCN Motion 101): Minimum 50% of all land and sea areas are protected. * Between 2020 and 2024, protected land and water areas have increased from 24.0% to 25.2% and from 16.0% to 16.2% respectively.
Justice lens
* Indigenous communities safeguard most of the world's remaining biodiversity. Meanwhile they are squeezed onto smaller and smaller tracts of land, forced out mainly by agriculture and resource extraction. * Protected lands must be community conservation areas that support humans and nature thriving together, not be an iteration of imperial displacement.
Source & citation
Content on this page draws from The California Doughnut Snapshot and Report, used under CC-BY 4.0.
Aritza, A. and Kraus-Polk, J. et al. (2025). The California Doughnut Snapshot and Report. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17540639