Newcastle University (UK) Research Associate
Louise Mair, PhD, published a paper titled “
A metric for spatially explicit contributions to science-based species targets” in
Nature Ecology & Evolution.
According to the publication, sustainable crop and timber production could prevent 40% of the extinction of terrestrial wildlife – amphibians, birds and mammals. Scientists generated these results using a new metric by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called the
Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STAR) Metric.
STAR provides a framework for quantifying the potential contribution of the action targets within the proposed
IUCN Species Survival Commission’s
Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
One of the benefits of this tool is that it allows the corporate, governmental, NGOs and civil sectors to implement it at a local, regional or global scale to reduce species loss. We can also use it to determine institution-specific and sector-specific targets.
This publication results from a collaboration among close to 90 scientists from 54 institutions in 21 countries worldwide, including ASU
Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director
Leah Gerber and Associate Center Director
Beth Polidoro.
In October 2020, our center
hosted a presentation by Mair on the STAR Metric.
Access the IUCN press release.
Access the issue brief.
Access the IUCN Red List website for the STAR Metric.