The Role of the Alliance for Zero Extinction among other Global Biodiversity Priorities

Scientists are rapidly developing maps and databases that enhance our ability to set and agree on global biodiversity priorities. Some of the biodiversity features that figure prominently in these efforts include:

a) areas that contain the entire global populations of endangered species;
b) the regions of the Earth that contain the highest levels of species endemism; 
c) the most biologically distinct and intact ecoregions of the planet - terrestrial, freshwater, and marine - representing all biogeographical realms and ocean basins; 
d) the conservation of globally outstanding ecological and evolutionary phenomena and processes (e.g., animal migrations, dense breeding aggregations, or contact zones of high speciation);

The Alliance for Zero Extinction addresses the first of these. Our immediate task is to compile a draft list of global epicenters of potential extinctions, determine the degree of protection and extent of threats that exist at each of these sites, and help direct appropriate attention and conservation action to those sites where it most urgently needed. The approach we take is outlined in more detail under Site Selection.

The emergence of any new conservation initiative invites scrutiny as to how it complements or competes with existing strategies. See the Frequently Asked Questions to get a better understanding of how the Alliance objectives fit in with those of other conservation initiatives.