--- title: Conservation: Why More Land Needs to be Protected description: Nearly 15% of land on Earth is now protected, though some key areas needed for biodiversity have been left out, according to a report canonical: https://time.com/4476487/conservation-earth-protected-land-biodiversity/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-02T06:00:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:21:41.668Z article:section: Science og:title: Nearly 15% of Earth's Land Is Now Protected — but That's Not Enough og:description: Biodiversity plays a key role in protecting human life og:url: https://time.com/4476487/conservation-earth-protected-land-biodiversity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt462bde3663899076/6988a4a60b72e3560c6eae01/rainforest-conservation-environment.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5200 og:image:height: 2925 og:image:alt: rainforest conservation environment og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nearly 15% of Earth's Land Is Now Protected — but That's Not Enough twitter:description: Biodiversity plays a key role in protecting human life twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt462bde3663899076/6988a4a60b72e3560c6eae01/rainforest-conservation-environment.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nearly 15% of Earth's Land Is Now Protected — but That's Not Enough > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Sep 2, 2016 6:00 AM UTC  Jordan Siemen—Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Sep 2, 2016 6:00 AM UTC Nearly 15% of land on earth is now protected, though some key areas needed to preserve biodiversity have been left out, according to a new [report](https://wdpa.s3.amazonaws.com/Protected%5FPlanet%5FReports/2445%20Global%20Protected%20Planet%202016%5FWEB.pdf). Scientists behind the report, released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the U.N. Environment Program, say the globe now has more than 200,000 protected areas that cover 7.7 million sq. mi. These areas are sprinkled across the globe but most concentrated in South and Central America, particularly in the Amazon rainforest. Despite progress, the report shows that four out of five regions most crucial to protecting global biodiversity — known as [key biodiversity areas](http://www.biodiversitya-z.org/content/key-biodiversity-areas-kba) — remain unprotected. These sites contain several endangered species, species that live only in a very small area or highly threatened habitats. **Read More:** [_Why You Should Fear an ‘Ecological Recession’_](http://time.com/4404981/biodiversity-study-human-welfare/) Biodiversity, a measure of the number of different plant and animal species living in a given area, plays an important role in a number of functions that support human life including pollination, pest control and keeping climate-change-causing carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. A recent [study](http://time.com/4404981/biodiversity-study-human-welfare/) in the journal _Science_ found that human activity has driven away 15% of the species that would have been present in various locations. The most rapid growth in protected areas has come from the proliferation of protected marine areas. The total protected area has close to quadrupled in the last decade to 6.5 million sq. mi. today. [President Obama](http://time.com/4472382/president-obama-guest-edit-wired-magazine/) added to that total with the creation of the world’s largest ocean reserve off the coast of [Hawaii](http://time.com/4463158/mars-hawaii-astronauts/) last week. The newly expanded [Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument](http://time.com/4468256/president-obama-hawaii-largest-marine-reserve/) protects more than 7,000 marine species, including many found only in that region, in an area twice the size of Texas. “Conservation is critical not just for one particular spot, one particular park, one particular lake,” Obama said in a [speech](http://time.com/4475151/president-obama-conservation-lake-tahoe-summit/) shortly after protecting the area. “It’s critical for our entire ecosystem.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4476487/conservation-earth-protected-land-biodiversity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4476487/conservation-earth-protected-land-biodiversity/"},"headline":"Nearly 15% of Earth's Land Is Now Protected — but That's Not Enough","datePublished":"2016-09-02T06:00:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:21:41.668Z","description":"Biodiversity plays a key role in protecting human life","url":"https://time.com/4476487/conservation-earth-protected-land-biodiversity/","keywords":["Environment"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt462bde3663899076/6988a4a60b72e3560c6eae01/rainforest-conservation-environment.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt462bde3663899076/6988a4a60b72e3560c6eae01/rainforest-conservation-environment.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"rainforest conservation environment","caption":"rainforest conservation environment","creditText":"Jordan Siemen—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4476487/conservation-earth-protected-land-biodiversity/","name":"Nearly 15% of Earth's Land Is Now Protected — but That's Not Enough"}}]}] ```