The UNESCO presented the report Communities and Nature in UNESCO Designated Sites: Local and Global Contributions, the first to analyze its entire network as a unique protection system.
With more than 13 million km² —an area larger than China and India combined—, the 2,260 sites under its protection demonstrate that protecting nature is also protecting humanity.
Biodiversity in Resistance
The data is compelling:
- These sites host more than 60% of all mapped species on Earth.
- Four out of ten species that inhabit them exist nowhere else.
- If these habitats disappear, those species will become extinct forever.
While global wildlife has plummeted by 73% since the 1970s, within UNESCO territories biodiversity is maintained, showing that conservation works.
Climate Guardians
Beyond their ecological value, these landscapes are silent giants against climate change:
- They store about 240 gigatons of carbon, equivalent to nearly 20 years of current global emissions.
- If they were destroyed, that carbon would be released, becoming a “carbon bomb” that would make it impossible to meet climate goals.
Living Landscapes and Communities
Far from being empty deserts, UNESCO sites are home to nearly 900 million people, one in ten on the planet. They are also cultural bastions:
- More than 1,000 languages are documented in these territories.
- A quarter coincide with indigenous lands; in Africa and Latin America, that figure exceeds 45%.
The report emphasizes that land cannot be protected without the communities that have been its guardians for millennia.
Economic Impact and Growing Threats
Conservation also generates prosperity: around 10% of the global GDP is produced within or around these sites, demonstrating that economic development and environmental protection can go hand in hand.
The report warns that almost 90% of the sites face intense environmental stress. In just a decade, climate hazards like fires and floods increased by 40%. By 2050, one in four sites could reach a point of no return, with the disappearance of glaciers, the collapse of coral reefs, and the transformation of forests into carbon sources.
An Urgent Call
UNESCO calls to increase global ambition and treat these sites as strategic assets, not just tourist destinations. The strategy includes:
- UNESCO for indigenous peoples and local communities to lead management.
UNESCO sites are refuges of life, culture, and climate on a planet cornered by environmental loss. Investing in them today means protecting not just a park or a monument, but the future of the planet.
