Hotspots of endemism and rarity - Figure 2.2.3 IPBES Global Assessment - underlying data layer

This figure appeared in the IPBES Global Assessment Chapter 2 Nature (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3832005)

Harmonized centres of rarity, representing 7.3% of the land surface and 5% of the marine surface
We used regional estimates of area-standardized spatial rarity vascular plants, terrestrial vertebrates, freshwater fishes and select marine taxa (ca. 370,000 species) to develop a harmonized set of their global centres of endemism richness. For each group we identified the top 5% regions by area, on land accounted for human encroachment (cropland and urban areas). The combined terrestrial top areas account for 7.3% of terrestrial, non-encroached 1km pixels, the marine top areas for 5% of the marine area. The developed priority map is limited by the large and varying size of geographical units which cause errors of omission and commission at spatial finer scales. We aimed to ameliorate this issue by excluding human-encroached, unsuitable areas at high resolution. The map benefits from representing a broad range of taxa and species, and to our knowledge it is the currently best possible attempt of representing the geographical rarity of this diversity at global extent.