Biodiversity Conservation Demands Open Access

Over the past 25 years, conservation biology has become a credible scientific discipline—and in the process has brought a steady supply of disturbing facts to light. We now know that the natural habitat around the world has been and continues to be threatened and destroyed at alarming rates, with more than 60% of terrestrial plant species now finding safe harbor on less than 1.4% of the Earth’s landmass. The Atlantic Forest region of South America (Figure 1), for example, has been cut to less than 7% of its original range, and more than 110 species Gustavo Fonseca is the Executive Vice-President for Programs and Science at Conservation International and Philippa J. Benson is the Managing Editor for the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International, located in Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America. E-mail: [email protected]