Projects
Research and technical collaborations across NDL's four program areas: Ecological Priorities, Nature Mapping, Conservation Justice, and Earth Economy.
Conservation Imperatives II: habitats in need of urgent action to prevent near-term extinctions
The follow-on paper from Conservation Imperatives (2024), which identifies 1600 sites (out of 16,000+) harboring rare and threatened species in need of urgent conservation action within the next 5 years.
Global Safety Net v3 (GSN3): a central data platform for the nature conservation agenda
GSN3 is NDL's ongoing mapping and analysis project, providing the only annual accounting of natural lands and inland waters globally, classified by ecological function and land cover type, and the extent to which they are protected or conserved.
Iconic Species Index (ISI): a new wildlife-based indicator to support global conservation goals
The Iconic Species Index (ISI) proposes a new indicator to track population trajectories of key vertebrate species, complementing area-based targets under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
Building the restoration workforce in North America
The restoration economy in the U.S. and Canada is worth $30B, employing 300,000 people, but it is only in its infancy. A new study finds 100 million acres of restoration potential, which could 10x the sector over the next decade.
Ecoregions 2026: mapping the conservation status of the world's 825 ecoregions
A global team is developing a third major update to the Ecoregions, the world's most widely used global biogeographical framework, provided important clarifications in the MENA and Southeast Asia regions. The paper examines the current state of land degradation by ecoregion and maps their conservation status.
Internal Nature Pricing: overcoming the challenges of corporate natural capital accounting
The concept of 'internal carbon pricing' transformed the climate finance sector. Could 'internal nature pricing' do the same for the nature finance sector? This white paper explores various approaches to attributing natural capital dependencies by corporate sector.