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The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in large-scale restrictions in human activities globally, with drastic, sudden, and widespread confinement of people to their homes during lockdowns. These have led to significant reductions in road-, water- and air traffic, the closing of national parks and other protected areas, and restricted access or the closing off of other areas in the countryside (such as viewpoints, lakesides, country parks, monuments, etc) that in normal times are popular meeting places or visitor locations. As Europe faced lockdowns of varying degrees of intensity, many anecdotal stories were shared about the apparently changing behaviour and distribution of wildlife, often in the popular press and on social media. An opportunity has, therefore, presented itself for us to examine the impact, positive or negative, of changes in human presence and activities, including; human density, light, noise, and pollution, on wildlife. In addition, the situation has provided the potential for a change in human perceptions of nature, and the value that it provides in times of restricted human contact, increased confinement and enforced changes in (human) behaviour. While it is not the main purpose of this document, we have noted that the maintenance or restoration of healthy ecosystems may help to prevent zoonoses from occurring, or may mitigate their impact in relation to both regulating human- to-human disease transfer and the management of future disease outbreaks. We have reviewed existing literature and references to data compilation linked to monitoring and other activities related to wildlife in the pandemic to explore what the effect of the COVID-19 measures have been on wildlife, including how people have benefited from nature, with a focus on Europe.

Results from a series of designs sessions, workshops and interviews describe a vision for Bonaire in 2050. In this vision, measures to combat challenges for any sector, will also strengthen nature. We call this a ‘nature inclusive vision’. A recently published visual booklet presents views of a future in which economic development and a nature inclusive society join forces to maintain what is precious, and to improve what is damaged or threatened.

Results from a series of designs sessions, workshops and interviews describe a vision for Bonaire in 2050. In this vision, measures to combat challenges for any sector, will also strengthen nature. We call this a ‘nature inclusive vision’. A recently published visual booklet presents views of a future in which economic development and a nature inclusive society join forces to maintain what is precious, and to improve what is damaged or threatened.

Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation are important factors in the decline of biodiversity worldwide. It is important to be able to evaluate the success of policies at different levels, including, increasingly, the global level. Whilst attention has been given to the development of predictive models that focus on individual species within biogeographic regions or smaller areas, however, to assess the impact of land-use change and policy measures on biodiversity at global level, there is an urgent need for generic tools (models, algorithms, databases). In this paper we test the potential of a generic tool, as part of the GLOBIO model, for assessing the impact of habitat loss and fragmentation. It combines existing data for the minimum viable populations of terrestrial bird and mammal species with knowledge of individual area requirements to derive estimates of their minimum area requirements (MAR). This approach focuses on comparing the minimum area requirements (MAR) to the natural habitat areas, assuming that below a certain threshold populations are no longer viable and the species assembly will eventually be reduced. The relationship between nature area and percentage of species meeting Minimum Area Requirements appears to be log-linear between 10 km2 and 10 000 km2 for conservation priority species and has the form Y=-15.45 + 28.61* LOG(AREA). Our results suggest that many existing parks and reserves might be too small for the long-term viability of species that they are meant to preserve. Applying this relationship to a global land cover dataset reveals that substantial proportions of mammal and bird species occur in areas that fail to cover sufficient space to support long term viable populations. This applies even at current state, especially for those areas of the globe where rapid urbanisation and agricultural expansion have taken place and are anticipated to proceed.