Abstract

Contemporary losses of biodiversity, sometimes referred to as the sixth mass extinction, continue to mount (1, 2). A recent assessment by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) estimates that one million of approximately 10 million species that exist now are threatened with extinction along with the ecosystems they inhabit (3). Yet, in the post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) world, investments in conservation are likely to decline further. To arrest biodiversity losses, much of the recent debate advocates two traditional approaches: Put more land under wilderness (4, 5), and mitigate drivers of change through improved governance and policies (2).