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 The most remarkable places on Earth are also the most threatened. A new analysis of the biodiversity hotspots identifies 34 regions worldwide where 75 percent of the planet’s most threatened mammals, birds, and amphibians survive within habitat covering just 2.3 percent of the Earth’s surface. An estimated 50 percent of all vascular plants and 42 percent of terrestrial vertebrates exist only in these hotspots. This includes 75 percent of the planet’s most threatened mammals, birds, and amphibians. The hotspots approach to the conservation of threatened ecosystems and species is a highly targeted strategy for tackling the overwhelming problem of biodiversity loss at the global level. “The biodiversity hotspots are the environmental emergency rooms of our planet. This latest assessment underscores the value of the hotspots concept for defining urgent conservation priorities,” said Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation International (CI) and co-editor of the new book. “We must now act decisively to avoid losing these irreplaceable storehouses of Earth’s life forms." 
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 © Patricio Robles Gil A pinyon pine forest in Big Bend National Park, Texas, part of the Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands hotspot.  © CI, Haroldo Castro The scarlet paintbrush (Crassula falcata) is a rare plant, endemic to the Succulant Karoo hotspot of Southern Africa.
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