Foreword

Five years ago, I was asked by my colleagues at Conservation International to write the Foreword for Hotspots, an ambitious assessment of our planet's at-risk biodiversity. Although I have had the honor and privilege to serve on CI's board of directors for the past 12 years, I was reluctant to accept the assignment. I'm not a biologist, nor an expert on global strategies to safeguard threatened species and vanishing habitats. But I am deeply concerned about the future of our planet.

It is clear that any effort to address these complicated issues would demand the most complete and scrupulous scientific understanding. As part of the initial analysis, all of the world's major terrestrial environments had been inventoried, with 25 emerging as having exceptional endemism, being severely threatened, and in need of immediate conservation attention. Some of these regions were regarded as obvious priorities right from the start. Others came as surprises as the data was analyzed.

The original Hotspots had a remarkable effect. BBC Wildlife Magazine, in celebration of its 40th anniversary, declared Hotspots one of the Top 40 wildlife Classics published during the last four decades. Shortly after publication of Hotspots, the World Bank, the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the MacArthur Foundation, and the Government of Japan joined with Conservation International to create the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), and to date have committed $125 million specifically for conserving the world's hotspots. Meanwhile, a growing number of institutions continue to incorporate the results into their programs. Perhaps just as importantly, the hotspots analysis has spawned serious debates about where today's precious conservation dollars should be spent to achieve the greatest future impact. The study focused squarely on one issue – preserving biodiversity – and then systematically measured, assessed, and assigned priorities. One could argue that it would be better to focus on global issues of birth control, poverty, disease, unsustainable energy use or atmospheric pollution. Undoubtedly, these are clearly critical in the long term to the quality of life on Earth. But in the race to prevent the extinction of the greatest portion of Earth's living heritage, nothing advances our understanding and guides our strategies as well as the hotspots model.

That's why this updated analysis is so important and why it has quickly become another essential element in the conservationist's tool chest. The experts have added several new regions to an already substantial list of global priorities. These new hotspots range from the Pine-Oak Forests of Mexico and the southwestern U.S. to the Horn of Africa, from the Himalaya to Japan. Some of these regions, like those of the Solomons and Vanuatu that form the new East Melanesian Islands Hotspot, didn't make the original hotspot list because their habitats were still largely intact. They weren't considered threatened at the time. Yet in the blink of an eye, their condition has essentially slipped from more or less stable to critical.

The most significant challenge of our time is to preserve and protect our biotic legacy. CI's mission to defend biodiversity places its staff in some 40 countries around the world, in partnership with an amazing diversity of institutions and individuals from various backgrounds and cultures. The strategies they have applied are informed by sound, independent science. They have developed broad experience in determining how best to respond to crisis situations, while at the same time planning for the future in incremental steps.

I wish you good reading and hope that this book helps broaden your perspective and understanding of the challenge of conserving the natural world.

Harrison Ford

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