Biodiversity and human development

Biodiversity hotspots and the Human Development Index (from UNEP/Grid-Arendal)

“Some of the world's least developed countries are located in hotspot areas of high importance for biodiversity. This map displays Human Development Index (UNDP) by country and hotspot regions overlaid on that.”

What more can I say? Only that addressing the biodiversity crisis on a global scale is inseparable from improving the lot of some of the most disadvantaged people in the world. We will save a significant fraction of the world's biodiversity only if we simultaneously improve the lives of those who directly depend on it.