The baseless stat that could be harming Indigenous conservation efforts

Download this episode of the Nature Podcast

The often repeated claim that “80% of the world’s biodiversity is found in the territories of Indigenous Peoples” appears widely in policy documents and reports, yet appears to have sprung out of nowhere. According to a group of researchers, including those from Indigenous groups, this baseless statistic could be undermining the conservation efforts of the Indigenous People it’s meant to support and prevent further work to really understand how best to conserve biodiversity.

Two of the authors joined us to discuss how this statistic gained traction, the harm it could cause, and how better to support the work of Indigenous Peoples.

Read more in a Comment article from the authors: No basis for claim that 80% of biodiversity is found in Indigenous territories

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the Nature Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music or your favourite podcast app. An RSS feed for the Nature Podcast is available too.