Just 3 Percent Of Earth’s Land Surface Is Still Ecologically Intact

Most of Earth’s terrestrial habitats have lost their ecological integrity, including areas previously categorised as being intact, a study published in the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change shows. "We only find about 2 to 3 per cent of the Earth’s land is where you could be considered as having the same fauna and flora that you had 500 years ago, in pre-industrial times, before major human impacts had occurred," lead study author Andrew Plumptre concludes. Of the 2 to 3 percent of ecologically intact sites, only 11 percent lie within environmentally protected areas.