A Conservation assessment of the terrestrial ecoregions of Latin America and the Caribbean

This priority-setting study elevates, as a first principle, maintaining the representation of all ecosystem and habitat types in regional investment portfolios. Second, it recognizes landscape-level features as an essential guide for effective conservation planning. Without an objective framework to assess the conservation status and biological distinctiveness of geographic areas, donors run the risk of overlooking areas that are seriously threatened and of greatest biodiversity value. The lack of such an objective regional framework prompted this study, whose goals were: 1) to replace the relatively ad hoc decisionmaking process of donors investing in biodiversity conservation with a more transparent and scientific approach; 2) to move beyond evaluations based largely on species lists to a new framework that also incorporates maintaining ecosystems and habitat diversity; 3) to better integrate the principles of conservation biology and landscape ecology into decisionmaking; and 4) to ensure that proportionately more funding be channeled to areas that are of high biological value and under serious threat.