Time to fix the biodiversity leak: The risk that locally successful nature conservation may be shifting problems elsewhere can no longer be ignored

Andrew Balmford; Thomas S. Ball; Ben Balmford; Ian  Bateman; Graeme M. Buchanan; Gianluca Cerullo; Francisco D'Albertas; Alison Eyres; Ben Filewood; Brendan Fisher; Jonathan Michael Halsey Green; Kyle S. Hemes; Jody Holland; Miranda S. Lam; Robin Naidoo; Alexander Pfaff; Taylor Ricketts; Fiona Sanderson; Timothy Searchinger; Bernardo B. N. Strassburg; Thomas Swinfield; David Williams

doi:10.1126/science.adv8264

Time to fix the biodiversity leak: The risk that locally successful nature conservation may be shifting problems elsewhere can no longer be ignored

Andrew Balmford^*, Thomas S. Ball, Ben Balmford, Ian Bateman, Graeme M. Buchanan, Gianluca Cerullo, Francisco D'Albertas, Alison Eyres, Ben Filewood, Brendan Fisher, Jonathan Michael Halsey Green, Kyle S. Hemes, Jody Holland, Miranda S. Lam, Robin Naidoo, Alexander Pfaff, Taylor Ricketts, Fiona Sanderson, Timothy Searchinger, Bernardo B. N. StrassburgThomas Swinfield, David Williams

^*Corresponding author for this work

Stockholm Environment Institute at York

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

As momentum builds behind hugely ambitious initiatives like the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) 30 x 30 target and the European Union’s (EU’s) Biodiversity and Forestry Strategies, there is a danger that hard-won local conservation gains will be dissipated through leakage, the displacement of human activities that harm biodiversity away from the site of an intervention to other places (1). These off-site damages may be less than on-site gains—in which case the action is still beneficial but less so than it superficially seems. However, if activities are displaced to more biodiverse (or less productive) places, leakage impacts may exceed local benefits, so that well-intentioned efforts cause net harm. There is a pressing need for leakage effects like this to be acknowledged and as far as possible avoided or mitigated—through demand reduction, careful selection of conservation or restoration sites, or compensatory increases in production in lower-impact areas.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	720-722
Number of pages	3
Journal	Science
Volume	387
Issue number	6735
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adv8264
Publication status	Published - 13 Feb 2025

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Leakage essay
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Balmford, A., Ball, T. S., Balmford, B., Bateman, I., Buchanan, G. M., Cerullo, G., D'Albertas, F., Eyres, A., Filewood, B., Fisher, B., Green, J. M. H., Hemes, K. S., Holland, J., Lam, M. S., Naidoo, R., Pfaff, A., Ricketts, T., Sanderson, F., Searchinger, T., ... Williams, D. (2025). Time to fix the biodiversity leak: The risk that locally successful nature conservation may be shifting problems elsewhere can no longer be ignored. Science, 387(6735), 720-722. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adv8264

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abstract = "As momentum builds behind hugely ambitious initiatives like the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) 30 x 30 target and the European Union{\textquoteright}s (EU{\textquoteright}s) Biodiversity and Forestry Strategies, there is a danger that hard-won local conservation gains will be dissipated through leakage, the displacement of human activities that harm biodiversity away from the site of an intervention to other places (1). These off-site damages may be less than on-site gains—in which case the action is still beneficial but less so than it superficially seems. However, if activities are displaced to more biodiverse (or less productive) places, leakage impacts may exceed local benefits, so that well-intentioned efforts cause net harm. There is a pressing need for leakage effects like this to be acknowledged and as far as possible avoided or mitigated—through demand reduction, careful selection of conservation or restoration sites, or compensatory increases in production in lower-impact areas.",

author = "Andrew Balmford and Ball, {Thomas S.} and Ben Balmford and Ian Bateman and Buchanan, {Graeme M.} and Gianluca Cerullo and Francisco D'Albertas and Alison Eyres and Ben Filewood and Brendan Fisher and Green, {Jonathan Michael Halsey} and Hemes, {Kyle S.} and Jody Holland and Lam, {Miranda S.} and Robin Naidoo and Alexander Pfaff and Taylor Ricketts and Fiona Sanderson and Timothy Searchinger and Strassburg, {Bernardo B. N.} and Thomas Swinfield and David Williams",

note = "This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University{\textquoteright}s Research Publications and Open Access policy.",

year = "2025",

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doi = "10.1126/science.adv8264",

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Balmford, A, Ball, TS, Balmford, B, Bateman, I, Buchanan, GM, Cerullo, G, D'Albertas, F, Eyres, A, Filewood, B, Fisher, B, Green, JMH, Hemes, KS, Holland, J, Lam, MS, Naidoo, R, Pfaff, A, Ricketts, T, Sanderson, F, Searchinger, T, Strassburg, BBN, Swinfield, T & Williams, D 2025, 'Time to fix the biodiversity leak: The risk that locally successful nature conservation may be shifting problems elsewhere can no longer be ignored', Science, vol. 387, no. 6735, pp. 720-722. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adv8264

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AU - Ball, Thomas S.

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AU - Bateman, Ian

AU - Buchanan, Graeme M.

AU - Cerullo, Gianluca

AU - D'Albertas, Francisco

AU - Eyres, Alison

AU - Filewood, Ben

AU - Fisher, Brendan

AU - Green, Jonathan Michael Halsey

AU - Hemes, Kyle S.

AU - Holland, Jody

AU - Lam, Miranda S.

AU - Naidoo, Robin

AU - Pfaff, Alexander

AU - Ricketts, Taylor

AU - Sanderson, Fiona

AU - Searchinger, Timothy

AU - Strassburg, Bernardo B. N.

AU - Swinfield, Thomas

AU - Williams, David

N1 - This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University’s Research Publications and Open Access policy.

PY - 2025/2/13

Y1 - 2025/2/13

N2 - As momentum builds behind hugely ambitious initiatives like the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) 30 x 30 target and the European Union’s (EU’s) Biodiversity and Forestry Strategies, there is a danger that hard-won local conservation gains will be dissipated through leakage, the displacement of human activities that harm biodiversity away from the site of an intervention to other places (1). These off-site damages may be less than on-site gains—in which case the action is still beneficial but less so than it superficially seems. However, if activities are displaced to more biodiverse (or less productive) places, leakage impacts may exceed local benefits, so that well-intentioned efforts cause net harm. There is a pressing need for leakage effects like this to be acknowledged and as far as possible avoided or mitigated—through demand reduction, careful selection of conservation or restoration sites, or compensatory increases in production in lower-impact areas.

AB - As momentum builds behind hugely ambitious initiatives like the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) 30 x 30 target and the European Union’s (EU’s) Biodiversity and Forestry Strategies, there is a danger that hard-won local conservation gains will be dissipated through leakage, the displacement of human activities that harm biodiversity away from the site of an intervention to other places (1). These off-site damages may be less than on-site gains—in which case the action is still beneficial but less so than it superficially seems. However, if activities are displaced to more biodiverse (or less productive) places, leakage impacts may exceed local benefits, so that well-intentioned efforts cause net harm. There is a pressing need for leakage effects like this to be acknowledged and as far as possible avoided or mitigated—through demand reduction, careful selection of conservation or restoration sites, or compensatory increases in production in lower-impact areas.

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Time to fix the biodiversity leak: The risk that locally successful nature conservation may be shifting problems elsewhere can no longer be ignored

Abstract

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