Researchers at the Nature Conservancy, a conservation organization, have created a series of maps that illustrate how the world’s ecosystems will be affected by nine sectors of global development, such as agricultural expansion, use of fossil fuels, and mining. The researchers analyzed publicly available data to estimate the potential for each sector to expand, such as the amount of unexploited fossil fuels in an area or historical trends of urban expansion, and created a color-coded index to illustrate where this potential exists around the world. The Nature Conservancy created these maps to demonstrate how global development will increasingly expand into previously undisturbed ecosystems and to highlight the need for governments, businesses, and other conservation organizations to mitigate the potential damage this could cause.
Mapping the Future of Global Development
