Connectivity

Conserving ecological connectivity - allowing species, genes, and natural processes to move and flow across landscapes, freshwater systems, and seascapes - is a key strategy needed to tackle the primary drivers of the nature crisis. The importance of ecological connectivity is increasingly recognised across environmental policy frameworks, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

One of the principal ways of improving ecological connectivity is to establish, recognise, and effectively manage ecological corridors as part of wider ecological networks. Ecological corridors are areas that are governed and managed over the long-term to maintain or restore ecological connectivity. Corridors complement protected and conserved areas by enabling species movement between them, maintaining ecological processes, and directly contributing to conservation outcomes. They constitute a proven tool for addressing habitat fragmentation, improving ecosystem function, and increasing climate resilience. While many countries recognise and document ecological corridors, information is not yet compiled in a standardised manner globally. The lack of global-level information on the extent and effectiveness of ecological corridors limits our understanding of the current state of biodiversity. Because we do not know how many ecological corridors there are and where they are located, this also limits our ability to monitor progress against environmental commitments and set ambitious targets for scaling up such areas in the future.

The World Database on Ecological Corridors (WDEC) – a global platform for tracking the location and characteristics of ecological corridors – addresses these knowledge gaps. A prototype of the WDEC has been developed by UNEP-WCMC in collaboration with members of the IUCN WCPA Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group (CCSG), and is now ready to be pilot-tested in pioneering countries.

The vision is for the WDEC to be publicly accessible and integrated into global monitoring systems for connectivity-related commitments, supporting research and knowledge exchange, elevating ambition, informing spatial planning, and enabling better decision-making across the public and private sectors.

For further information on the WDEC, or if you are a representative of a national government interested in pilot testing the new database, click here.