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This map shows where on Earth humans aren’t
A new map shows where people have the lowest impact—but are those the best places to protect?
A newly created map reveals the “wildest” places on Earth—places where humans have the lowest impact. The findings could be used to support the push to set aside half of Earth for nature, its authors say.
“If you want to know where in the world you can find a place that has not yet been transformed by agriculture, infrastructure, or settlements, [this map] is where to find it,” says Erle Ellis, a global ecologist at the University of Maryland Baltimore County who contributed to the analysis. “There is a very strong consensus on where these places are.”
The map, published today in the journal Global Change Biology, knits together four independently developed models for determining where humanity leaves its fingerprints, each