Ecoregions

Biodiversity is not spread evenly across the Earth but follows complex patterns determined by climate, geology and the evolutionary history of the planet. These patterns are called ecoregions.

In 1997, WWF embarked on ecoregion conservation as a response to the increased pace of degradation of the world’s endangered habitats and species.

As a starting point, WWF identified the most valuable and sometimes vulnerable ecoregions in the world which best represent the breadth of biodiversity and ecological processes.

The Global 200
The list of priority ecoregions identified by WWF scientists is known as The Global 200 Ecoregions.

The Global 200 recognizes the fact that, whilst tropical forests and coral reefs harbour the most biodiversity and are traditionally targeted by conservation organizations, unique manifestations of nature are also found in temperate and boreal regions, in deserts and mountain chains. Without active conservation work, there is a risk biodiversity in these very special areas will be lost forever.

WWF is working in a subset of the G200
WWF has selected a subset of the Global 200 where it is best placed to carry out the most effective conservation programmes at an ecoregional scale.

WWF encourages others to take up the challenges of conserving the remaining Global 200 ecoregions.