Andrea Perino

Genetic diversity (GD) and phylogenetic diversity (PD) respectively represent species' evolutionary potential and history, and support most of the biodiversity benefits to humanity. Yet, these two biodiversity facets have been overlooked in previous biodiversity policies. As the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) in December 2022, we analyze how GD and PD are considered in this new framework and discuss how their incorporation in the GBF could strengthen their conservation. Although the inclusion of certain indicators could be elevated, both GD and PD are an integral part of the recently adopted GBF. This represents a significant improvement compared to the CBD strategic plan 2011–2020 and an unprecedented opportunity to bring species' evolutionary potential and history to the core of public biodiversity policies. We urge the scientific community to leverage this opportunity to actually improve the conservation of species' evolutionary potential and history.

In the past decades, agricultural land abandonment and declining land-use intensity became common, especially in the Mediterranean countries of Southern Europe. In some areas this development opened up possibilities for rewilding and the recolonization or expansion of large mammal populations. Yet, in some instances, co-occurrence of wild mammals and free-ranging domestic herbivores might lead to potential conflicts. It is therefore necessary to study the ecological interactions between wild and domestic mammal species to understand the effects of land abandonment and rewilding on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Camera traps are an effective tool for studying species interactions and occupancy dynamics as they allow for long-term monitoring with minimal interference. We conducted a long-term monitoring program with camera traps in the Peneda-Gerês National Park in Northern Portugal. The area has undergone large land-use changes following the abandonment of agricultural areas in the past 60 years. While agro-pastoral activities, especially the breeding of free-ranging horses and cattle, are still common in the area, the intensity of these activities has decreased significantly, promoting natural succession and an increase or return of several large mammal species in recent years. Our project aims at (1) assessing the population trends of the medium and large sized mammals in the area over time; (2) analyzing the effects of passive rewilding on occurrence, abundance and behavior; and (3) understanding potential interactions or conflicts between wild and domestic herbivores. Our publication provides a dataset from long-term camera trap monitoring in the Peneda-Gerês National Park between 2015 and 2021. We established a 16 km² grid of 64 cameras deployed yearly during the summer months. In this paper we publish the data and images collected between 2015 and 2021, using both the Camtrap DP standard and the GBIF Darwin Event Core. We obtained a total of 934,810 pictures on 41,234 trap nights. The pictures were automatically grouped into sequences with each sequence representing a distinct occurrence event, resulting in 80,191 occurrences. Out of those, 14,442 contained observations of a species, while the remaining were either blank or the species was not identifiable. We only obtained the information concerning whether a species was present or absent on a picture, disregarding the number of individuals. Most observations were of domestic cattle (Bos taurus) and horses (Equus caballus) followed by European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa). Further observations include red fox (Vulpes vulpes), gray wolf (Canis lupus), Eurasian badger (Meles meles), stone marten (Martes foina), common genet (Genetta genetta), Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica) and red deer (Cervus elaphus). We estimated occupancy and densities for the most common species. The project is on-going and additional data will be included in the future. The dataset is freely available for ecological analysis but also for training machine learning systems in automated image classification as all pictures have been manually classified.

National and local governments need to step up efforts to effectively implement the post‐2020 global biodiversity framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity to halt and reverse worsening biodiversity trends. Drawing on recent advances in interdisciplinary biodiversity science, we propose a framework for improved implementation by national and subnational governments. First, the identification of actions and the promotion of ownership across stakeholders need to recognize the multiple values of biodiversity and account for remote responsibility. Second, cross‐sectorial implementation and mainstreaming should adopt scalable and multifunctional ecosystem restoration approaches and target positive futures for nature and people. Third, assessment of progress and adaptive management can be informed by novel biodiversity monitoring and modeling approaches handling the multidimensionality of biodiversity change.

Making agriculture sustainable is a global challenge. In the European Union (EU), the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is failing with respect to biodiversity, climate, soil, land degradation as well as socio‐economic challenges. The European Commission's proposal for a CAP post‐2020 provides a scope for enhanced sustainability. However, it also allows Member States to choose low‐ambition implementation pathways. It therefore remains essential to address citizens' demands for sustainable agriculture and rectify systemic weaknesses in the CAP, using the full breadth of available scientific evidence and knowledge. Concerned about current attempts to dilute the environmental ambition of the future CAP, and the lack of concrete proposals for improving the CAP in the draft of the European Green Deal, we call on the European Parliament, Council and Commission to adopt 10 urgent action points for delivering sustainable food production, biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation. Knowledge is available to help moving towards evidence‐based, sustainable European agriculture that can benefit people, nature and their joint futures. The statements made in this article have the broad support of the scientific community, as expressed by above 3,600 signatories to the preprint version of this manuscript. The list can be found here (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3685632). A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Facilitating “wildness”: Humans have encroached upon a majority of Earth's lands. The current extinction crisis is a testament to human impacts on wilderness. If there is any hope of retaining a biodiverse planetary system, we must begin to learn how to coexist with, and leave space for, other species. The practice of “rewilding” has emerged as a method for returning wild lands, and wildness, to landscapes we have altered. Perino et al. review this concept and present a framework for implementing it broadly and in a way that considers ongoing human interaction. Science , this issue p. eaav5570