Wildlife’s Contributions to People
January 15, 2025 | Source: Nature Reviews Biodiversity | by Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Colleen R. Miller, Laura E. Dee, Nathan J. Bennett, Alejandra Echeverri, Rachelle K. Gould, Edward J. Gregr, Margaret F. Kinnaird, Allison K. Leidner, Robin Naidoo, Kimberly A. Nicholas & Jiaying Zhao
Nature’s contributions to people (NCP) are increasingly incorporated in modern conservation policy and management frameworks; however, the contributions of wildlife remain underrepresented in the NCP science that informs policy and practice. In this Perspective, we explore wildlife’s role in NCP. We use existing evidence to map wildlife contributions onto the conceptual framework of NCP and find that wildlife directly supports 12 of 18 NCP categories. We identify NCP provided or supported by wildlife as wildlife’s contributions to people (WCP). Knowledge gaps regarding WCP are prevalent, and failure to identify or account for WCP in policy and management could prevent both NCP and biodiversity targets from being achieved. To improve understanding of WCP and its integration into conservation decision-making, advances in monitoring and modelling wildlife are required and taxonomic, geographic and cultural biases in existing research should be addressed. These advances are necessary to connect biodiversity policies aimed at protecting wildlife species with NCP policies intended to ensure the long-term delivery of benefits to people, and to achieve widespread sustainable relationships with nature.