The importance of Indigenous Peoples' lands for the conservation of terrestrial vertebrates

Indigenous Peoples lands cover over one-quarter of the Earths surface, a significant proportion of which is still free from industrial-level human impacts. As a result, Indigenous Peoples lands are crucial for the long-term persistence of Earths biodiversity and ecosystem services. Yet, information on species composition within Indigenous Peoples lands globally remains unknown. Here, we provide the first comprehensive analysis of terrestrial vertebrate composition across mapped Indigenous lands by using distribution range data for 20,328 IUCN-assessed mammal, bird and amphibian species. We estimate that 12,521 species (62%) have [≥]10% of their ranges in Indigenous Peoples lands, and 3,314 species (16%) have >half of their ranges within these lands. For threatened species assessed, 1,878 (41.5% of all threatened of all threatened mammals, birds and amphibians) occur in Indigenous Peoples lands. We also find that 3,989 species (of which 418 are threatened) have [≥]10% of their range in Indigenous Peoples lands that have low human pressure. Our results are conservative because not all known Indigenous lands are mapped, and this analysis shows how important Indigenous Peoples lands are for the successful implementation of international conservation and sustainable development agendas.