By Helen Briggs BBC News
A tenth of the world's wilderness
has vanished in the past two decades, research shows.
New maps show "alarming
losses" of pristine landscapes, particularly in South America and Africa,
according to World Conservation Society scientists.
They argue in Current
Biology that wild areas are ignored in international
conservation agreements, despite their ecological and cultural value.
About 20% of the world's land
area is classed as wilderness.
By this, scientists mean
landscapes free of large-scale human disturbances such as housing, development
and industry.
The majority of these untouched
spaces are found in North America, north Asia, north Africa and Australia.
They are often home to indigenous
peoples as well as endangered plants and animals.
James Watson of the University of
Queensland, Australia, and the US Wildlife Conservation Society in New York
said wilderness areas "are completely ignored in environmental
policy".
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