Considered as a hotspot for biodiversity in the Mediterranean Basin, Lebanon is currently witnessing anarchic urbanization and unprecedented destruction of its natural habitats. Unregulated urbanization is also compounded by the surge in Lebanon’s population due to the unabated influx of Syrian refugees since 2012. This work aims to define Important Plant Areas (IPAs) with exceptional botanical richness. These IPAs should constitute the priority zones for conservation, contributing to the fulfillment of national targets in the framework of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

Non-native plants invade some tropical forests but there are few long-term studies of these invasions, and the consequences for plant richness and diversity are unclear. Repeated measurements of permanent plots in tropical montane rain forests in the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park in Jamaica over 24 to 40 years coincided with invasion by a non-native tree, Pittosporum undulatum.

Empirical two-part models describe the relationship between conservation spending, human development pressures and biodiversity loss and can inform sustainable development strategies by predicting the effects of financing decisions on future biodiversity losses.