Global inequities and political borders challenge nature conservation under climate change

Ecological communities are undergoing a major redistribution as species track their moving climatic niches on a warming planet. This has major repercussions for global biodiversity governance. By simulating the changing distributions of species under climate change, and comparing impacts between nations, we highlight the global inequities in climate impacts on nature. We then consider the global importance of transboundary conservation under climate change, as many species ranges are projected to move across political borders. By mapping transboundary range shifts globally, we highlight regions where international cooperation may be most useful for conservation and where border barriers may be most detrimental. Our findings underscore the need for cooperation across national boundaries to minimize biodiversity loss in the face of global change. Study data to reproduce the analysis are accessible online from the Environmental Information Data Centre (DOI: [10.5285/5bf972a8-c9a3-4721-8089-552dfe3ff124][1]) ([81][2]). Species distribution data are available from the IUCN Red List and BirdLife International and the Handbook of the Birds of the World ([53][3], [54][4]). Bioclimatic data, including future projections, are available to download from WorldClim ([59][5]) (). World Bank governance indicators ([15][6]) are available to download at . [1]: http://dx.doi.org/10.5285/5bf972a8-c9a3-4721-8089-552dfe3ff124 [2]: #ref-81 [3]: #ref-53 [4]: #ref-54 [5]: #ref-59 [6]: #ref-15