INTRODUCTION

Conservation planning at any scale (global, regional, or local) requires the best scientific input. For biodiversity conservation planning, detailed information on species distributions is needed. In addition, knowledge of the conservation status of species and of the present threats acting on those species is essential to enable some form of prioritization of conservation targets. To date, many valuable conservation planning approaches have been applied at these different scales, but often the quality and nature of the information varies among spatial scales, creating a disconnect between priorities at the local and global scales. Recent work on the global assessment of the conservation status of all amphibian species provides the conservation community with a unique opportunity to integrate conservation planning at the global, regional, and local scales using the same scientific information. Such information can help us establish global priorities for conservation action, design regional landscapes or conservation corridors based on the most highly threatened endemic species and their responses to different land uses, as well as define key gaps in existing networks of protected areas that need formal protection. Using the same detailed global information ensures that priorities at all scales are related and form an integrated strategy for addressing the most urgent conservation needs.

Although protected areas are critical to safeguarding global biodiversity, many species occur largely or entirely outside of protected areas.