Hi Carol, we may indeed have the opportunity to observe the decrease in human impact if action is taken on the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, Conference of Parties 15 in Montreal, Canada, December 2022, and the commitment to conserve at least 30 percent of Earth’s land and water by 2030. COP15: Nations Adopt Four Goals, 23 Targets for 2030 In Landmark UN Biodiversity Agreement | Convention on Biological Diversity (cbd.int)

Even better would be achieving targets such as the Half-Earth Project, as the name suggests, says 50% of land as natural reserve. Rewilding.org goal supports continent spanning habitats and natural ranges, they endorse Half-Earth, and at least 50% ecological reserves.

The 50% is based on the ‘Theory of Island Biogeography’ by MacArthur and Wilson, a 1960s seminal piece on conservation of species, whereby species richness depends on island size and isolation from other populations. Larger reserves sustain great numbers of species and thus biological diversity. It is suggested that protection of 50% of habitat in nature reserves protects 85% of species.