The plants and animals we see today are the result of thousands of years of evolution. These genetic legacies also underlie their abilities to adapt to future pressures. Despite the significance of genetic and phylogenetic diversity for the evolutionary potential of species, these components of biodiversity have largely been overlooked by global biodiversity commitments. This stands to change with the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, which incorporates evolutionary history in a way that its predecessors didn’t. A brand-new unreviewed pre-print by the JRC describes the opportunity of considering evolutionary potential in global biodiversity commitments. The authors describe the policy benefits of considering genetic and phylogenetic diversity and call on scientists turn this once-in-a-generation policy opportunity into improved conservation practice. This will entail developing genetic monitoring data to compliment exiting data on species occurrences, endemicity, and threatened status, for example.

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