Assessment of ecosystem status in Mozambique and implications for environmental planning

Abstract The Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) set the agenda for global aspirations and actions to reverse environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. It places a clear focus on ecosystems, with several goals and targets aimed at enhancing ecosystem area, integrity, connectivity, and resilience. Achieving these ambitions will require a robust understanding of ecosystem type, distribution and status, and mainstreaming of ecosystem data into reporting and decision‐making processes. Here, we assess Mozambique's terrestrial ecosystems using the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems framework and demonstrate how the results are being used to inform environmental decision‐making and GBF implementation. By assessing ecosystem loss, degradation, and the impacts of climate change, our findings show that more than half of Mozambique's ecosystems are threatened, with impacts primarily concentrated in temperate subhumid grasslands and pyric tussock savannas. Some ecosystem groups, such as tropical‐subtropical lowland rainforests, while less affected by range reduction, are threatened due to their naturally restricted distributions and ongoing degradation. Coverage of threatened ecosystems within protected areas and Key Biodiversity Areas is substantially insufficient, highlighting clear priorities for expansion to achieve GBF targets. These results are now being used to influence national conservation policies and regulate private‐sector conservation efforts. This demonstrates how systematic Red List of Ecosystem assessments can inform robust environmental decision‐making and conservation planning, providing a valuable model for other countries aiming to implement the GBF and enhance ecosystem‐based conservation strategies.