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 Discover the beauty and diversity of Las Californias through this slideshow of California and Baja California's Mediterranean landscapes. |
California harbors most of the continent’s Mediterranean habitat. Known as Las Californias, the area reaches from the southernmost tip of Oregon to northern Baja California. Its hot, dry summers, mild winters and stunning beauty make this region one of the most desirable places to live on Earth — but not just for people. This region supports more plant species than Canada and the central and northeast United States combined.
Las Californias shares its unique Mediterranean habitat with only four other places on Earth — the Mediterranean Sea basin, southern and southwest Australia, the western cape of South Africa and the central coast of Chile. Together they comprise only 2 percent of the planet’s land, yet these regions are home to 20 percent of all plant species, many of them found nowhere else.
A Need for Action
Mediterranean habitats have long attracted urbanization, tourism, agriculture and industry, leading to rates of land conversion that are twice the rate of the global average. For every 8 acres of land converted, only 1 is protected, ratios four times worse than that of tropical rainforests.
In California, less than 10 percent of our coastal sage scrub and less than 1 percent of our native grasslands remain. While the Mediterranean region covers only 1 percent of the United States, it is home to almost 10 percent of the country’s population.
Experts predict that by 2020, California's population will have soared to 43 million. Rapid growth threatens the region's remaining natural areas, farms and ranchlands. Approximately 40,000 acres of working farms and ranchlands are lost to development and urbanization every year.
California Responds
The Nature Conservancy in California has created a Global Mediterranean Habitat Conservation Team focused on increasing the effectiveness of conservation throughout the region. Its goal is to double the number of Mediterranean acres protected by 2015.
The Conservancy’s objective is to grow this California effort into a global, innovative cross-cutting conservation team. Their mission: to increase the pace and scale of conservation for Mediterranean habitats and make the 2015 goal a reality.
It’s also important to harness the capacity of other organizations working to protect Mediterranean habitats. As a result, the Conservancy is sponsoring the Global Mediterranean Action Network, which provides a venue for conservationists to collaborate across all five Mediterranean habitats.
Learn More About Mediterranean Habitats!
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Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Richard Herrmann (Oyster fishing boats float on calm waters in San Quintin Bay, Mexico); © Ian Shive (Detail of white lily and bud, Alamos Canyon); © Gary Crabbe/Enlightened Images (Santa Cruz Island); © Stephen Francis (Calico cactus in bloom); © Mark Dolyak (Coast live oak trees and grasslands); © Gabor Izso (Grapes on a vine); © Darin Busby (Herd of pronghorn antelope).
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