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Jointly advancing infrastructure and biodiversity conservation

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Infrastructure development and biodiversity conservation are often planned and executed in isolation. However, outcomes from these efforts are interlinked, with coordinated actions required to jointly address sustainability challenges. Natural infrastructure — encompassing a spectrum of natural to conventional solutions — is key to the infrastructure–biodiversity connection and should be brought into large-scale application.

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Fig. 1: A confluence in the framing of, and approaches to, infrastructure and conservation planning.

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Acknowledgements

This work was conducted as part of the Network for Engineering With Nature (N-EWN, https://n-ewn.org/). The use of products or trade names does not represent an endorsement of these products by either the authors or the N-EWN. Opinions expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the agencies they represent or the N-EWN. The article benefited from comments by S. Altman, D. Crane, D. Hernández-Abrams, L. Dietterich, J. Hallemeier, R. Jackson, A. McKay, M. Simmons, T. Simon, B. Suedel and B. Woodson.

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Correspondence to S. Kyle McKay.

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McKay, S.K., Wenger, S.J., van Rees, C.B. et al. Jointly advancing infrastructure and biodiversity conservation. Nat Rev Earth Environ 4, 675–677 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00484-z

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