Scientists have identified 437 currently unprotected areas of biodiversity in India among 16,825 similar sites around the world that they say if secured with adequate protection could prevent terrestrial species’ extinctions anticipated in the future.

Among the 437 sites in India, 65 (15 per cent) are adjacent to or lie within 2.5km of the boundaries of existing protected areas, an international consortium of conservation and wildlife researchers said in a study released on Tuesday.

The 16,825 sites the scientists have called “Conservation Imperatives” are scattered across Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mexico, Philippines, Tanzania, Vietnam and Venezuela among other countries. They make up around 164Mha or just 1.2 per cent of the Earth’s surface.

The study was published on Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Science.

“We’ve found that we need only about 1.2 per cent of the Earth’s surface to head off the sixth great extinction of life on Earth,” said Eric Dinerstein, the director of biodiversity and wildlife at Resolve, a non-government organisation involved in conservation research, and a study team member.

Multiple extinctions have occurred throughout Earth’s 4.6-billion-year history, including five major ones between 2.5 billion years ago and 66 million years ago, all from natural causes, including volcanism and an asteroid crash on the planet that dramatically altered living conditions on Earth.

Studies in recent years have suggested that Earth is witnessing a sixth extinction, driven by humans, an outcome of human population expansion, development activities and loss of natural habitats.

A study released last year catalogued that Earth has lost 217 birds, 182 amphibians, 115 mammals and 90 reptiles worldwide since AD 1,500.

The 16,825 Conservation Imperative sites identified by the new study are home for over 4,700 threatened species. “These include mammals and birds that rely on large intact habitats but also many range-restricted amphibians and rare plant species,” said Andy Lee, a study co-author also with Resolve.

Many of the 437 sites in India are distributed across the Western Ghats and northern and northeastern India, Dinerstein told The Telegraph. Examples of Conservation Imperative sites in India are the Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh and the Khasi Hills in the northeast. The Khasi Hills are a key habitat for the Khasi pitcher plant, he said.

The scientists mapped the distribution of rare and endangered species — such as the Great Indian Bustard and the snow leopard, among other species in India — and overlaid them with maps of existing protected areas to identify unprotected sites that need immediate protection.

“Protecting these last remaining habitats can prevent imminent extinction, provide important source populations for the future recovery of these species and spearhead the effort to half the sixth great extinction,” Dinerstein said.

The study has found that the 16,825 sites are highly concentrated in the tropics. More than 10,300 are located in just five countries — the Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar and Colombia. India is at eight in the list of top 30 countries with Conservation Imperative sites.