Unevidenced biodiversity claim should be abandoned — but biodiversity can be counted

Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares and colleagues document thoroughly how the much-cited claim that 80% of the world’s biodiversity occurs on Indigenous people’s lands is based on a misinterpretation that has cascaded through the scientific literature (Á. Fernández-Llamazares et al. Nature 633, 32–35; 2024). On the basis of their evidence, we agree that the claim should be abandoned, and will encourage our organization to do so.