Biodiversity Hotspots are species-rich communities threatened by habitat loss, destruction, and rising extinction rates. Biodiversity Hotspots are not distributed uniformly around the globe: North and Central America contain four Hotspots while South America hosts five. The Caribbean Islands are their own Hotspot. The only one found in Europe is the region that comprises the Mediterranean Basin. Central Asia has one Hotspot, East and West Asia two, South Asia three, and the South East Asia and Asia-Pacific regions have a total of nine Biodiversity Hotspots. The continent of Africa has eight Hotspots.

A Biodiversity Hotspot is not defined by a single plant community or ecosystem, but by a unique set of diverse ecosystems that characterizes the region, and having at least 1,500 endemic plant species that have lost a minimum of 70% of their original extent. 25 global Hotspots were identified at the turn of the millennium using these criteria. Over the intervening years these have been expanded to 36 confirmed global Hotspots, which support more than 50% of the earth’s vascular plants across 16% of the Earth’s land surface* or 2.4% of the planet. Approximately 60% of terrestrial life survives on this critically threatened 2.4% of the land surface area.