Balancing conservation priorities for nature and for people in Europe

There is an urgent need to protect keyareasforbiodiversityandnature’s contributions to people (NCP).However, different values of nature are rarely considered together in conservation planning. Here, we explorepotential priority areas in Europe for biodiversity (all terrestrial vertebrates) and a set of cultural and regulatingNCP while considering demand for these NCP. We quantify the spatial overlap between these priorities andtheir performance in representing different values of nature. We show that different priorities rarely coincide,except in certain irreplaceable ecosystems. Notably, priorities for biodiversity better represent NCP than thereverse. Theoretically, protecting an extra 5% of land has the potential to double conservation gains forbiodiversity while also maintainingsome essential NCP, leading to co-benefits for both nature and people.