The "Biodiversity Hotspot" concept, created by Norman Myers in 1988 and adopted by Conservation International and the MacArthur Foundation, emerged from the increasing recognition that exceptional concentrations of endemic species were undergoing exceptional loss of habitat, with the result that we are losing the Earth's biological wealth - the species, ecosystems, and ecological processes - for future generations. The Hotspots concept recognizes that a small number of ecological regions (eco-regions) occupying a small portion of the land surface of the planet account for an inordinately large share of Earth's terrestrial biodiversity. These biologically rich areas have high concentrations of endemic species - species restricted to these places and found nowhere else. They are also increasingly threatened by human activities and human population growth.