Conservation International recently extended their list of the most endangered places on Earth to include nine new locations. These endangered areas, called 'hotspots', now total 34 locations. The new locations include the deserts of the Horn of Africa, the mountains of central Asia, the east Melanesian islands.

According to Conservation International:

To qualify as a hotspot, a region must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants (> 0.5 percent of the world’s total) as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70 percent of its original habitat.

Find out more:

• Hotspots by region
• Biodiversity hotspots
• Hotspot science
• Nine more crisis areas for biodiversity
• Hotspots in peril
• Conservation response
• Center for Applied Biodiversity Science