The potential for megafauna restoration is unevenly distributed across the world, along with the socio-political capacity of countries to support these restoration initiatives. We show that choosing a recent baseline to identify species' indigenous range puts a higher burden for megafauna restoration on countries in the Global South, which also have less capacity to support these restoration initiatives. We introduce the Megafauna Index, which considers large mammal's potential species richness and range area at the country level, to explore how the responsibility for megafauna restoration is distributed across the world according to four scenarios using various temporal benchmarks to define species' indigenous range – current, historical (1500 AD), mid-Holocene and Pleistocene. We test how the distribution of restoration burden across the world correlates with indicators of conservation funding, human development and governance. Using a recent or historical baseline as a benchmark for restoration puts a higher pressure on African and south-east Asian countries while lifting the responsibility from the Global North, where extinctions happened a long time ago. When using a mid-Holocene or Pleistocene baseline, new opportunities arise for megafauna restoration in Europe and North America, respectively, where countries have a higher financial and societal capacity to support megafauna restoration. These results contribute to the debate around benchmarks in rewilding initiatives and the ethical implications of using recent baselines to guide restoration efforts. We suggest that countries from the Global North should reflect on their responsibility in supporting global restoration efforts, by both increasing their support for capacity building in the Global South and taking responsibility for restoring lost megafauna at home.

中文翻译：

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使用最近的基线作为大型动物恢复的基准给全球南方带来了不公平的负担

世界各地的巨型动物恢复潜力分布不均，各国支持这些恢复举措的社会政治能力也分布不均。我们表明，选择最近的基线来确定物种的本土范围会给全球南方国家带来更大的巨型动物恢复负担，这些国家支持这些恢复计划的能力也较低。我们引入了巨型动物指数，该指数考虑了国家层面上大型哺乳动物的潜在物种丰富度和分布区域，以探索巨型动物恢复的责任如何根据四种情景在世界范围内分配，使用各种时间基准来定义物种的本土范围 - 当前，历史（公元 1500 年），全新世中期和更新世。我们测试了全球恢复负担的分布与保护资金、人类发展和治理指标之间的关系。使用近期或历史基线作为恢复基准，给非洲和东南亚国家带来了更大的压力，同时解除了很久以前发生灭绝的全球北方的责任。当使用全新世中期或更新世基线时，欧洲和北美的巨型动物恢复新机会分别出现，这些国家拥有更高的财政和社会能力来支持巨型动物恢复。这些结果有助于围绕重新野化计划中的基准以及使用最近的基准来指导恢复工作的伦理影响进行辩论。