The distributions of different ecosystems in space and time, from lowland forests to alpine wetlands, are a main driver of global biodiversity patterns and changes. Comprehensive and detailed spatiotemporal information on ecosystem distributions are woefully lacking, yet urgently needed for diverse applications in biodiversity science, practice, and policy. Here, we capitalize on recent progress in multi-decadal environmental mapping to construct the Global Ecosystems (GlobES) data cube, composed of sub-pixel areas-of-occupancy of 71 terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and oceanic ecosystems. For immediate applicability in conservation, GlobES adopts the habitat class scheme of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and is validated with data on species ranges and occurrences. GlobES offers new opportunities for addressing biodiversity change in policy and management, from mapping endangered species to conservation prioritization and national monitoring towards ecosystem targets within the UN Post-2020 Framework for Biodiversity.

Change dynamics inferred from GlobES are summarized and displayed in a dedicated website (https://globesdata.org/)