We were very pleased with the editor’s decision to publish the Comment by Rakotonarivo et al. (Rakotonarivo, O. S., Shyamsundar, P., Kramer, R. & Hockley, N. Conservation practice must catch up with commitments to local people for 30 × 30 success. Nat. Revs Biodivers. 1, 84–85 (2025))1.