“…The concept of "ecosystem integrity, " or related "ecological integrity, " has a long history in theoretical and applied ecology (e.g., Kay, 1991;Tierney et al, 2009;Wurtzebach and Schultz, 2016) and is explicitly referenced [e.g., Paris Agreement, CBD post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (Convention on Biological Diversity [CBD], 2021), IPCC Working Group II (IPCC, 2022)] or implied in international agreements and national-level legislation and agency directives (e.g., Australian Government, 1999). By providing a holistic view of ecosystem structure, function, composition, and adaptive capacity, the objective of maximizing ecosystem integrity may have the potential to minimize risk of carbon loss and maximize the ecosystem services provided by forests, thereby facilitating greater policy coherence across sectors (Koff et al, 2016;Dooley et al, 2018;Barber et al, 2020). However, the concept is not prioritized in international policy nor operationalized in most national forest policies, thus falling well short of its potential.…”