Human pressures on the environment are changing spatially and temporally, with profound implications for the planet's biodiversity and human economies. Recently available data on infrastructure, land cover and human access into natural areas were used to construct a globally standardized measure of the cumulative human footprint on the terrestrial environment at 1?km2 resolution from 1993 to 2009. While the human population has increased by 23% and the world economy has grown 153%, the human footprint has increased by just 9%. Still, 75% the planet's land surface is experiencing measurable human pressures. Moreover, pressures are perversely intense, widespread and rapidly intensifying in places with high biodiversity. Encouragingly, decreases in environmental pressures are discovered in the wealthiest countries and those with strong control of corruption. Clearly the human footprint on Earth is changing, yet there are still opportunities for conservation gains. informacion[at]ebd.csic.es: Venter et al (2016) Sixteen years of change in the global terrestrial human footprint and implications for biodiversity conservation. Nature Comm 7: 12558. Doi 10.1038/ncomms12558