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Sixty years of tracking conservation progress using the World Database on Protected Areas
Abstract
The world’s protected area network is constantly changing, and the dynamics of this network are tracked using the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). This database evolved from a list of protected areas first mandated by the United Nations in 1959, and it now informs the key indicators that track progress toward area-based conservation targets. In this capacity, the WDPA illuminates the role of protected areas in advancing a range of international objectives and agreements, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite ongoing challenges in maintaining such a complex global dataset, the WDPA is continuously improving and taking advantage of new technology, making it widely applicable to diverse users, including those in sectors far from its original intended audience. In the future, the WDPA will expand to include areas that contribute to conservation and sustainable use outside of formal protected areas, and will increasingly link to other key global datasets. These innovations in the way the WDPA is managed and used will deliver vital knowledge to support a sustainable future for biodiversity and people globally.
... The universal network of protected areas is constantly changing (Bingham et al., 2019). The protected areas are instrumental in preventing the extinction of species and maintaining the ecosystems' functions (Luo et al., 2022). ...
... This interest led to the creation of the list of the world protected areas approved by the United Nations in 1959. Currently the list is represented by the worldwide protected area database that allows following the dynamics of the protected areas (Bingham et al., 2019). Protected areas were created to limit the influence of human activities on biodiversity. ...
This article is devoted to the study of the systematic, biomorphological, and ecological classifications of the dendroflora of eleven park-monuments of landscape art established in the second half of the 20th century in the Ukrainian Polissya. In the protected parks, we identified 193 taxa of woody plants that belong to 82 genera and 34 families. The most common one was the family Rosaceae Juss. Among encountered woody plants, 14.2% species were indigenous and occurred in 5-11 parks. Fifty-nine woody plant species, among which 64.4% were rare, were associated with a single park and were represented by 1-7 specimens. At the same time, 69 woody plant species were associated with 2-4 parks, with 40.4% rare and 17.4% indigenous plant species. Life forms were represented by phanerophytes (36, 63, and 76 species of megaphanerophytes, mesophanerophytes, and micro- and nanophanerophytes, respectively) and a chamaephyte. In turn, the ecological structure was dominated by mesophytes (39.8%), hemisciophytes (46.6%), and mesotrophs (51.7%). Except for Bairak PMLA and Novostavskyi dendropark, the dendroflora of the surveyed parks was diverse.
... Only 41 % of Indonesia's 158 threatened species were found within its PAs. At the other end of the spectrum, none of the 78 PAs in China contained threatened Dipterocarpaceae species (Table S1), due to the under-representation of the country's PAs in the WDPA database (Bingham et al., 2019). ...
... This is a large undertaking and can only be realistically conducted for a certain geographical region. Furthermore, it is acknowledged that the PAs in China were under-represented the study, as the country had requested for the removal of 3000 of its protected areas from the WDPA database since 2018 (Bingham et al., 2019). Taken together, this calls for regular biodiversity survey and monitoring in PAs to improve data on the in-situ status of threatened tree species and a more inclusive database of global protected area networks. ...
Protected areas (PAs) are key tools to prevent extinction and preserve ecosystem functions. As countries reiterated their commitment to expand the reach of PAs by up to 30 % by 2030, stronger purpose and pertinence in the establishment of PAs is needed to ensure effective conservation. In this study, we used Dipterocarpaceae as a proxy for threatened and ecologically important trees to determine the role of PAs in tree conservation and the potential shortfalls at a global scale. We quantified the overlap between the geo-referenced occurrence data of 433 Dipterocarpaceae species and the distribution of global PAs, followed by a conservation gap analysis on Borneo, the center of diversity of the family. We found that while Southeast Asia is the hotspot for species diversity and threat to Dipterocarpaceae, a high proportion of threatened species were found at the range edges of Dipterocarpaceae. Half of all the countries with Dipterocarpaceae met the Aichi Target 11 of designating at least 17 % of their land area as PAs, and most had <10 % of their total number of PAs being relevant to Dipterocarpaceae conservation. Our conservation gap analysis demonstrated that only 5.02 % of the total area of habitat (AOH) of endemic and Critically Endangered dipterocarps was formally protected, while 18.6 % of the total AOH was included in the Heart of Borneo complex. Our data highlights the need for a more effective global conservation gap analysis for threatened trees that could inform area-based conservation post-2020.
... We contacted project proponents and the VCS registry to request source boundary files if project boundary maps were not available. For the 71 projects for which we were able to obtain boundary files, we normalised overlapping polygons so that each overlap was contained by a unique geometry and re-projected the database to a Mollweide equal-area projection (Bingham et al. 2019). ...
... To account for the presence of protected areas we ran a separate set of analyses in which we excluded pixels located within protected area polygons (see Appendix S5), based on the World Database on Protected Areas (UNEP-WCMC & IUCN 2019). We standardised the protected area database by removing areas categorised as "not designated" or "inscribed", as well as UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (Bingham et al. 2019) and reprojected the geometries to a Mollweide equal-area projection. ...
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) projects aim to contribute to climate change mitigation by protecting and enhancing carbon stocks in tropical forests, but there are no systematic global evaluations of their impact. Using a new data set for tropical humid forests, we used a standardised evaluation approach to quantify the performance of a representative sample of 40 voluntary REDD+ certified under the Verified Carbon Standard, located in nine countries. In the first five years of implementation, deforestation within project areas was reduced by 47% (95% CI = 24–68%) compared with matched counterfactual pixels, while degradation rates were 58% lower (95% CI = 49–63%). Reductions were small in absolute terms but greater in sites located in high deforestation settings, and did not appear to be substantially undermined by leakage activities in forested areas within 10‐km of project boundaries. At COP26 the international community renewed its commitment to tackling tropical deforestation as a nature‐based solution to climate change. Our results indicate that incentivising forest conservation through voluntary site‐based projects can slow tropical deforestation; they also highlight the particular importance of targeting financing to areas at greater risk of deforestation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
... In conservation biogeography, the multiple roles of protected areas are studied, which aim at preserving values and objectives of nature (Ladle and Whittaker 2011a). The success that protected areas had during the 21st century (Watson et al. 2014, Bingham et al. 2019) is threatened, primarily by human land use (Schulze et al. 2018) and climate change (Hannah 2008, Peters and Darling 1985, Gross et al. 2017, Thomas and Gillingham 2015, Araújo et al. 2011. Threats to biodiversity are occurring globally (Díaz et al. 2019) and biodiversity is rapidly lost (Pimm et al. 2014). ...
... Biodiversity is higher inside protected areas than in their surroundings resources (Postel and Thompson 2005, Palomo et al. 2013, Xu et al. 2017, tourism and recreation (Balmford et al. 2009) and poverty reduction (Andam et al. 2010). Moreover, the global protected area estate expands (Bingham et al. 2019). ...
This study endorses the main findings of a PhD thesis (Hoffmann 2020) and the manuscripts included intend to advance the success of protected areas in biodiversity conservation mediated through effective and efficient protected area management. The manuscripts provide missing scientific evaluations that modern conservation planning over large geographical extents requires: the comprehensive quantification of species diversity within and between protected areas; the development and application of efficient and effective in-situ monitoring and remote sensing of species diversity; and the assessment of anthropogenic climate change threats to protected areas. Moreover, the manuscripts aim at spreading conservation-minded data and knowledge by means of publishing open-access papers, open-source software and open data. This thesis synopsis is to stimulate a growing scientific and public debate on the effectiveness of protected areas and nature conservation under anthropogenic threats, which is necessary to stop nature’s decline and thus guarantee a sustainable future for the welfare of generations to come.
... As global marine biodiversity continues to decline, efforts to conserve the ocean through area-based management tools are increasing (Grorud-Colvert et al. 2021), yet our understanding of biodiversity outcomes associated with diverse tools other than marine protected areas (MPAs) is limited (but see McClanahan et al. 2015). Over the past decade, global commitments to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Aichi Biodiversity Targets have guided national conservation efforts (CBD 2010;Bingham et al. 2019). Parties to the CBD have now agreed to new targets under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (CBD 2022) that set the global conservation agenda for the next decade, including the commitment to protect and conserve 30% of the planet"s land and oceans by 2030 (or, "30x30"). ...
Understanding the relative effectiveness and enabling conditions of different area‐based management tools is essential for supporting efforts that achieve positive biodiversity outcomes as area‐based conservation coverage increases to meet newly set international targets. We used data from a coastal social‐ecological monitoring program in six Indo‐Pacific countries to analyze whether social, ecological, and economic objectives and specific management rules (temporal closures, fishing gear‐, species‐specific restrictions) were associated with coral reef fish biomass above sustainable yield levels across different types of area‐based management tools (i.e., comparing those designated as marine protected areas (MPAs) to other types of area‐based management). We found that all categories of objectives, multiple combinations of rules, and all types of area‐based management had some sites that were able to sustain high levels of reef fish biomass – a key measure for coral reef health – compared to reference sites with no area‐based management. Yet the same management types also had sites with low biomass. As governments advance their commitments to the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the target to conserve 30% of the planet's land and oceans by 2030, we show that while different types of management can be effective, most of the managed areas in our study regions did not meet IUCN criteria for effectiveness. These findings underscore the importance of strong management and governance of managed areas, and the need to measure the ecological impact of area‐based management rather than counting areas because of their designation.
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... Alpine grasslands have become a topic of intense discussion worldwide due to their ecological [2,3,7,10,16,22,33] and cultural significance [14,34]. The Western Carpathians and also the South-Eastern Carpathians, where our study area is located, are no exception to this trend [34,35]. ...
The Carpathian region harbors a wide range of threatened species, making it an area of excep-tional conservation value. In the Alpine belt, grasslands cover the entire region and this study aims to describe the communities in the Bucegi Massif of the Romanian Carpathians and high-light their importance for conservation. The Braun–Blanquet approach was used to record floris-tic data from 47 phytosociological surveys, identifying a total of 235 plant species from 40 dif-ferent families, including 30 threatened species. Canonical correspondence analysis was used to analyze the data, revealing that the distribution of vegetation is mainly influenced by elevation, slope and vegetation cover. Dominant grass species in these communities include Nardus stricta, Festuca violacea, Kobresia myosuroides, Festuca amethystina, Festuca airoides, Sesleria rigida, Festuca ver-sicolor and Festuca carpatica. The alpine and boreal siliceous grasslands of the Carpathian Moun-tains, identified by Natura 2000 codes 6150, 6130 and 6170, host a wide range of plant species of significant conservation value. The higher altitude grasslands, especially, have outstanding plant species richness. We argue that although the habitats have been grazed, significant parts of the area are still in good ecological condition, having many typical natural features.
... Hence, radiation intensity is more suitable to be selected as an exclusion parameter. Moreover, excluding protected areas completely may offer exclusion of many potential sites since development is allowed on 'Class VI' of the protected land [18]. Furthermore, twice consideration of 'slope' (for both exclusion and site suitability) may not be required if different system configurations are being analyzed. ...
... The complications surrounding subsurface resource development in protected areas and OECMs are not limited to Canada. Many nations globally are facing mounting pressures to allow mineral exploration in existing protected areas and OECMs while also objecting to the establishment of new protected areas or OECMs until exploration of an area has been complete and the area has been determined to have low mineral potential (Coad et al., 2015;Bingham et al., 2019). Therefore, the results have global implications to the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and consequently meeting national and international commitments. ...
... Hence, radiation intensity is more suitable to be selected as an exclusion parameter. Moreover, excluding protected areas completely may offer exclusion of many potential sites since development is allowed on 'Class VI' of the protected land [18]. Furthermore, twice consideration of 'slope' (for both exclusion and site suitability) may not be required if different system configurations are being analyzed. ...
Bridging the gap between sustainability theory and good practice of utility-scale photovoltaic deployment requires strategic planning considering multiple criteria. This study, for the first time, integrates meteorological and air quality parameters and lifecycle costs and environmental emissions with geospatial, techno-economic parameters in determining potential and suitability of photovoltaic power plants. For two system orientations, technical potential based on timeseries of meteorological parameters is estimated after development of irradiance and aerosol optical depth maps. Besides others, project lifecycle and water-use costs are introduced in levelized cost of electricity calculation. Site suitability is estimated based on site-specific techno-economic parameters and annual dust load. Lastly, comparison between lifecycle environmental impacts, considering twelve different indicators of proposed plant and natural-gas fired power plant (as reference) is performed for different capacity powerplants. Cumulative resource potential ranging from 7497 to 14141 GW is identified for Pakistan. Levelized Cost of Electricity is in range of 0.026–0.041 USD/kWh, highly competitive with global estimates and less than the residential tariff in the country. Major contribution (∼81%) to the cost estimates is made by capital generation whereas the second highest is by infrastructure-parity components (∼12%). With inclusion of aerosol optical depth in site suitability analysis, the extremely suitable class area decreases by 3.81%. Overall, net environmental impact avoided over the lifecycle increases with increase in rated capacity following a logistic curve, and is approximately 5 and 10 times higher for 50 and 100 MW power plants, respectively.
... However, a further difficulty with comparative assessment of regional and national performances against area-based targets, is that cultural and other differences can affect the reporting itself. PA coverage statistics rely on countries reporting to the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and what is reported (and not reported) can vary non-randomly across regions and countries, for many reasons 4 . For example, if a country's conservation areas include a large number of land use types or governance arrangements that do not naturally get collated by Environment Ministries attempting to report to databases mostly managed in Europe and North America. ...
Aichi Target 11 committed governments to protect ≥17% of their terrestrial environments by 2020, yet it was rarely achieved, raising questions about the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework goal to protect 30% by 2030. Asia is a challenging continent for such targets, combining high biodiversity with dense human populations. Here, we evaluated achievements in Asia against Aichi Target 11. We found that Asia was the most underperforming continent globally, with just 13.2% of terrestrial protected area (PA) coverage, averaging 14.1 ± SE 1.8% per country in 2020. 73.1% of terrestrial ecoregions had <17% representation and only 7% of PAs even had an assessment of management effectiveness. We found that a higher agricultural land in 2015 was associated with lower PA coverage today. Asian countries also showed a remarkably slow average annual pace of 0.4 ± SE 0.1% increase of PA extent. These combined lines of evidence suggest that the ambitious 2030 targets are unlikely to be achieved in Asia unless the PA coverage to increase 2.4-5.9 times faster. We provided three recommendations to support Asian countries to meet their post-2020 biodiversity targets: complete reporting and the wider adoption “other effective area-based conservation measures”; restoring disturbed landscapes; and bolstering transboundary PAs. Asia is shown to be behind in meeting the Aichi Target 11 under the Convention on Biological Diversity and current trends indicate that 2030 targets are unlikely to be achieved with severe impact on biodiversity.
... These publicly available databases contain standardized data for over 270,000 protected areas and over 800 OECMs worldwide (UNEP-WCMC & IUCN, 2022). By detailing the designation, establishment, management, and spatial boundaries of area-based conservation measures (UNEP-WCMC, 2019), these databases play a vital role in monitoring and prioritizing conservation efforts (Bingham et al., 2019;Butchart et al., 2015). ...
... Protected area establishment is a cornerstone for biodiversity conservation. The global protected area system coverage has been increasing, both in terrestrial and marine ecosystems [5]. However, this system is incomplete and falls short in safeguarding all levels of biodiversity [genes, populations (see Glossary), species, and ecosystems] [6]. ...
Integrative and proactive conservation approaches are critical to the long-term persistence of biodiversity. Molecular data can provide important information on evolutionary processes necessary for conserving multiple levels of biodiversity (genes, populations, species, and ecosystems). However, molecular data are rarely used to guide spatial conservation decision-making. Here, we bridge the fields of molecular ecology (ME) and systematic conservation planning (SCP) (the ‘why’) to build a foundation for the inclusion of molecular data into spatial conservation planning tools (the ‘how’), and provide a practical guide for implementing this integrative approach for both conservation planners and molecular ecologists. The proposed framework enhances interdisciplinary capacity, which is crucial to achieving the ambitious global conservation goals envisioned for the next decade.
... The designation of effective protected areas requires balancing the immediate needs of imperiled species with anticipated conditions decades or centuries into the future. Although the establishment of protected areas has increased dramatically over the past century (Watson et al., 2014), the density, area, and governance of protected areas vary considerably across space (Bingham et al., 2019;UNEP-WCMW and IUCN, 2021). As conserved spaces continue to be planned and adopted, formal analyses of interactions among climate and geographical factors governing species distributions and projected changes in them will aid in the prioritization of areas to protect (Monzón et al., 2011;Scridel et al., 2021;Sierra-Morales et al., 2021). ...
Assumptions about factors such as climate in shaping species' realized and potential distributions underlie much of conservation planning and wildlife management. Climate and climatic change lead to shifts in species distributions through both direct and indirect ecological pressures. Distributional shifts may be particularly important if range overlap is altered between interacting species, or between species and protected areas. The cattle family (Bovidae) represents a culturally, economically, and ecologically important taxon that occupies many of the world's rangelands. In contemporary North America, five wild bovid species inhabit deserts, prairies, mountains , and tundra from Mexico to Greenland. Here, we aim to understand how future climate change will modify environmental characteristics associated with North American bovid species relative to the distribution of extant protected areas. We fit species distribution models for each species to climate, topography, and land cover data using observations from a citizen science dataset. We then projected modeled distributions to the end of the 21st century for each bovid species under two scenarios of anticipated climate change. Modeling results suggest that suitable habitat will shift inconsistently across species and that such shifts will lead to species-specific variation in overlap between potential habitat and existing protected areas. Furthermore, projected overlap with protected areas was sensitive to the warming scenario under consideration, with diminished realized protected area under greater warming. Conservation priorities and designation of new protected areas should account for ecological consequences of climate change.
... En este sentido, la implementación de áreas naturales protegidas ha sido históricamente una de las principales herramientas de protección, siendo el establecimiento de estas cada vez más común (Bingham et al., 2019). Sin embargo, debido al alto impacto de las actividades humanas sobre los ecosistemas biológicos, la protección derivada de las áreas naturales protegidas suele ser insuficiente (Allison et al., 1998). ...
Debido a distintas presiones globales y locales, los ecosistemas costero-marinos se encuentran rápidamente en declive a un ritmo alarmante. La República Dominicana es especialmente vulnerable a los efectos de la degradación de estos ecosistemas y sus recursos, por ello es necesaria la implementación de acciones de conservación y restauración de los mismos. Estas acciones se deben realizar desde una perspectiva holística, que considere no solo el aspecto biológico, sino también el aspecto económico y social mediante la integración a la comunidad local. La Fundación Dominicana de Estudios Marinos, desde sus inicios, ha involucrado a la comunidad de la zona sur del Santuario Marino Arrecifes del Sureste en sus programas conservación marina. Esta línea engloba 3 componentes esenciales: 1) el establecimiento de alianzas con el sector privado turístico, 2) la integración de jóvenes de la comunidad y 3) la participación de usuarios directos de los recursos naturales. En este artículo, presentemos la estructura y resultados de la integración comunitaria en la conservación marina, evidenciando el valor de esta estrategia para escalar los esfuerzos de conservación y apoyar el sustento de la comunidad local.
... Nature reserves were treated as protected areas, and the land cover of the area did not change when simulating future land cover. In this study, nature reserves in Europe were tracked using the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) [28], while nature reserves for the three Chinese cities were derived from the Specimen Resource Sharing Platform of China Nature Reserve [29]. All nature reserve data were vector data, and when used as input data for the CLUE-S model, we converted the vector data to raster data with a spatial resolution of 60 m for land cover simulation. ...
Urban expansion and ecological restoration policies can simultaneously affect land-cover changes and further affect ecosystem services (ES). However, it is unclear whether and to what extent the distribution and equity of urban ES are influenced by the stage of urban development and government policies. This study aims to assess the quantity and equity of ES under different scenarios in cites of China and Europe. Firstly, we used the Conversion of Land Use and its Effects at Small regional extent (CLUE-S) model to simulate future land cover under three scenarios: business-as-usual (BAU), a market-liberal scenario (MLS), and an ecological protection scenario (EPS). Then using ecosystem service model approaches and the landscape analysis, the dynamics of green infrastructure (GI) fraction and connectivity, carbon sequestration, and PM2.5 removal were further evaluated. The results show that: (1) over the past 20 years, Chinese cities have experienced dramatic changes in land cover and ES relative to European cities. (2) Two metropolises in China, Shanghai and Beijing have experienced an increase in the fraction and connectivity of GI and ES in the long-term built-up areas between 2010 and 2020. (3) EPS scenarios are not only effective in increasing the quantity of ES but also in improving the equity of ES distribution. The proposed framework as well as the results may provide important guidance for future urban planning and sustainable city development.
... Nature reserves were treated as protected areas, and the land cover of the area did not change when simulating future land cover. In this study, nature reserves in Europe were tracked using the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) [28], while nature reserves for the three Chinese cities were derived from the Specimen Resource Sharing Platform of China Nature Reserve [29]. All nature reserve data were vector data, and when used as input data for the CLUE-S model, we converted the vector data to raster data with a spatial resolution of 60 m for land cover simulation. ...
Urban expansion and ecological restoration policies can simultaneously affect land-cover changes and further affect ecosystem services (ES). However, it is unclear whether and to what extent the distribution and equity of urban ES are influenced by the stage of urban development and government policies. This study aims to assess the quantity and equity of ES under different scenarios in cites of China and Europe. Firstly, we used the Conversion of Land Use and its Effects at Small regional extent (CLUE-S) model to simulate future land cover under three scenarios: business-as-usual (BAU), a market-liberal scenario (MLS), and an ecological protection scenario (EPS). Then using ecosystem service model approaches and the landscape analysis, the dynamics of green infrastructure (GI) fraction and connectivity, carbon sequestration, and PM2.5 removal were further evaluated. The results show that: (1) over the past 20 years, Chinese cities have experienced dramatic changes in land cover and ES relative to European cities. (2) Two metropolises in China, Shanghai and Beijing have experienced an increase in the fraction and connectivity of GI and ES in the long-term built-up areas between 2010 and 2020. (3) EPS scenarios are not only effective in increasing the quantity of ES but also in improving the equity of ES distribution. The proposed framework as well as the results may provide important guidance for future urban planning and sustainable city development.
... After designating protected areas, the managers have put a large-scale investment in their management, and people have also given up many livelihood opportunities. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate its effectiveness in management, which has been taken seriously by the International Union for Conservation of Nature [6] and the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) [7,8]. ...
The management effectiveness of protected areas plays a key role in biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation. We evaluated the effectiveness of Qilian Mountain Nature Reserve (QMNR) in reducing human footprint (HF). Four dominant human activity factors, including population density, land use, road distribution, and night light, were incorporated for HF mapping. Comparisons of the HF value between inside and outside QMNR and its four functional zones were conducted. The results show that both the HF inside and outside of QMNR were increasing, but the difference between them was increasing, indicating partial management effectiveness. The north part of the central reserve has a good effect in reducing human impacts, while the effectiveness was poor at both ends of the reserve. The HF value of the most strictly managed core and buffer zones increased by 10.50 and 6.68%, respectively, for 2010–2020. The QMNR was effective in controlling population density and land use, but ineffective in reducing road construction, mining, and construction of hydropower facilities.
... Protected areas (PAs) are one of the most important conservation tools for protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services [1][2][3][4]. To date, PA coverage has reached over 15% of the global land area [5,6]. Despite this extensive coverage, it is widely acknowledged that PAs are being increasingly influenced by global forces of economic development and socio-political change [7][8][9]. ...
Protected areas are critical for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. In the last few years, there has been growing recognition of the role of indigenous peoples and local communities in the management of government designated protected areas, and thus their perceptions and adaptability were paid much attention. Drawing on a survey of 487 residents in the Qilian Mountain National Park Pilot of Northwestern China, this study used the adaptive analysis framework to study the adaptability of local residents. The main contribution of this paper is to select a typical social-ecological system to study the adaptability of local residents, and using Elinor Ostrom’s Social-Ecological System framework to analyze the adaptability mechanism. The results show that different types of residents had different adaptability to environmental change. People whose income mainly depends on work salary with a small part of herding have the highest level of adaptability, while people whose income mostly comes from farming with a small part of herding have the lowest level. This result is related to people’s living location, as people living in the core zone and buffer zone of the reserve mainly earned from grazing, and people living in the experimental zone and peripheral zone earned mainly from outside work. Moreover, people living in the core zone and buffer zone are mostly elders and ethnic groups, while people in the experimental zone and buffer zone are Han people. To improve management effectiveness and to avoid conflict between local residents and managers, this paper suggests that more attention should be paid to these who have lived for a long time in the core zone and buffer zone. They are the most vulnerable groups and show low adaptability in almost all domains. For the long run, education quality should be improved to decrease the population in the reserve.
... Coverage of KBAs by protected areas can be used to measure the progress toward their protection. 46 However, the status of a protected area does not guarantee adequate management. 12 For example, cropland within protected areas causes 18% of total species threats of global cropland. ...
Key biodiversity areas (KBAs) are critical regions for preserving global biodiversity. KBAs are identified by their importance to biodiversity rather than their legal status. As such, KBAs are often under pressure from human activities. KBAs can encompass many different land-use types (e.g., cropland, pastures) and land-use intensities. Here, we combine a global economic model with spatial mapping to estimate the biodiversity impacts of human land use in KBAs. We find that global human land use within KBAs causes disproportionate biodiversity losses. While land use within KBAs accounts for only 7% of total land use, it causes 16% of the potential global plant loss and 12% of the potential global vertebrate loss. The consumption of animal products accounts for more than half of biodiversity loss within KBAs, with housing the second largest at around 10%. Bovine meat is the largest single contributor to this loss, at around 31% of total biodiversity loss. In terms of land use, lightly grazed pasture contributes the most, accounting for around half of all potential species loss. This loss is concentrated mainly in middle- and low-income regions with rich biodiversity. International trade is an important driver of loss, accounting for 22-29% of total potential plant and vertebrate loss. Our comprehensive global, trade-linked analysis provides insights into maintaining the integrity of KBAs and global biodiversity.
... In responding to these needs, a range of biodiversity monitoring and reporting initiatives have been implemented around the world. These initiatives notably include reporting under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), such as the Global Biodiversity Outlook (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2020), regional and global assessments under the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (IPBES, 2019), and various programs led by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (e.g., IUCN Red List of Species [IUCN, 2021;Szabo et al., 2012], IUCN Red List of Ecosystems [Bland et al., 2019], World Database on Protected Areas [Bingham et al., 2019], and Key Biodiversity Areas [IUCN, 2016]). ...
Understanding how biodiversity is changing over space and time is crucial for well‐informed decisions that help to retain the Earth's biological heritage over the long term. Tracking changes in biodiversity through ecosystem accounting provides this important information in a systematic way, and readily enables linking to other relevant environmental and economic data to provide an integrated perspective. Here we derive biodiversity accounts for the Murray‐Darling Basin, Australia's largest catchment. We assessed biodiversity change from 2010 to 2015 for all vascular plants, all waterbirds and 10 focal species. We applied a habitat‐based assessment approach, which delivers the spatial scalability needed for ecosystem accounting and overcomes gaps in space and time associated with on‐ground biodiversity data. Changes in biodiversity from 2010 to 2015 varied across regions and biodiversity features. For the whole Murray‐Darling Basin, the expected persistence of vascular plants increased slightly from 2010 to 2015 (from 86.8% to 87.1%), mean species richness of waterbirds decreased slightly (from 12.5 to 12.3 species), while for the set of focal species the estimated area of suitable habitat increased for eight species and decreased for one species. Within the Murray‐Darling Basin, the regions in the north generally had decreases in biodiversity from 2010 to 2015, while the southern regions tended to be stable or have increases in biodiversity. This research demonstrates the benefits of habitat‐based biodiversity assessments in providing fully‐scalable biodiversity accounts across different biodiversity features, consistent with the United Nations System of Environmental Economic Accounting – Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) framework. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
... La WDPA (Bingham et al., 2019), es un proyecto conjunto entre el Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA) y la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN), administrado por el Centro de Monitoreo de la Conservación Mundial del PNUMA (UNEP-WCMC), que, a través de su plataforma en línea, permite acceder y descargar libremente una gran variedad de información actualizada, relacionada con los datos mundiales sobre áreas protegidas terrestres y marinas. La selección de las áreas de bosque y cuerpos de agua del conjunto de datos AmazonCRIME, así como también la identificación de áreas protegidas para ejemplificar aplicaciones de uso real, se realizó con datos geoespaciales derivados de la WDPA. ...
In this article the challenge of detecting areas linked to transnational environmental crimes in the Amazon rainforest is addressed using Geospatial Intelligence data, open access Sentinel-2 imagery provided by the Copernicus programme, as well as the cloud processing capabilities of the Google Earth Engine platform. For this, a dataset consisting of 6 classes with a total of 30,000 labelled and geo-referenced 13-band multispectral images was generated, which is used to feed advanced Geospatial Artificial Intelligence models (deep convolutional neural networks) specialised in image classification tasks. With the dataset presented in this paper it is possible to obtain a classification overall accuracy of 96.56%. It is also demonstrated how the results obtained can be used in real applications to support decision making aimed at preventing Transnational Environmental Crimes in the Amazon rainforest. The AmazonCRIME Dataset is made publicly available in the repository: https://github.com/jp-geoAI/AmazonCRIME.git.
... We selected terrestrial PAs that are legally designated and actively managed at the national or subnational level. We also included all PAs that were assigned, not reported, or not assigned to the International Union for Conservation of Nature management category because many countries do not consistently apply or use the International Union for Conservation of Nature management category 66 . Since many PAs spatially overlap each other, we dissolved PA boundaries to avoid double counting problems. ...
Rapid urbanization throughout the globe increases demand for fresh water and the ecosystem services associated with it. This need is conventionally met through the construction of infrastructure. Natural infrastructure solutions have increased to provide freshwater ecosystem services, but little global research has examined the intricate relationships between built and natural infrastructure for providing freshwater ecosystem services to cities across the globe. Using network analysis, here we examine the interrelationships between built and natural infrastructure in 2,113 watersheds for 317 cities worldwide, focusing on four key freshwater ecosystem services: freshwater provision, sediment regulation, flood mitigation and hydropower production. Our results indicate that protected wetlands contribute to sustaining freshwater provision to cities. Forest cover in protected areas can improve the capacity of large dams in reducing sediment loads and producing hydropower, but cities mainly depend on reduced impervious surfaces and more green spaces within urban areas for flood mitigation. Improved understandings of the role of natural infrastructure in urban water networks must underpin strategic decision-making to sustainably provide freshwater ecosystem services to global cities.
... As a result, fully documenting PPAs can improve the value of prioritisation exercises such as Systematic Conservation Planning, which require accurate inputs on existing protected areas to produce meaningful results. Furthermore, it can improve the accuracy of risk-assessments conducted by companies aiming to minimise their impacts on biodiversity; support the decisions of financial institutions that use the WDPA to inform sustainable lending practises; and enhance the impact of platforms such as Global Forest Watch that rely on an accurate WDPA (Bingham et al., 2019). Despite these benefits, many of these PPA networks are not fully represented in the WDPA, and many countries do not have legal or policy frameworks for recognising PPAs. ...
Protected areas are an essential component of global conservation efforts. Although
extensive information is available on the location of protected areas governed by governments, data on privately protected areas remain elusive at the global level. These
are areas governed by private individuals and groups—ranging from families to religious
institutions to companies—that meet IUCN’s definition of a protected area: a clearly
defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or
other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated
ecosystem services and cultural values. As the world’s governments prepare to adopt
a new post-2020 global biodiversity framework to guide conservation over the next
decade, we argue that, without complete data on privately protected areas, they do
so without a vital piece of the puzzle.
... The re gion hosts many of the most biodiverse and ecologically threatened countries on Earth (26), more than half the world's population (27), and is the source of almost 40% carbon emissions (28). Yet, despite these growing human pressures, the Asian region includes 10 of the global top 35 biodiversity hotspots, but only around 9% of land area is protected (29,30). It is a hotspot of threat for many taxa (31) and has some of the world's highest rates of deforestation (32). ...
To achieve the goals of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, we must identify representative targets that effectively protect biodiversity and can be implemented at a national level. We developed a framework to identify synergies between biodiversity and carbon across the Asian region and proposed a stepwise approach based on scalable priorities at regional, biome, and national levels that can complement potential Convention on Biological Diversity targets of protecting 30% land in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Our targets show that 30% of Asian land could effectively protect over 70% of all assessed species relative to only 11% now (based on analysis of 8932 terrestrial vertebrates), in addition to 2.3 to 3.6 hundred billion metric tons of carbon. Funding mechanisms are needed to ensure such targets to support biodiversity-carbon mutually beneficial solutions at the national level while reflecting broader priorities, especially in hyperdiverse countries where priorities exceed 30% of land.
... Moreover, the Protected Planet website allows for exploring the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), maintained by the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). The CBD-mandated WDPA is the key reference dataset for any global protected area analysis, and it includes both spatial (mapped boundary or point location) and nonspatial (e.g., name, type, size, age and status) information for over 230,000 protected areas worldwide [183]. Despite accelerated efforts to improve the global PA data, the quality of the WDPA data still varies greatly between countries and regions, and this should be acknowledged in any analysis using the WDPA. ...
Protected areas (PAs) are a key strategy to reverse global biodiversity declines, but they are under increasing pressure from anthropogenic activities and concomitant effects. Thus, the heterogeneous landscapes within PAs, containing a number of different habitats and ecosystem types, are in various degrees of disturbance. Characterizing habitats and ecosystems within the global protected area network requires large-scale monitoring over long time scales. This study reviews methods for the biophysical characterization of terrestrial PAs at a global scale by means of remote sensing (RS) and provides further recommendations. To this end, we first discuss the importance of taking into account the structural and functional attributes, as well as integrating a broad spectrum of variables, to account for the different ecosystem and habitat types within PAs, considering examples at local and regional scales. We then discuss potential variables, challenges and limitations of existing global environmental stratifications, as well as the biophysical characterization of PAs, and finally offer some recommendations. Computational and interoperability issues are also discussed, as well as the potential of cloud-based platforms linked to earth observations to support large-scale characterization of PAs. Using RS to characterize PAs globally is a crucial approach to help ensure sustainable development, but it requires further work before such studies are able to inform large-scale conservation actions. This study proposes 14 recommendations in order to improve existing initiatives to biophysically characterize PAs at a global scale.
... There are 245,133 protected areas registered in the World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA). They cover an area of 20,455,273 km 2 , which represents 15.2% of the Earth's surface (Bingham et al. 2019). Despite this, not enough protection is given to areas of maximum value in terms of geodiversity, which partly explains why the Global Geoparks Network (GGN) was founded by UNESCO in 2004, followed by the creation of the UNESCO Global Geoparks label on November 17, 2015. ...
The geomorphosites of the Zamora sector of the Arribes del Duero Natural Park are presented and put forward as the basis for a geotourism proposal using augmented reality. The aim, on the one hand, is to make a valuable, natural heritage more widely known in an attractive, educational manner, and, on the other, to contribute to the sustainable development of a socio-economically depressed rural area by preserving this legacy. The methodology consists of a combination of field work, geomorphological analysis with attention to scientific, cultural, and management criteria, and the development of augmented reality resources. The result is the design of a geotourism itinerary through nine geomorphosites of granite structural forms. The georoute covers 46 km by road and 11 km along footpaths where the visit is equipped with various augmented reality materials. We show the potential of this tool for arousing the interest of visitors and providing enjoyment, learning, and interactive participation.
... For each species, standard indicators for in situ conservation status were also calculated following the approach of Khoury et al. (2019) with a focus on conservation in protected areas. First, the Geographical Representativeness Score for in situ conservation (GRSin) was calculated as the proportion of the overlap of the modelled distribution range with the World Database of Protected Areas (Bingham et al., 2019). To support decision-making on prioritizing a type of conservation, a t test was used to check for differences between the ex situ and in situ conservation scores. ...
Aim: Traditional African vegetables have high potential to contribute to healthy diets and
climate resilience in sub-Saharan African food systems. However, their genetic resources
are likely at threat because they are underutilized and under the radar of agricultural research. This paper aims to contribute to a conservation agenda for traditional African vegetables by examining the geographical diversity and conservation status of these species.
Location: Sub-Saharan Africa.
Methods: 126 traditional annual and perennial African vegetables were selected for
their food and nutrition potential. Food uses and species’ areas of origin were recorded
from literature. Species’ presence records were collected from open-access
databases of genebanks and herbaria. These records were used to determine geographical patterns of observed and modelled richness, to distinguish geographical
clusters with different compositions of vegetables, to assess species’ ex situ and in
situ conservation status and to prioritize countries for conservation actions.
Results: Of the 126 species, 79 originated in sub-Saharan Africa. High levels of observed
and modelled species richness were found in: (a) West Tropical Africa in Ghana,
Togo and Benin; (b) West-Central Tropical Africa in South Cameroon; (c) Northeast
and East Tropical Africa in Ethiopia and Tanzania; and (d) Southern Africa in Eswatini.
South Sudan, Angola and DR Congo are potential areas of high species richness that
require further exploration. In general, ex situ conservation status of the selected
species was poor compared to their in situ conservation status.
Main conclusions: Areas of high species richness in West Tropical Africa, South
Cameroon and Ethiopia coincide with centres of crop domestication and cultural diversity.
Hotspots of diversity in Tanzania and Eswatini are especially rich in wild vegetables.
Addressing the conservation of vegetable diversity in West Tropical Africa
and South Cameroon is of most urgent concern as vegetable genetic resources from
these locations are least represented in ex situ collections.
Tropical and subtropical dry woodlands are rich in biodiversity and carbon. Yet, many of these woodlands are under high deforestation pressure and remain weakly protected. Here, we assessed how deforestation dynamics relate to areas of woodland protection and to conservation priorities across the world's tropical dry woodlands. Specifically, we characterized different types of deforestation frontier from 2000 to 2020 and compared them to protected areas (PAs), Indigenous Peoples' lands and conservation areas for biodiversity, carbon and water. We found that global conservation priorities were always overrepresented in tropical dry woodlands compared to the rest of the globe (between 4% and 96% more than expected, depending on the type of conservation priority). Moreover, about 41% of all dry woodlands were characterized as deforestation frontiers, and these frontiers have been falling disproportionately in areas with important regional (i.e. tropical dry woodland) conservation assets. While deforestation frontiers were identified within all tropical dry woodland classes of woodland protection, they were lower than the average within protected areas coinciding with Indigenous Peoples' lands (23%), and within other PAs (28%). However, within PAs, deforestation frontiers have also been disproportionately affecting regional conservation assets. Many emerging deforestation frontiers were identified outside but close to PAs, highlighting a growing threat that the conserved areas of dry woodland will become isolated. Understanding how deforestation frontiers coincide with major types of current woodland protection can help target context-specific conservation policies and interventions to tropical dry woodland conservation assets (e.g. PAs in which deforestation is rampant require stronger enforcement, inactive deforestation frontiers could benefit from restoration). Our analyses also identify recurring patterns that can be used to test the transferability of governance approaches and promote learning across social-ecological contexts.
Mining is of major economic, environmental and societal consequence, yet knowledge and understanding of its global footprint is still limited. Here, we produce a global mining land use dataset via remote sensing analysis of high-resolution, publicly available satellite imagery. The dataset comprises 74,548 polygons, covering ~66,000 km² of features like waste rock dumps, pits, water ponds, tailings dams, heap leach pads and processing/milling infrastructure. Our polygons finely contour the edges of mine features and do not include the space between them. This distinguishes our dataset from others that employ broader definitions of mining lands. Hence, despite our database being the largest to date by number of polygons, comparisons show relatively lower global land use. Our database is made freely available to support future studies of global mining impacts. A series of spatial analyses are also presented that highlight global mine distribution patterns and broader environmental risks.
Following long debates, the new global biodiversity framework aims for the legal protection of 30% of the global environment by 2030. This objective follows, among others, Aichi target 11 and Sustainable Development (SDG) 14.5, both of which called for the protection of 10% of the world’s marine surface area. This article presents and explains the differential between the data contained in the world database WDPA, used to measure the progress of countries towards such international commitments, and those that are derived from a comprehensive survey carried out with the administrations of seven West African countries. These countries are far from the goal of 10% marine protected areas, and many priority areas are not covered. In addition to these sites, large offshore marine protected areas are essential to catch up towards international commitments. Nevertheless, the establishment of such MPAs in high seas raises the question of feasibility and equity, in countries where financial, human and technical resources are limited for conservation. Finally, the ‘post-Aichi’ period which freshly began is discussed.
Protected areas (PAs) are essential for biodiversity conservation but are threatened by cropland expansion. Recent studies have only reported global cropland expansion in large PAs between 1990 and 2005. However, the amount of cropland expansion in global PAs (including relatively small PAs) since the 2000s is unclear. Using 30-m cropland maps, we find that the cropland expansion in PAs accelerated dramatically from 2000 to 2019, compared with that of global croplands. The areal expansion was mainly in large PAs, less-strict PAs and Afrotropical PAs, which also matches the higher species extinction risks. Such PAs appear to be less effective due to greater threats, such as higher background cropland expansion rate. Notably, some PAs with the highest conservation levels failed to prevent cropland expansion. This new picture of cropland dynamics in PAs illustrates that cropland expansion is an ongoing intractable global conservation challenge that will impinge on the aspirations of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
Biodiversity targets, under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework , prioritize both conservation area and their effectiveness. The effective management of protected areas (PAs) depends greatly on law enforcement resources, which is often tasked to rangers. We addressed economic aspects of law enforcement by rangers working in terrestrial landscapes across Asia. Accordingly, we used ranger numbers and payment rates to derive continental-scale estimates. Ranger density has decreased by 2.4-fold since the 1990s, increasing the median from 10.9 to 26.4 km 2 of PAs per ranger. Rangers were generally paid more than the minimum wage (median ratio = 1.9) and the typical salaries in agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector (median ratio = 1.2). Annual spending on ranger salaries varied widely among countries, with a median of annual US71 km −2 of PA. Nearly 208,000 rangers patrolling Asian PAs provide an invaluable opportunity to develop ranger-based monitoring plans for evaluating the conservation performance. As decision-makers frequently seek an optimum number of law enforcement staff, our study provides a continental baseline median of 46.3 km 2 PA per ranger. Our findings also provide a baseline for countries to improve their ranger-based law enforcement which is critical for their Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
We study the link between institutions and the establishment of protected areas for natural resources conservation. Using difference-in-differences we estimate the impacts of democratization on the share of countries’ area under protected areas in a panel of 144 countries over 1992–2018. We find that countries that democratized devote higher shares of their land to protected areas, but only in the medium- and long-run. Our preferred estimates indicate that, fifteen years after democratization, the share of countries’ area under PAs increases on average by one percentage point more than what would have been implemented without democratization. We also find evidence that democratization leads countries to implement the different types of protected areas in a non-homogeneous way. Our results are robust to several estimators and treatment definitions, confirming the critical role of institutions for natural resources conservation.
Protected Areas (PAs) are a key strategy for conserving areas of outstanding biodiversity value and promoting sustainable development. Significant efforts have been made towards establishing PAs over the last few decades across the globe. However, an assessment of PAs in mountain regions, including in the biodiversity rich Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), is lacking. We assessed the status, trend and distribution of PAs and the ecological representativeness in the PA network. Our analysis showed the HKH has a total of 575 PAs covering 40.17% of the region, accounting for 8.49% of global PA coverage. The HKH hosts 335 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA), 348 Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA), 12 Global 200 Ecoregions, and 4 Global Biodiversity Hotspots. However, the study showed limited ecological representation in the current PA system as 67% of ecoregions, 39% of hotspots, 69% of KBAs, and 76% of IBAs are still outside of the PA system. About 47% of the PAs are small (<250sq.km) with no connectivity to other PAs and the majority are distributed in the lower reaches of the HKH. These findings suggest the need to assess and demarcate potential corridors to improve connectivity between PAs and integrate PAs into wider conservation landscapes at national and regional scale beyond country boundaries through regional cooperation. There is also a need to assess and strengthen PA management effectiveness and governance and consider other effective area-based conservation measures (OECM) especially in the higher elevations and with a specific focus on ecological representation.
Economic values of mental health benefits from nature can provide a new conservation tool. Here we calculate valuations from increased workplace productivity and reduced healthcare spending. Visiting national parks buffers workplace productivity against mental health losses. In Australia, for visits at least monthly, productivity increases are up to 11 %, with weighted mean 4.6 %. Total contribution across all visit frequencies is ~1.8 % of GDP. In Australia, visiting protected areas improves individual mental health by up to 17 %, with weighted mean effect 1.80 % for mentally healthy and 4.44 % for mentally unhealthy visitors. These effects reduce direct healthcare costs by a further ~0.6 % of GDP. Scaling up worldwide via GDP, with adjustments for park visitation rates, per capita healthcare costs, and distributions of mental health indicators, yields an estimated global health services value of protected areas, via productivity and healthcare costs alone, of ~US$2.1 trillion per annum. During 2020–2022, nature deprivation reduced mental health worldwide. Employers and health insurers would gain from increase budgets for national parks. There are mental healthcare programs relying on parks in at least 6 nations. Research priorities include mechanisms and duration of health benefits, cf components and intensity of nature experiences, including biodiversity.
Palms species (Arecaceae) are abundant in tropical forests and influence ecosystems in important ways. Moreover, they are a relevant feature in the Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot. In this study, we seek to better understand the distribution of palm richness in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, with the aim to support conservation decisions and actions. Maps for 15 palm species were generated through species distribution modeling and then stacked into a palm richness map, which was further combined with current land-use and protected area maps to generate a realistic portrayal of the current situation of Arecaceae in the state. Our results revealed an increasing inland-to-coast pattern of richness that matches the biogeographical subdivision of the Atlantic Forest. Considering the land-use information, the palm species potential distribution is drastically reduced, especially for some species which already have a restricted distribution in the state. We also identified the most relevant protected areas for the conservation of palms in the state and those which might have been overlooked in floristic inventories, thus requiring more detailed investigation. Moreover, we point out those species with few points, for which species distribution models could not be built, and argue that they are the ones more likely to be threatened by habitat loss and should be the focus of specimen collection and recording. Finally, we draw attention to a large medium-richness remnant located between two protected areas which probably functions as a connection between them and should be a priority area for conservation.
Aim
Many vertebrate species globally are dependent on forests, most of which require active protection to safeguard global biodiversity. Forests, however, are increasingly either being disturbed, planted or managed in the form of timber or food plantations. Because of a lack of spatial data, forest management has commonly been ignored in previous conservation assessments.
Location
Global.
Methods
We combine a new global map of forest management types created solely from remote sensing imagery with spatially explicit information on the distribution of forest‐associated vertebrate species and protected areas globally. Using Bayesian logistic regressions, we explore whether the amount of forested habitat available to a species as well as information on species‐specific threats can explain differences in IUCN extinction risk categories.
Results
We show that disturbed and human‐managed forests dominate the distributional ranges of most forest‐associated species. Species considered as non‐threatened had on average larger amounts of non‐managed forests within their range. A greater amount of planted forests did not decrease the probability of species being threatened by extinction. Even more worrying, protected areas are increasingly being established in areas dominated by disturbed forests.
Conclusion
Our results imply that species extinction risk and habitat assessments might have been overly optimistic with forest management practices being largely ignored so far. With forest restoration being at the centre of climate and conservation policies in this decade, we caution that policy makers should explicitly consider forest management in global and regional assessments.
Enhanced Rock Weathering is a proposed Carbon Dioxide Removal technology involving the application of crushed silicate rocks, such as basalt, to agricultural soils with potential co-benefits for crops and soils, and mitigation of ocean acidification. Here we address the requirement of diverse stakeholders for informative studies quantifying possible environmental and health risks of Enhanced Rock Weathering. Using life-cycle assessment modelling of potential supply chain impacts for twelve nations undertaking Enhanced Rock Weathering deployment to deliver up to net 2 Gt CO2 yr−1 CDR, we find that rock grinding rather than mining exerts the dominant influence on environmental impacts. This finding holds under both a business-as-usual and clean energy mix scenario to 2050 but transitioning to undertaking Enhanced Rock Weathering in the future with low carbon energy systems improves the sustainability of the Enhanced Rock Weathering supply chain. We find that Enhanced Rock Weathering is competitive with other large-scale Carbon Dioxide Removal strategies in terms of energy and water demands. Enhanced rock weathering is competitive with other carbon sequestration strategies in terms of land, energy and water use with its overall sustainability dependent on that of the energy system supplying it, according to a process-based life cycle assessment.
COVID-19 has impacted the health and livelihoods of billions of people since it emerged in 2019. Vaccination for COVID-19 is a critical intervention that is being rolled out globally to end the pandemic. Understanding the spatial inequalities in vaccination coverage and access to vaccination centres is important for planning this intervention nationally. Here, COVID-19 vaccination data, representing the number of people given at least one dose of vaccine, a list of the approved vaccination sites, population data and ancillary GIS data were used to assess vaccination coverage, using Kenya as an example. Firstly, physical access was modelled using travel time to estimate the proportion of population within 1 hour of a vaccination site. Secondly, a Bayesian conditional autoregressive (CAR) model was used to estimate the COVID-19 vaccination coverage and the same framework used to forecast coverage rates for the first quarter of 2022. Nationally, the average travel time to a designated COVID-19 vaccination site (n=622) was 75.5 minutes (Range: 62.9 – 94.5 minutes) and over 87% of the population >18 years reside within 1 hour of a vaccination site. The COVID-19 vaccination coverage in December 2021 was 16.70% (95% CI: 16.66 – 16.74) – 4.4 million people and was forecasted to be 30.75% (95% CI: 25.04 – 36.96) – 8.1 million people by the end of March 2022. Approximately 21 million adults were still unvaccinated in December 2021 and, in the absence of accelerated vaccine uptake, over 17.2 million adults may not be vaccinated by end March 2022 nationally. Our results highlight geographic inequalities at sub-national level and are important in targeting and improving vaccination coverage in hard-to-reach populations. Similar mapping efforts could help other countries identify and increase vaccination coverage for such populations.
Protected areas have two tasks on a global scale: First, to protect biodiversity and second, to ensure the continuity of ecosystem services. Identifying potential links between protected areas in a region and barriers between these links or restoration points is very important for the effective development and implementation of conservation strategies within the scope of biodiversity. In this study firstly, potential connectivity corridors between 10 different protected areas were determined to support the biological diversity in the Rize landscape, then the barriers that could block the ecological flows in these corridors were determined by using 100 m, 500 m, 300 m radii. Least Cost Path and Cost Weighted Distance methods were used for both analyses. The most suitable corridors have been identified between Kaçkar Mountains National Park-1st Degree Natural Protected Areas-Wildlife Protection and Development Area and Firtina Creek. Improvement scores were calculated by considering the radii determined for the barriers. As a result, the highest improvement scores at 100 m, 500 m 300 m radii were calculated as 21.1, 4.49, and 7.0, respectively, and according to these scores, it showed that there were barriers between Karadere, Handüzü Nature Park, Uzungöl Special Environmental Protection Area and Kaçkar Mountains National Park. The method used in this study is important in terms of generating protection strategies for protected areas in the Rize landscape. The results of this study will guide not only protected areas in Rize landscape, but also conservation priority planning studies.
Designating protected and conserved areas is a critical component of biodiversity conservation. The 10th Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2010 set global targets for the areal extent of protected areas (PAs) that were met partially in 2020, yet a new, more ambitious target is needed to halt ongoing global biodiversity loss. China recently introduced a national Ecological Conservation Redline policy, which aims to ensure no net change in land cover and no net loss of biodiversity or degradation of ecosystem services within areas that are critical for maintaining ecological safety and functions. Enacting this policy could achieve ancillary conservation outcomes even where conservation is not the primary objective, thus meeting CBD's definition of “other effective area‐based conservation measures” (OECM). By comparing the Ecological Conservation Redline boundaries with important coastal waterbird sites in China, we found that three times more sites could be conserved under the new redline policy compared to the national nature reserve system alone. This indicates that considering the redline policy approach as a form of OECM is a promising pathway to expand the areal coverage of PAs and conserve biodiversity outside currently designated PAs, providing a model that could be adopted around the world.
Protected areas (PAs) are often implemented without consideration of already existing PAs, which is likely to cause an overrepresentation of certain biophysical conditions. We assessed the representativeness of the current PA network with regard to the world's biophysical conditions to highlight which conditions are underprotected and where these conditions are located. We overlaid terrestrial and marine PAs with information on biophysical conditions (e.g., temperature, precipitation, and elevation) and then quantified the percentage of area covered by the PA network. For 1 variable at a time in the terrestrial realm, high temperature, low precipitation, and medium and very high elevation were underrepresented. For the marine realm, low and medium sea surface temperature (SST), medium and high sea surface salinity (SSS), and the deep sea were underrepresented. Overall, protection was evenly distributed for elevation across the terrestrial realm and SST across the marine realm. For 2 variables at a time, cold and very dry terrestrial environments had mostly low protection, which was also the case for low SST and low and medium SSS across most depths for marine environments. Low protection occurred mostly in the Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula for the terrestrial realm and along the Tropic of Capricorn and toward the poles for the marine realm. Although biodiversity measures are of prime importance for the design of PA networks, highlighting biophysical gaps in current PAs adds a frequently overlooked perspective. These gaps may weaken the potential of PAs to conserve biodiversity. Thus, our results may provide useful insights for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to establish amore comprehensive global PA network. Article Impact Statement: Protected areas unevenly cover the world's abiotic conditions; many conditions of climate, topography, and bathymetry lack protection. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to which 196 countries including the UK are contracting parties, set out 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets to be met by 2020. Elements of Aichi Target 11 call for at least 17% of terrestrial land and inland water to be protected and effectively managed by 2020. Each national government is requested to report progress against this goal in national reports submitted at intervals to the CBD, and these are used as the basis of reporting towards the 17% target. Figures reported for the UK’s protected area coverage are inclusive of a wide range of levels of designation, management and condition. Here, we examine the protection given to sites under UK legislation and designations as a case study. We find that although 28% of UK land is reported by the UK government to be protected, only 11.4% of land area falls within protected areas designated primarily for nature conservation. Condition monitoring indicates that at most 43 to 51% of protected areas in the UK are currently in favourable condition, which suggests as little as 4.9% of UK land area may be effectively protected for nature. However, estimates of protected area coverage vary greatly depending on the types of protected areas considered ‘effectively protected’ as measured by management category and site condition. Taking the UK as an example of a country that has reportedly met the target, we suggest that global progress may have been overestimated, and that future targets and indicators need to focus on the quality as well as quantity of protected areas.
Light pollution, a phenomenon in which artificial nighttime light (NTL) changes the form of brightness and darkness in natural areas such as protected areas (PAs), has become a global concern due to its threat to global biodiversity. With ongoing global urbanization and climate change, the light pollution status in global PAs deserves attention for mitigation and adaptation. In this study, we developed a framework to evaluate the light pollution status in global PAs, using the global NTL time series data. First, we classified global PAs (30,624) into three pollution categories: non-polluted (5974), continuously polluted (8141), and discontinuously polluted (16,509), according to the time of occurrence of lit pixels in/around PAs from 1992 to 2018. Then, we explored the NTL intensity (e.g., digital numbers) and its trend in those polluted PAs and identified those hotspots of PAs at the global scale with consideration of global urbanization. Our study shows that global light pollution is mainly distributed within the range of 30°N and 60°N, including Europe, north America, and East Asia. Although the temporal trend of NTL intensity in global PAs is increasing, Japan and the United States of America (USA) have opposite trends due to the implementation of well-planned ecological conservation policies and declining population growth. For most polluted PAs, the lit pixels are close to their boundaries (i.e., less than 10 km), and the NTL in/around these lit areas has become stronger over the past decades. The identified hotspots of PAs (e.g., Europe, the USA, and East Asia) help support decisions on global biodiversity conservation, particularly with global urbanization and climate change.
The Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi Target 11 requires its 193 signatory parties to incorporate social equity into protected area (PA) management by 2020. However, there is limited evidence of progress toward this commitment. We surveyed PA managers, staff, and community representatives involved in the management of 225 PAs worldwide to gather information against 10 equity criteria, including the distribution of benefits and burdens, recognition of rights, diversity of cultural and knowledge systems, and processes of participation in decision-making. Our results show that more than half of the respondents indicated that there are still significant challenges to be addressed in achieving equitably managed PAs, particularly in ensuring effective participation in decision-making, transparent procedures, access to justice in conflicting situations, and the recognition of the rights and diversity of local people. Our findings are a first and fundamental contribution toward a global assessment of equitable management in PAs to report on Aichi Target 11 in 2020 and help define the next set of PA targets from 2020–2030.
Critical Habitat has become an increasingly important concept used by the finance sector and businesses to identify areas of high biodiversity value. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) defines Critical Habitat in their highly influential Performance Standard 6 (PS6), requiring projects in Critical Habitat to achieve a net gain of biodiversity. Here we present a global screening layer of Critical Habitat in the terrestrial realm, derived from global spatial datasets covering the distributions of 12 biodiversity features aligned with guidance provided by the IFC. Each biodiversity feature is categorised as ‘likely’ or ‘potential’ Critical Habitat based on: 1. Alignment between the biodiversity feature and the IFC Critical Habitat definition; and 2. Suitability of the spatial resolution for indicating a feature’s presence on the ground. Following the initial screening process, Critical Habitat must then be assessed in-situ by a qualified assessor. This analysis indicates that a total of 10% and 5% of the global terrestrial environment can be considered as likely and potential Critical Habitat, respectively, while the remaining 85% did not overlap with any of the biodiversity features assessed and was classified as ‘unknown’. Likely Critical Habitat was determined principally by the occurrence of Key Biodiversity Areas and Protected Areas. Potential Critical Habitat was predominantly characterised by data representing highly threatened and unique ecosystems such as ever-wet tropical forests and tropical dry forests. The areas we identified as likely or potential Critical Habitat are based on the best available global-scale data for the terrestrial realm that is aligned with IFC’s Critical Habitat definition. Our results can help businesses screen potential development sites at the early project stage based on a range of biodiversity features. However, the study also demonstrates several important data gaps and highlights the need to incorporate new and improved global spatial datasets as they become available.
Nations of the world have committed to a number of goals and targets to address global environmental challenges. Protected areas have for centuries been a key strategy in conservation and play a major role in addressing current challenges. The most important tool used to track progress on protected-area commitments is the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). Periodic assessments of the world's protected-area estate show steady growth over the last 2 decades. However, the current method, which uses the latest version of the WDPA, does not show the true dynamic nature of protected areas over time and does not provide information on sites removed from the WDPA. In reality, this method can only show growth or remain stable. We used GIS tools in an approach to assess protected-area change over time based on 12 temporally distinct versions of the WDPA that quantify area added and removed from the WDPA annually from 2004 to 2016. Both the narrative of continual growth of protected area and the counter-narrative of protected area removal were overly simplistic. The former because growth was almost entirely in the marine realm and the latter because some areas removed were reprotected in later years. On average 2.5 million km² was added to the WDPA annually and 1.1 million km² was removed. Reasons for the inclusion and removal of protected areas in the WDPA database were in part due to data-quality issues but also to on-the-ground changes. To meet the 17% protected-area component of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 by 2020, which stood at 14.7% in 2016, either the rate of protected-area removal must decrease or the rate of protected-area designation and addition to the WDPA must increase.
© 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.
Privately protected areas (PPAs) are increasingly recognized as important conservation initiatives, as evidenced by recent developments that support recognizing and documenting them alongside protected areas under other governance types. Advances in guidance on PPAs have been accompanied by increasing support within international policy arenas, and more PPAs are being reported to the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). Despite this, national approaches to recognizing and supporting PPAs vary, as does the extent to which countries report on PPAs to the WDPA. We present recent advances that support PPAs at the international level, summarize the present state of PPA reporting to the WDPA, and discuss the challenges and opportunities that currently characterize the future of PPAs.
Protected areas (PAs) are the main instrument for biodiversity conservation, which has triggered the development of numerous indicators and assessments on their coverage, performance and efficiency. The connectivity of the PA networks at a global scale has however been much less explored; previous studies have either focused on particular regions of the world or have only considered some types of PAs.
Here we present, and globally assess, ProtConn, an indicator of PA connectivity that (i) quantifies the percentage of a study region covered by protected connected lands, (ii) can be partitioned in several components depicting different categories of land (unprotected, protected or transboundary) through which movement between protected locations may occur, (iii) is easy to communicate, to compare with PA coverage and to use in the assessment of global targets for PA systems.
We apply ProtConn to evaluate the connectivity of the PA networks in all terrestrial ecoregions of the world as of June 2016, considering a range of median dispersal distances (1–100 km) encompassing the dispersal abilities of the large majority of terrestrial vertebrates.
We found that 9.3% of the world is covered by protected connected lands (average for all the world’s ecoregions) for a reference dispersal distance of 10 km, increasing up to 11.7% for the largest dispersal distance considered of 100 km. These percentages are considerably smaller than the global PA coverage of 14.7%, indicating that the spatial arrangement of PAs is only partially successful in ensuring connectivity of protected lands. The connectivity of PAs largely differed across ecoregions. Only about a third of the world’s ecoregions currently meet the Aichi Target of having 17% of the terrestrial realm covered by well-connected systems of PAs. Finally, our findings suggest that PAs with less strict management objectives (allowing the sustainable use of resources) may play a fundamental role in upholding the connectivity of the PA systems.
Our analyses and indicator make it possible to identify where on the globe additional efforts are most needed in expanding or reinforcing the connectivity of PA systems, and can be also used to assess whether newly designated sites provide effective connectivity gains in the PA system by acting as corridors or stepping stones between other PAs. The results of the ProtConn indicator are available, together with a suite of other global PA indicators, in the Digital Observatory for Protected Areas of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.
Despite global environmental policies calling for expanded representative, well-connected and effective protected areas, a significant proportion of areas governed and managed by local communities and indigenous peoples is largely under-documented by formal mechanisms and therefore not counted. International processes to inventory protected areas have been underway for decades, but only recently have diverse governance types been included in global databases. We outline the history and context of the development of the Global Registry of indigenous peoples' and community conserved territories and areas, abbreviated as ICCAs. This registry was developed through a long-term consultation process and an international partnership. The Registry adheres to principles of Free, Prior Informed Consent and uses the same technical infrastructure and data standard as the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). We describe the local benefits of global registration for those who have participated, such as reduced conflict around mining prospects and increased revenue from community-based tourism. We also highlight globally relevant findings from the Registry: over 70 per cent of registered ICCAs have biodiversity conservation as a core objective, and registered ICCAs represent all IUCN management categories. We discuss the increasing alignment of the ICCA Registry with the WDPA, and describe the importance of both databases for documenting and analysing ICCAs. Lastly, we argue that careful documentation of these areas can enhance their value for effective biodiversity protection, and for the achievement of global conservation and development targets.
Knowledge products comprise assessments of authoritative information supported by standards , governance, quality control, data, tools, and capacity building mechanisms.
Two processes for regional environmental assessment are currently underway: the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) and Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Both face constraints of data, time, capacity, and resources. To support these assessments, we disaggregate three global knowledge products according to their regions and subregions. These products are: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Key Biodiversity Areas (specifically Important Bird & Biodiversity Areas [IBAs], and Alliance for Zero Extinction [AZE] sites), and Protected Planet. We present fourteen Data citations: numbers of species occurring and percentages threatened; numbers of endemics and percentages threatened; downscaled Red List Indices for mammals, birds, and amphibians; numbers, mean sizes, and percentage coverages of IBAs and AZE sites; percentage coverage of land and sea by protected areas; and trends in percentages of IBAs and AZE sites wholly covered by protected areas. These data will inform the regional/subregional assessment chapters on the status of biodiversity, drivers of its decline, and institutional responses, and greatly facilitate comparability and consistency between the different regional/subregional assessments.
If parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and their partners are to report effectively on progress against
national, regional and global biodiversity conservation goals, data will need to be collected at multiple levels. Global
data sets, many gathered using remote sensing, offer partial solutions but need to be complemented by field-level
observations to provide the resolution necessary to track conservation measures in a meaningful way. This paper summarises
efforts made by the conservation organisation WWF, working with partners, to integrate 10 indicators of relevance
to CBD parties into its global monitoring system and to use global data sets and data from field programmes to
determine progress against multi-level goals and to assess programme performance and impacts. Integration of in-situ
and ex-situ data into reporting dashboards tailored to WWF’s needs allowed some degree of assessment of progress and
adaptive management of the programme portfolio. Indicator trends were most favourable (on track) for protected area
(PA) coverage and market share of sustainable commodities, and least favourable (worsening) for species offtake, species
populations, wildlife trade, habitat fragmentation and Ecological Footprint. The most useful indicators – which could be
disaggregated to provide trends at local levels relevant to WWF field programmes – were species populations, habitat
cover and fragmentation, PA coverage and PA management effectiveness. However challenges remain if local and global
monitoring objectives are to be aligned, including the need for increased collection of data by field projects, improved
harmonisation of indicators, and greater sharing of data in formats of use to practitioners. We advocate wider adoption
by governments and civil society organisations of indicators with the dual function of tracking delivery of CBD Aichi
Targets as well as monitoring national, regional and ecoregional level conservation programmes, and urge more NGOs
and academic bodies to support capacity building and data collection.
Governments have committed to conserving ≥17% of terrestrial and ≥10% of marine environments globally, especially “areas of particular importance for biodiversity” through “ecologically representative” Protected Area (PA) systems or other “area-based conservation measures,” while individual countries have committed to conserve 3–50% of their land area. We estimate that PAs currently cover 14.6% of terrestrial and 2.8% of marine extent, but 59–68% of ecoregions, 77–78% of important sites for biodiversity, and 57% of 25,380 species have inadequate coverage. The existing 19.7 million km2 terrestrial PA network needs only 3.3 million km2 to be added to achieve 17% terrestrial coverage. However, it would require nearly doubling to achieve, cost-efficiently, coverage targets for all countries, ecoregions, important sites, and species. Poorer countries have the largest relative shortfalls. Such extensive and rapid expansion of formal PAs is unlikely to be achievable. Greater focus is therefore needed on alternative approaches, including community- and privately managed sites and other effective area-based conservation measures.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Marine industries face a number of risks that necessitate careful analysis prior to making decisions on the siting of operations and facilities. An important emerging regulatory framework on environmental sustainability for business operations is the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standard 6 (IFC PS6). Within PS6, identification of biodiversity significance is articulated through the concept of “Critical Habitat”, a definition developed by the IFC and detailed through criteria aligned with those that support internationally accepted biodiversity designations. No publicly available tools have been developed in either the marine or terrestrial realm to assess the likelihood of sites or operations being located within PS6-defined Critical Habitat. This paper presents a starting point towards filling this gap in the form of a preliminary global map that classifies more than 13 million km2 of marine and coastal areas of importance for biodiversity (protected areas, Key Biodiversity Areas [KBA], sea turtle nesting sites, cold- and warm-water corals, seamounts, seagrass beds, mangroves, saltmarshes, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps) based on their overlap with Critical Habitat criteria, as defined by IFC. In total, 5798×103 km2 (1.6%) of the analysis area (global ocean plus coastal land strip) were classed as Likely Critical Habitat, and 7526×103 km2 (2.1%) as Potential Critical Habitat; the remainder (96.3%) were Unclassified. The latter was primarily due to the paucity of biodiversity data in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction and/or in deep waters, and the comparatively fewer protected areas and KBAs in these regions. Globally, protected areas constituted 65.9% of the combined Likely and Potential Critical Habitat extent, and KBAs 29.3%, not accounting for the overlap between these two features. Relative Critical Habitat extent in Exclusive Economic Zones varied dramatically between countries. This work is likely to be of particular use for industries operating in the marine and coastal realms as an early screening aid prior to in situ Critical Habitat assessment; to financial institutions making investment decisions; and to those wishing to implement good practice policies relevant to biodiversity management. Supplementary material (available online) includes other global datasets considered, documentation and justification of biodiversity feature classification, detail of IFC PS6 criteria/scenarios, and coverage calculations.
In 2010, the international community, under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, agreed on 20 biodiversity-related “Aichi Targets” to be achieved within a decade. We provide a comprehensive mid-term assessment of progress toward these global targets using 55 indicator data sets. We projected indicator trends to 2020 using an adaptive statistical framework that incorporated the specific properties of individual time series. On current trajectories, results suggest that despite accelerating policy and management responses to the biodiversity crisis, the impacts of these efforts are unlikely to be reflected in improved trends in the state of biodiversity by 2020. We highlight areas of societal endeavor requiring additional efforts to achieve the Aichi Targets, and provide a baseline against which to assess future progress.
Protected areas (PAs) are a cornerstone of conservation efforts and now cover nearly 13% of the world's land surface, with the world's governments committed to expand this to 17%. However, as biodiversity continues to decline, the effectiveness of PAs in reducing the extinction risk of species remains largely untested. We analyzed PA coverage and trends in species' extinction risk at globally significant sites for conserving birds (10,993 Important Bird Areas, IBAs) and highly threatened vertebrates and conifers (588 Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, AZEs) (referred to collectively hereafter as 'important sites'). Species occurring in important sites with greater PA coverage experienced smaller increases in extinction risk over recent decades: the increase was half as large for bird species with>50% of the IBAs at which they occur completely covered by PAs, and a third lower for birds, mammals and amphibians restricted to protected AZEs (compared with unprotected or partially protected sites). Globally, half of the important sites for biodiversity conservation remain unprotected (49% of IBAs, 51% of AZEs). While PA coverage of important sites has increased over time, the proportion of PA area covering important sites, as opposed to less important land, has declined (by 0.45-1.14% annually since 1950 for IBAs and 0.79-1.49% annually for AZEs). Thus, while appropriately located PAs may slow the rate at which species are driven towards extinction, recent PA network expansion has under-represented important sites. We conclude that better targeted expansion of PA networks would help to improve biodiversity trends.
Under the Convention on Biological Diversity, the world’s governments set a goal of protecting 10% of all ecological regions by 2010. We evaluated progress toward that goal for the world’s major terrestrial biomes, realms, and ecoregions. Total land area under any legal protection has increased from previous estimates to 12.9%, a notable achievement, although only 5.8% has strict protection for biodiversity. For biomes, protection ranges from 4% to 25%, with six of 14 biomes still below the 10% level. Geographic patterns of protection have a distinct bias, with higher rates of protection in New World realms than Old World realms. Of the world’s terrestrial ecoregions, half do not meet the 2010 Target and 76% have less than 10% of their area strictly protected. Approximately 13% of ecoregions have no strict protected areas. Recent years have seen an expansion of the protected area network, with an average of 0.13% of the global land area added per year. Most of the expansion since 2003 though has been in Brazil, particularly the Amazon. Without major investments in conservation, spread across the world’s ecosystems, the world will likely miss the 2010 target.
In 2002, world leaders committed, through the Convention on Biological Diversity, to achieve a significant reduction in the
rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. We compiled 31 indicators to report on progress toward this target. Most indicators of
the state of biodiversity (covering species’ population trends, extinction risk, habitat extent and condition, and community
composition) showed declines, with no significant recent reductions in rate, whereas indicators of pressures on biodiversity
(including resource consumption, invasive alien species, nitrogen pollution, overexploitation, and climate change impacts)
showed increases. Despite some local successes and increasing responses (including extent and biodiversity coverage of protected
areas, sustainable forest management, policy responses to invasive alien species, and biodiversity-related aid), the rate
of biodiversity loss does not appear to be slowing.
Tropical moist forests contain the majority of terrestrial species. Human actions destroy between 1 and 2 million km² of such forests per decade, with concomitant carbon release into the atmosphere. Within these forests, protected areas are the principle defense against forest loss and species extinctions. Four regions—the Amazon, Congo, South American Atlantic Coast, and West Africa—once constituted about half the world's tropical moist forest. We measure forest cover at progressively larger distances inside and outside of protected areas within these four regions, using datasets on protected areas and land-cover. We find important geographical differences. In the Amazon and Congo, protected areas are generally large and retain high levels of forest cover, as do their surroundings. These areas are protected de facto by being inaccessible and will likely remain protected if they continue to be so. Deciding whether they are also protected de jure—that is, whether effective laws also protect them—is statistically difficult, for there are few controls. In contrast, protected areas in the Atlantic Coast forest and West Africa show sharp boundaries in forest cover at their edges. This effective protection of forest cover is partially offset by their very small size: little area is deep inside protected area boundaries. Lands outside protected areas in the Atlantic Coast forest are unusually fragmented. Finally, we ask whether global databases on protected areas are biased toward highly protected areas and ignore “paper parks.” Analysis of a Brazilian database does not support this presumption.
• biodiversity
• tropical forest
• conservation
• deforestation
Describes the work of the Protected Areas Data Unit (PADU) of the IUCN established in 1981 to manage the day-to-day collection of data on protected areas. Data collection, storage and use strategies are briefly described. An important aspect of PADUs work is the preparation of handbooks on various aspects of protected area coverage. The Unit's integration with the rest of IUCN and other bodies is summarized. -R.Land
Modern civilizations require explicit means of conserving natural lands in order to bring benefits. One of the best is through the establishment of protected areas. This article shows: 1) how organisations in different parts of the world vary in their response to this need; 2) provides a status report on the extent to which the international protected area network is covering natural ecosystems; 3) suggests priorities for further action; 4) describes a system which is monitoring protected areas; and 5) outlines how these can adapt to future challenges.-from Authors
Biodiversity conservation requires prioritization to be effective. Biodiversity hotspots and conservation planning identify where to focus conservation efforts, but it is unclear when conservation is most successful. Our goals were to: (a) investigate if hot moments for conservation occur, (b) calculate how important and prevalent they are, and (c) discuss what may catalyze hot moments for conservation. We analyzed the worldwide network of protected areas since inception, analyzing both all countries, and those 35 countries that contained at least 1% of either the total count or the total area protected globally. The evidence for hot moments for conservation was very strong. Among all countries, 44% protected more than half of their protected area in 1 year, and 61% did so in one 5-year period. The 35 countries that contain most of the protected area globally (77%) protected 23% and 49%, respectively, within 1 or 5 years. Hot moments often coincided with societal upheaval such as the collapse of the USSR or the end of colonialism. Conservationists need to account for hot moments for conservation to be most effective.
Data on the location and extent of protected areas, ecosystems, and species' distributions are essential for determining gaps in biodiversity protection and identifying future conservation priorities. However, these data sets always come with errors in the maps and associated metadata. Errors are often overlooked in conservation studies, despite their potential negative effects on the reported extent of protection of species and ecosystems. We used 3 case studies to illustrate the implications of 3 sources of errors in reporting progress toward conservation objectives: protected areas with unknown boundaries that are replaced by buffered centroids, propagation of multiple errors in spatial data, and incomplete protected-area data sets. As of 2010, the frequency of protected areas with unknown boundaries in the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) caused the estimated extent of protection of 37.1% of the terrestrial Neotropical mammals to be overestimated by an average 402.8% and of 62.6% of species to be underestimated by an average 10.9%. Estimated level of protection of the world's coral reefs was 25% higher when using recent finer-resolution data on coral reefs as opposed to globally available coarse-resolution data. Accounting for additional data sets not yet incorporated into WDPA contributed up to 6.7% of additional protection to marine ecosystems in the Philippines. We suggest ways for data providers to reduce the errors in spatial and ancillary data and ways for data users to mitigate the effects of these errors on biodiversity assessments. Efectos de Errores y Vacíos en Conjuntos de Datos Espaciales sobre la Evaluación del Progreso de la Conservación.
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Understanding and Assessing Equity in Protected Area Conservation a Matter of Governance, Rights, Social Impacts and Human Wellbeing Issue Paper Produced by IIED’s
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- F Booker
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Franks, P., Booker, F. & Roe, D. Understanding and Assessing Equity in Protected
Area Conservation a Matter of Governance, Rights, Social Impacts and Human
Wellbeing Issue Paper Produced by IIED's Natural Resources Group (IIED, 2018).
Special issue: Tanzania’s Nature Reserves
- D Santos
Santos, D. Special issue: Tanzania's Nature Reserves. The Arc Journal Tanzania
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