A forest loss report card for the world's protected areas - PubMed (original) (raw)

A forest loss report card for the world's protected areas

Christopher Wolf et al. Nat Ecol Evol. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

Protected areas are a key tool in the conservation of global biodiversity and carbon stores. We conducted a global test of the degree to which more than 18,000 terrestrial protected areas (totalling 5,293,217 km2) reduce deforestation in relation to unprotected areas. We also derived indices that quantify how well countries' forests are protected, both in terms of forested area protected and effectiveness of protected areas at reducing deforestation, in relation to vertebrate species richness, aboveground forest carbon biomass and background deforestation rates. Overall, protected areas did not eliminate deforestation, but reduced deforestation rates by 41%. Protected area deforestation rates were lowest in small reserves with low background deforestation rates. Critically, we found that after adjusting for effectiveness, only 6.5%-rather than 15.7%-of the world's forests are protected, well below the Aichi Convention on Biological Diversity's 2020 Target of 17%. We propose that global targets for protected areas should include quantitative goals for effectiveness in addition to spatial extent.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Ceballos, G. et al. Accelerated modern human-induced species losses: entering the sixth mass extinction. Sci. Adv. 1, e1400253 (2015). -PubMed -PMC
    1. De Groot, R. S., Alkemade, R., Braat, L., Hein, L. & Willemen, L. Challenges in integrating the concept of ecosystem services and values in landscape planning, management and decision making. Ecol. Complex. 7, 260–272 (2010).
    1. Tilman, D. et al. Future threats to biodiversity and pathways to their prevention. Nature 546, 73–81 (2017). -PubMed
    1. Protected Planet Report 2016 (UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, 2016).
    1. Barnes, M. D., Glew, L., Wyborn, C. & Craigie, I. D. Prevent perverse outcomes from global protected area policy. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2, 759–762 (2018). -PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources