- By August 2020, around 15% of the world's land had been protected.
- But for protected areas to be effective they need to be in the right place, well connected to other protected areas, and big enough to keep populations of wild species alive.
- A new study found that 91% of the world’s threatened mammals – many of which are already the focus of conservation efforts – were under-protected.
- To prevent a wave of extinctions in coming decades, we need protected areas that are well managed, well located and large enough, say the study authors.
“By 2020, at least 17% of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10% of coastal and marine areas … are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas."
These “protected areas” can range from enormous, strictly-protected areas like US national parks, through the heavily-used landscapes of UK national parks, to tiny urban nature reserves. Protected areas can stop or slow many of the forces threatening biodiversity such as habitat loss, hunting and pollution, and have been a mainstay of global conservation for decades.
By August 2020, some 15% of the world’s land had been protected. This was below the target, but there were enough specific commitments in place to drag the world over the line slightly late. In many ways this is an incredible achievement and perhaps the largest and fastest coordinated change in land management ever.
But the devil is in the detail. For protected areas to be effective they need to be in the right place, and big enough to keep populations of wild species alive. Hundreds of tiny reserves separated by inhospitable farmland may help us reach the 17% target, but they won’t stop extinctions. So, how does our current network stack up? Is it enough to stop species going extinct?
To prevent extinctions, world's protected areas must be larger and better connected - new study