Management

This paper identifies the Dasgupta Review’s key points about the role of protected areas (PAs) in conserving nature. Using these factors as a foundation, this paper explores how economists can conduct analyses that improve PA decisions and promote both biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision. People’s interactions with PAs should be considered when making design, management, and restrictions decisions about PAs because those interactions are critical to determining the threats to biodiversity within PAs and the benefits produced by PAs.

The aim of the National Protected Areas Forum was to fulfill mandates and strengthen policies to protect the country’s abundant natural assets into the future to benefit all life and future generations. Led by the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA) with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

This new Pacific Islands framework for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas 2021-2025 was endorsed during the conference and subsequently at the 30th SPREP Meeting by 26 members countries and territories in 2021. It reflects the urgent need for transformative action in response to the multiple accelerating threats, both established and emerging, that are faced by nature and people in the Pacific. It identifies the key regional priorities for action which form the six Strategic Objectives for the Framework.

Protected areas (PAs) are a cornerstone of global conservation and central to international plans to minimize global extinctions. During the coming century, global ecosystem destruction and fragmentation associated with increased human population and economic activity could make the long-term survival of most terrestrial vertebrates even be more dependent on PAs. However, the capacity of the current global PA network to sustain species for the long term is unknown. Here, we explore this question for all non-volant terrestrial mammals for which we found sufficient data,∼4,000 species.

A BIORAP is a biological inventory programme undertaken in marine and terrestrial environments, and is designed to rapidly assess the biodiversity of highly diverse areas. Options to manage threats and protect some remaining examples of indigenous biodiversity of national or international significance are recommended to governing communities.The Nauru BIORAP took place in selected terrestrial and marine areas of the Republic of Nauru during 17–27 June, 2013. The key finding of the Nauru BIORAP are presented in this synthesis report.

Protected areas safeguard biodiversity, ensure ecosystem functioning, and deliver ecosystem services to communities. However, only ~16% of the world’s land area is under some form of protection, prompting international calls to protect at least 30% by 2030. We modeled the outcomes of achieving this 30 × 30 target for terrestrial biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and nutrient regulation.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are recognized as highly effective tools for marine conservation. They may also play an important role in mitigating climate change. A variety of climate change solutions are rooted in the ocean, centered primarily around “blue carbon” and the capacity of marine life to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) with some potential to reduce emissions. However, the global potential of these solutions remains misunderstood and untapped.

This guidance document identifies the best options for successful delivery of draft Target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) from the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). There is good evidence that this will radically increase the success of biodiversity conservation. “Success” is measured in ecological, social and economic terms, ideally all three will be met in individual sites, or at least for the system as a whole, but guidance is given on trade-offs where necessary.

Over a million species face extinction, highlighting the urgent need for conservation policies that maximize the protection of biodiversity to sustain its manifold contributions to people’s lives. Here we present a novel framework for spatial conservation prioritization based on reinforcement learning that consistently outperforms available state-of-the-art software using simulated and empirical data.

For successful conservation of biodiversity, it is vital to know whether protected areas in increasingly fragmented landscapes effectively safeguard species. However, how large habitat fragments must be, and what level of protection is required to sustain species, remains poorly known. We compiled a global dataset on almost 2000 bird species in 741 forest fragments varying in size and protection status, and show that protection is associated with higher bird occurrence, especially for threatened species. Protection becomes increasingly effective with increasing size of forest fragments.