Skip to main content

Cost-effective priorities for the expansion of global terrestrial protected areas: Setting post-2020 global and national targets

Biodiversity loss is a social and ecological emergency, and calls have been made for the global expansion of protected areas (PAs) to tackle this crisis. It is unclear, however, where best to locate new PAs to protect biodiversity cost-effectively. To answer this question, we conducted a spatial meta-analysis by overlaying seven global biodiversity templates to identify conservation priority zones. These are then combined with low human impact areas to identify cost-effective zones (CEZs) for PA designation.

Protected areas are now the last strongholds for many imperiled mammal species

The global network of terrestrial protected areas (PAs) has experienced a fourfold expansion since the 1970s. Yet, there is increasing debate around the role of the global PA estate in covering and sustaining threatened species, with serious ramifications for current PA financing and the setting of post-2020 global conservation targets.

sprep-pa

Protected area practitioners and stakeholders of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) are now equipped with the skills to produce basic maps of protected and conserved areas following an online, virtually delivered training on the upgraded tools and features of the Pacific Islands Prot

Reimmanlok - Marshall Islands' National Conservation Area Plan

Global biodiversity loss is rapid and ongoing. International efforts are redoubling as the international community realizes the importance of biodiversity in maintaining our life support systems. In 2004 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity committed to have effectively conserved at least 10% of marine and coastal ecological regions globally by 2010. Micronesian leaders responded to this commitment, and have taken this one step further by committing to effectively conserve 30% of nearshore marine and 20% of terrestrial resources by the year 2020.