Title
Bias in protected-area location and its effects on long-term aspirations of biodiversity conventions
Author(s)
Venter, Oscar;Magrach, Ainhoa;Outram, Nick;Klein, Carissa Joy;Marco, Moreno Di;Watson, James E. M.
Published
2018
Publisher
Conservation Biology
Abstract
To contribute to the aspirations of recent international biodiversity conventions, protected areas (PAs) must be strategically located, and not simply established on economically marginal lands as they have in the past. With refined international commitments under the Convention of Biodiversity to target protected areas in places of ‘importance to biodiversity’, this may now be the case. Here we analyze location biases in PAs globally over both historic (pre-2004) and recent time periods. Discouragingly, we find that both old and new protected areas are not targeting places with high concentration of threatened vertebrate species. Instead, they appear to be established in locations that minimize conflict with agriculturally suitable lands. This entrenchment of past trends has significant implications for the contributions these protected areas are making to international commitments to conserve biodiversity. We discover that if protected area growth between 2004 and 2014 had strategically targeted unrepresented threatened vertebrates, it would have been possible to protect >30 times more species (3086 or 2553 potential vs 85 actual new species represented) for the same area or the same cost as the actual expansion that occurred. With the land available for conservation declining, nations must urgently focus new protection on places that provide for the conservation outcomes outlined in international treaties. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Keywords
Convention on Biological Diversity;protected areas;biodiversity;systematic conservation planning;residual protection
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