Planet at the crossroads

Marton-Lefèvre, Julia

doi:10.1126/science.1261787

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…As human pressures on the biosphere accelerate, it is critical to strengthen-not roll backconservation efforts (25,28). Recent PADDD events in the United States and Brazil are of particular concern; as global leaders in conservation, decisions by the United States and Brazilian governments to erode protections could embolden other countries to do the same.…”

Section: Protected Area Downgrade Downsize Degazettementmentioning

confidence: 99%

The uncertain future of protected lands and waters

Kroner

Qin

Cook

et al. 2019

Science

187

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Protected areas are intended to safeguard biodiversity in perpetuity, yet evidence suggests that widespread legal changes undermine protected area durability and efficacy. We documented these legal changes—protected area downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD) events—in the United States and Amazonian countries and compiled available data globally. Governments of the United States and Amazonian countries enacted 269 and 440 PADDD events, respectively. Between 1892 and 2018, 73 countries enacted 3749 PADDD events, removing 519,857 square kilometers from protection and tempering regulations in an additional 1,659,972 square kilometers; 78% of events were enacted since 2000. Most PADDD events (62%) are associated with industrial-scale resource extraction and development, suggesting that PADDD may compromise biodiversity conservation objectives. Strategic policy responses are needed to address PADDD and sustain effective protected areas.

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Section: Protected Area Downgrade Downsize Degazettementmentioning

confidence: 99%

The uncertain future of protected lands and waters

Kroner

Qin

Cook

et al. 2019

Science

187

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“…Extent of protected areas is simply not a reliable guide to how much loss of biodiversity has been avoided. Commonly used targets and measures of progress that depend on the number, total extent or percentage coverage of protected areas [ 50 , 110 ]—outputs in figure 1 a —are therefore misleading in terms of the fundamental purpose of protection.…”

Section: Ways Of Achieving Protected-area Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making parks make a difference: poor alignment of policy, planning and management with protected-area impact, and ways forward

Pressey

Visconti

Ferraro

2015

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

159

154

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Policy and practice around protected areas are poorly aligned with the basic purpose of protection, which is to make a difference. The difference made by protected areas is their impact, defined in program evaluation as the outcomes arising from protection relative to the counterfactual of no protection or a different form of protection. Although impact evaluation of programs is well established in fields such as medicine, education and development aid, it is rare in nature conservation. We show that the present weak alignment with impact of policy targets and operational objectives for protected areas involves a great risk: targets and objectives can be achieved while making little difference to the conservation of biodiversity. We also review potential ways of increasing the difference made by protected areas, finding a poor evidence base for the use of planning and management ‘levers’ to better achieve impact. We propose a dual strategy for making protected areas more effective in their basic role of saving nature, outlining ways of developing targets and objectives focused on impact while also improving the evidence for effective planning and management.

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“…Protected areas constitute key tools for conserving biodiversity ( Marton-Lefèvre, 2014 ; Watson et al, 2014 ). The European Union (EU) has set up the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world—Natura 2000.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

EU protected area network did not prevent a country wide population decline in a threatened grassland bird

Silva

Correia

Alonso

et al. 2018

PeerJ

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BackgroundFew studies have assessed the effectiveness of the Protected Area networks on the conservation status of target species. Here, we assess the effectiveness of the Portuguese Natura 2000 (the European Union network of protected areas) in maintaining a species included in the Annex I of the Bird Directive, namely the population of a priority farmland bird, the little bustard Tetrax tetrax.MethodsWe measured the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 by comparing population trends across time (2003–2006 and 2016) in 51 areas, 21 of which within 12 Special Protection Areas (SPA) that were mostly designated for farmland bird conservation and another 30 areas without EU protection.ResultsOverall, the national population is estimated to have declined 49% over the last 10–14 years. This loss was found to be proportionally larger outside SPA (64% decline) compared to losses within SPA (25% decline). However, the absolute male density decline was significantly larger within SPA .DiscussionIn spite of holding higher population densities and having prevented habitat loss, we conclude that Natura 2000 was not effective in buffering against the overall bustard population decline. Results show that the mere designation of SPA in farmland is not enough to secure species populations and has to be combined with agricultural policies and investment to maintain not only habitat availability but also habitat quality.

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Planet at the crossroads

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

The uncertain future of protected lands and waters

The uncertain future of protected lands and waters

Making parks make a difference: poor alignment of policy, planning and management with protected-area impact, and ways forward

EU protected area network did not prevent a country wide population decline in a threatened grassland bird

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