

Numbers of countries and the percent of their ecoregions with greater than 10% protection.Ī, B, C, D, E, F, G each plots the cumulative number of countries at 20 year increments.
#Reddit pfaat update
A recent update of global protection shows that this unrepresentative distribution of PAs continues today, although each country's coverage continues to evolve ( Figure 1).įigure 1. These highly protected regions were generally those that receive low levels of land degradation pressure, such as montane grasslands and shrublands. An influential example was Hoekstra et al.'s results, which showed a clear bias in protection towards certain biomes and ecoregions. Global studies addressing this issue have also found evidence for PA location bias. Previous national-level studies suggest the adage has a basis in reality,. īefore explaining such choices or considering changing them, though, we must ask whether the global “rock and ice” perception is correct. Often it may be financially and politically expedient to protect land with low financial value. In particular, costs of protection could provide an adequate explanation. Of course there may be good reasons for such a choice of PA location. Yet the common phrase “rock and ice” summarizes a perception that PA locations are biased towards marginal lands where natural land cover might remain even without a PA. To change the rate of loss of natural land cover, PAs have to be located where they can prevent forest clearing, ,, or other activities that modify natural habitat.

That is, land use would have to differ from what would have occurred in a PA-free world. Given that, have we maximized conservation priorities? To maximize anything, PAs must have impact, i.e. Many goals and constraints influenced past PA locations. To inform any new investments, here we seek to understand where the past history of PAs has placed protection to date. However, many current PAs were not created with a systematic eye to achieving conservation priorities. based upon sophisticated conservation planning tools. Investment in new PAs will need to be efficient, e.g. Yet, with 13% of global lands already officially under protection, future PA growth is unlikely to even double the extent of the current global PA network or reserve system. Initiatives to establish new protected areas (PAs) to conserve natural landscapes for species habitat and climate-change mitigation are underway worldwide.
