Protecting the Best Places Mission… · Biological Conservation 2009 Toward representative...
Transcript of Protecting the Best Places Mission… · Biological Conservation 2009 Toward representative...
19/02/2011
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Protecting the Best Placesan international policy perspective
Charles BesançonUNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre
United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Mission…
To evaluate and highlight the many values of biodiversity and
put authoritative biodiversity knowledge at the centre of
decision-making
Protecting the “Best” Places
• Beautiful ones?
• National paradigms
• International paradigms
– UNESCO World Heritage
– Convention on Biological Diversity
– Conservation priority systems
• Monitoring progress toward reaching goals
– Protected Planet
– Citizen scienceGrand Canyon National Park - USA
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Yellowstone National Park - USA Canaima National Park - Venezuela
Virunga National Park – Democratic Republic of Congo8Namib Naukluft National Park
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Buraraco Das Araras Private Nature Reserve, Brazil Galápagos Islands National Park, Ecuador
UNESCO World
Heritage Sites
The crown jewels of the world’s
national parks
• Cross-cultural concept and critical common denominator
for global heritage conservation
• Focus on the conservation of both cultural and natural
properties of Outstanding Universal Value
• One of the most powerful “tools” in international
conservation
• Strict monitoring and reporting requirements
• One of the most successful international conventions!
Importance of World Heritage
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OUTSTANDING UNIVERSAL VALUE
The World Heritage ConceptOutstanding Universal Value (OUV)
• Must meet this criteria to go onto the list.
• Not just about good conservation and pretty places
• OUV implies the list should be finite, not forever growing.
• 1 Convention
• 10 Criteria (cultural: i-vi; natural: vii-x)
• 186 States Parties
• 890 World Heritage sites in 148 States Parties:689 cultural, 176 natural and 25 mixed
• 201 natural/mixed World Heritage sites in 81 States Parties protect some 180,000,000 ha of land and sea
• 8% of the total area of the 161,000+ terrestrial (6%)and marine (21%) protected areas known
• 0.5-1.0% of the total land area on Earth
World Heritage in Numbers
• Great Barrier Reef, Australia (1981)
• Central Amazon Conservation Complex, Brazil (2000)
• Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, China (2006)
• Galápagos Islands, Ecuador (1978)
• Lagoons of New Caledonia, France (2008)
• Wadden Sea, Germany & Netherlands (2009)
• Rainforests of the Atsinanana, Madagascar (2007)
• Cape Floral Region Protected Areas, South Africa (2004)
• Serengeti National Park, Tanzania (1981)
• Socotra Archipelago, Yemen (2008)
“Crown Jewels” of Nature
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Convention on Biological Diversity
Three objectives:1. Conservation
2. Sustainable use
3. Benefit-sharing from genetic resources
• 7 thematic programmes of work (mostly ecosystem types)
• 17 cross-cutting issues
•Conference of the Parties has taken around 250 decisions
• Adopted in Nairobi in 1992
• Open for signature at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 (Rio Conventions)
• Entered into force in 1993
• 193 Parties
• Non parties are Andorra, the Holy See and the United States
Convention on Biological Diversity
10th Conference of the Parties
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Target 11
• Target 11: By 2020, at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water, and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscape and seascapes.
Breakdown of Target 11
• Calls for a protected area system that is
– Composed of:
• 17% of global terrestrial areas
• 10% of global marine area
– Including areas important for biodiversity and ecosystem services
– Effectively and equitably managed
– Ecologically representative
– Well connected
The job of my team
• To collect information and build tools to inform the world how well they are doing in meeting their international protection targets and to assist them in attaining their goals
How do we do it?
How do we do it?
1. Use standards from
“A clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.“
Ia Strict Nature Reserve
Ib Wilderness area
II National Park
III Natural monument or feature
IV Habitat/species management area
V Protected landscape/seascape
VI Protected area with sustainable use of natural resources
IUCN Protected Area definition Protected Area Management Categories
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Global Trends in Protection
Protected areas
in the WDPA:
1962 1,000
1980 40,000
2003 >100,000
2010 >161,000
Global Growth of Protected Areas
Breakdown of Target 11 (again)
• Calls for a protected area system that is
– Composed of:
• 17% of global terrestrial areas
• 10% of global marine area
– Including areas important for biodiversity and ecosystem services
– Effectively and equitably managed
– Ecologically representative
– Well connected
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But its not only oil and gas.
What about agriculture?
Agricultural expansion
1700
cropland
pasture
Agricultural expansion
1720
cropland
pasture
Agricultural expansion
1740
cropland
pasture
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Agricultural expansion
1760
cropland
pasture
Agricultural expansion
1780
cropland
pasture
Agricultural expansion
1990
cropland
pasture
Back to Target 11
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Important for Biodiversity,
Ecologically Representative
• How to measure?
First some deep background
• Where is biodiversity?
Species: Vertebrates
Hoffmann et al. 2010 Science 330:1503
Species: Plants
Kreft & Jetz 2007 PNAS 104:5925
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Species
~30 million species on Earth
~2 million species described
Habitats: Ecoregions
Olson et al. 2001 BioScience 51:933
Habitats: Marine & Freshwater
Abell et al. 2008 BioScience 58:403; Spalding et al. 2007 BioScience 57:573
So we know where “stuff” is...
• Where is the guidance to tell governments
and civil society where to place new
protected areas to meet the new target?
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Global Priority SystemsPriorities: Endemic Bird Areas
(EBAs)
Stattersfield et al. 1998 Endemic Bird Areas
Priorities: Important Bird Areas
(IBAs)
Hoffmann et al. 2008 Endangered Species Research Vol. 6. 113-125
Priorities: G200 Marine & Freshwater
Abell et al. 2008 BioScience 58:403; Spalding et al. 2007 BioScience 57:573
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Priorities: Crisis Ecoregions
Hoekstra et al . 2005 Ecology Letters 8:23
Priorities: Biodiversity Hotspots
Myers et al. 2000 Nature 403:853
Priorities: Last of the Wild
Sanderson et al. 2002 BioScience 52:891
Biodiversity is everywhere
CE, crisis ecoregions; BH, biodiversity hot spots; EBA, endemic bird areas; CPD, centers of
plant diversity; MC, megadiversity countries; G200, global 200 ecoregions ; HBWA, high-
biodiversity wilderness areas; FF, frontier forests; LW, last of the wild .
Brooks et al. 2006 Science 313:58
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Its very confusing!
• The world needs agreement on
standards...
Umbrella System
“Key Biodiversity Areas” (KBAs)
“Key Biodiversity Areas” (KBAs)
Includes Important Bird
Areas, Important Plant
Areas, Alliance for Zero
Extinction Sites
Target 11 says we need more
protected areas
• Where to put them?
• What would happen if countries protected
Key Biodiversity Areas?
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Protected Areas
and unprotected KBAs
September 2010September 2010
September 2010
Protected Areas
current percent protected
September 2010
Protected Areas
and KBAs if they were protected
What else can the world do?
1. Recognise community conserved areas
as protected areas
2. Connectivity conservation
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Part 2. How can we tell if the
world has achieved it’s
international targets for
protected areas?
Where does the info
come from?
Ecological
gap analysis
Environmental
impact analysis
Science, policy article, Sept 2009
WDPA as basis for measuring global
protection and priority setting
All analyses summarised in Annual Report on Protected Areas, January 2008 and based on WDPA data
Global Ecoregion Protection.
Published in Protected Areas
Annual Report: UNEP-WCMC
2008
Global analysis of the protection
status of the world’s forests.
Biological Conservation 2009
Toward representative
protection of the world’s coasts
and oceans—progress, gaps,
and opportunities. Conservation
Letters 2008
Working Toward High Seas
Marine Protected Areas. An
Assessment of Progress Made and
Recommendations for Collaboration.
UNEP-WCMC 2008
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UNEP World Conservation
Monitoring Centre
15.2% of global carbon stocks are protected
Global protection of Carbon Stocks
future
better future
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Organise the search
19 October 2010
What’s next?
Report
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