Protecting the Best Places

Transcription

1 United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre Protecting the Best Places an international policy perspective Charles Besançon UNEP 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 science Grand Canyon National Park - USA 1

2 Yellowstone National Park - USA Canaima National Park - Venezuela Virunga National Park Democratic Republic of Congo 8 Namib Naukluft National Park 2

3 Buraraco Das Araras Private Nature Reserve, Brazil Galápagos Islands National Park, Ecuador Importance of World Heritage 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! 3

4 The World Heritage Concept Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) OUTSTANDING UNIVERSAL VALUE 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. World Heritage in Numbers Crown Jewels of Nature 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 % of the total land area on Earth 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) 4

5 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 Convention on Biological Diversity Adopted in Nairobi in 1992 Open for signature at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 (Rio Conventions) Entered into force in Parties Non parties are Andorra, the Holy See and the United States Conference of the Parties has taken around 250 decisions 10th Conference of the Parties 5

6 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 How do we do it? 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? 1. Use standards from IUCN Protected Area definition 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. Protected Area Management Categories Ia Ib II III IV V VI StrictNature Reserve Wilderness area National Park Natural monument or feature Habitat/species management area Protected landscape/seascape Protected area with sustainable use of natural resources 6

7 Global Trends in Protection Global Growth of Protected Areas Protected areas in the WDPA: , , >100, >161,000 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 7

8 Agricultural expansion But its not only oil and gas What about agriculture? cropland pasture Agricultural expansion Agricultural expansion cropland pasture cropland pasture 8

9 Agricultural expansion Agricultural expansion cropland pasture cropland pasture Agricultural expansion Back to Target cropland pasture 9

10 Important for Biodiversity, Ecologically Representative First some deep background How to measure? Where is biodiversity? Species: Vertebrates Species: Plants Hoffmann et al Science 330:1503 Kreft & Jetz 2007 PNAS 104:

11 Species Habitats: Ecoregions ~30 million species on Earth ~2 million species described Olson et al BioScience 51:933 Habitats: Marine & Freshwater 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? Abell et al BioScience 58:403; Spalding et al BioScience 57:573 11

12 Global Priority Systems Priorities: Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs) Stattersfield et al Endemic Bird Areas Priorities: Important Bird Areas (IBAs) Priorities: G200 Marine & Freshwater Abell et al BioScience 58:403; Spalding et al BioScience 57:573 Hoffmann et al Endangered Species Research Vol

13 Priorities: Crisis Ecoregions Priorities: Biodiversity Hotspots Hoekstra et al Ecology Letters 8:23 Myers et al Nature 403:853 Priorities: Last of the Wild Biodiversity is everywhere Sanderson et al BioScience 52:891 CE, crisis ecoregions; BH, biodiversity hot spots; EBA, endemic bird areas; CPD, centers of plant diversity; MC, megadiversity countries; G200, global 200 ecoregions ; HBWA, highbiodiversity wilderness areas; FF, frontier forests; LW, last of the wild. Brooks et al Science 313:58 13

14 Its very confusing! The world needs agreement on standards... Umbrella System Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) Target 11 says we need more protected areas Includes Important Bird Areas, Important Plant Areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction Sites Where to put them? What would happen if countries protected Key Biodiversity Areas? Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) 14

15 September 2010 September 2010 September 2010 Protected Areas and unprotected KBAs Protected Areas current percent protected What else can the world do? 1. Recognise community conserved areas as protected areas 2. Connectivity conservation September 2010 Protected Areas and KBAs if they were protected 15

16 Part 2. How can we tell if the world has achieved it s international targets for protected areas? Where does the info come from? Science, policy article, Sept 2009 WDPA as basis for measuring global protection and priority setting Environmental impact analysis Toward representative protection of the world s coasts and oceans progress, gaps, and opportunities. Conservation Letters 2008 Global Ecoregion Protection. Published in Protected Areas Annual Report: UNEP-WCMC 2008 Ecological gap analysis Working Toward High Seas Marine Protected Areas. An Assessment of Progress Made and Recommendations for Collaboration. UNEP-WCMC 2008 Global analysis of the protection status of the world s forests. Biological Conservation 2009 All analyses summarised in Annual Report on Protected Areas, January 2008 and based on WDPA data 16

17 Global protection of Carbon Stocks future UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre 15.2% of global carbon stocks are protected better future 17

18 Organise the search What s next? Report 19 October

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