Photograph: © SAF – Coastal Care
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While the world is on track to meet a 2020 target on the expansion of protected areas, more work is needed to ensure areas of importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services are prioritized for protection under equitably managed conditions, according to a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report released today.
The Protected Planet Report series, launched in 2012, helps track international progress towards achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 – a target for the global protected area network and for other related targets.
In 2010, the signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) agreed on a 10 year strategic plan to halt biodiversity loss and ensure the sustainable and equitable use of natural resources. This plan set out 20 biodiversity targets to be achieved by 2020 – the Aichi Biodiversity Targets .
Target 11 calls for equitably managed conservation areas covering at least 17 per cent of the world’s terrestrial areas and ten per cent of marine areas by 2020. Due to steady increases in coverage over the last number of years, protected areas now cover 15.4 per cent of the world’s terrestrial area and 8.4 per cent of the marine areas under national jurisdiction.
This increase reflects the importance that countries are placing upon the conservation of biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide, the report said…
