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Include biodiversity representation indicators in area-based conservation targets

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 6, pages 123–126 (2022)Cite this article

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Advances in spatial biodiversity science and nationally available data have enabled the development of indicators that report on biodiversity outcomes, account for uneven global biodiversity between countries, and provide direct planning support. We urge their inclusion in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

In 2022, parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will assemble in Kunming, China to agree on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework1 (GBF). Addressing threats that contribute to species extinctions and affect their role in ensuring ecosystem integrity underpins the GBF’s overarching Goal A, which stipulates “healthy and resilient populations of all species” and “reduced extinction rates”. Although multiple actions are needed to safeguard biodiversity, establishing targets for protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) is recognized as a primary mechanism to achieve Goal A.

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Fig. 1: Measuring the transboundary nature of area-based biodiversity conservation.
Fig. 2: Example of four countries with differing divergence in protected area coverage and biodiversity outcomes as measured by the country SPI for terrestrial vertebrates.

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Acknowledgements

We acknwowledge funding from National Aeronautics and Space Administration grant 80NSSC18K0435 to W.J. and from the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation to W.J. and D.S.R.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Walter Jetz, Jennifer McGowan & D. Scott Rinnan

  2. Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Walter Jetz, Jennifer McGowan & D. Scott Rinnan

  3. E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, Durham, NC, USA

    Walter Jetz

  4. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, USA

    Jennifer McGowan

  5. School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia

    Hugh P. Possingham

  6. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria

    Piero Visconti

  7. Campaign for Nature, Durango, CO, USA

    Brian O’Donnell

  8. The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Research on Biological Resources, Bogotá, DC, Colombia

    Maria Cecilia Londoño-Murcia

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  1. Walter Jetz
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  2. Jennifer McGowan
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  7. Maria Cecilia Londoño-Murcia
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Correspondence to Walter Jetz.

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Jetz, W., McGowan, J., Rinnan, D.S. et al. Include biodiversity representation indicators in area-based conservation targets. Nat Ecol Evol 6, 123–126 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01620-y

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