Upgrading protected areas to conserve wild biodiversity

International agreements mandate the expansion of Earth's protected-area network as a bulwark against the continued extinction of wild populations, species, and ecosystems. Yet many protected areas are underfunded, poorly managed, and ecologically damaged; the conundrum is how to increase their...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2017-06, Vol.546 (7656), p.91-99
Main Author: Pringle, Robert M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158
706/134
Animals
Animals, Wild
Biodiversity
Biodiversity conservation
Conservation
Conservation of Natural Resources - economics
Conservation of Natural Resources - methods
Conservation organizations
Costa Rica
Damage
Degradation
Ecology
Ecosystem degradation
Ecosystems
Environmental protection
Environmental restoration
Extinction
Humanities and Social Sciences
International agreements
Methods
Mozambique
multidisciplinary
National parks
Nature reserves
Parks, Recreational - economics
Parks, Recreational - supply & distribution
Parks, Recreational - trends
Populations
Protected areas
Research - trends
Restoration
review-article
Science
Species extinction
Upgrading
Wilderness
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:International agreements mandate the expansion of Earth's protected-area network as a bulwark against the continued extinction of wild populations, species, and ecosystems. Yet many protected areas are underfunded, poorly managed, and ecologically damaged; the conundrum is how to increase their coverage and effectiveness simultaneously. Innovative restoration and rewilding programmes in Costa Rica's Área de Conservación Guanacaste and Mozambique's Parque Nacional da Gorongosa highlight how degraded ecosystems can be rehabilitated, expanded, and woven into the cultural fabric of human societies. Worldwide, enormous potential for biodiversity conservation can be realized by upgrading existing nature reserves while harmonizing them with the needs and aspirations of their constituencies.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/nature22902