Inland surface waters in protected areas globally: Current coverage and 30-year trends.

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Environmental Science
• Conservation Biology

Background:

• Inland waters are vital ecosystems facing threats, yet global assessments often overlook their protection.
• Previous studies focused on land-based protected areas (PAs) or combined land and water assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide the first global assessment of inland open surface water protection levels and trends within PAs.
• To analyze protection coverage from 1984 to 2015 using a high-resolution, validated dataset.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a globally consistent, 30m resolution dataset of permanent and seasonal surface waters derived from Landsat imagery.
• Assessed water coverage within PAs, including those with mapped boundaries and those represented by point data.

Main Results:

• Globally, 15% of inland surface waters are within PAs; this rises to 16.4% when including point-delineated PAs.
• Protection levels are uneven, with many countries below the 17% Aichi Target, particularly in Africa and Asia.
• Observed a global trend of permanent water loss and seasonal water gain within PAs, with 38% of countries losing over 5% of permanent water.

Conclusions:

• While global protection targets may be met, effective conservation requires stronger efforts, sound PA governance, and sustainable water resource management.
• Integrated, multi-sectoral water resource management is crucial for inland water conservation in a changing world.