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Keeping pace with climate change in global terrestrial protected areas
Paul R Elsen1,2, William B Monahan3, Eric R Dougherty1
1Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Science Advances
|June 30, 2020
Summary
Protected areas (PAs) face climate change challenges. Enhancing climatic representation within PAs, not just area, is key to safeguarding biodiversity under changing global climates.
Area of Science:
- Conservation Biology
- Climate Change Ecology
- Environmental Science
Background:
- Protected areas (PAs) are crucial for biodiversity conservation.
- Static PA boundaries may not adequately protect species under climate change.
- Climate change poses a significant threat to the effectiveness of current protected areas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the future climatic conditions within global terrestrial PAs.
- To evaluate the impact of climate change on the protective capacity of PAs.
- To identify strategies for improving the climate resilience of protected areas.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of projected climatic changes within global terrestrial PAs by 2070.
- Assessment of the relationship between climatic representation and protection retention.
- Modeling the effects of increased climatic representativeness and emission reductions on protection retention.
Main Results:
- By 2070, PAs are projected to experience declines in cold and warm climates, with increases in cool and hot climates.
- Most countries are unlikely to maintain protection for over 90% of their available climate.
- Climatic representativeness, rather than protected area size, positively impacts the retention of climatic conditions.
Conclusions:
- Improving the climatic representativeness within PAs is essential for safeguarding biodiversity.
- Adaptation policies focusing on complementarity of climatic conditions are vital.
- Combined mitigation and adaptation strategies are necessary to ensure the long-term effectiveness of protected areas in a changing climate.
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