Skift Take
The UN argues that the regions need more protection, but UNESCO's lesson demonstrates that UN oversight isn't enough to offer the protection everyone would like.
Despite the growing number of nature reserves, national parks and other protected areas across the globe, half of the world's richest biodiversity zones remain entirely unprotected.
Protected areas are being managed in a more equitable way, with a greater role for indigenous communities. But current investment in protected areas is only around half of what is needed to support endangered species, protect threatened habitats and deliver the full benefits that sustainably-managed protected areas can deliver.
These are among the main findings of a report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that tracks progress towards internationally-agreed targets on the world's protected areas.
The report was presented today at the 11th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB COP 11) in Hyderabad, India. The study received the the official backing of countries at COP 11 this week as a major contribution towards tracking progress on global efforts to increase protected areas.
Two years ago countries set a goal under the CBD that by 2020, at least 17 per cent of the world's terrestrial areas and 10 per cent of marine areas would be equitably managed and conserved.
The Protected Planet Report 2012 says that protected areas have increased in number by almost 60 per cent, and in area by just under 50 per cent, since 1990. But the study states that poor management, under-funding and a lack of critical data on protected areas mean that the world is making insufficient progress towards the 2020 goals.
Produced by UNEP's World Conversation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) in partnership with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the study is the first in an annual series that will monitor global efforts to support and expand protected areas.
"Protected areas contain some 15 per cent of the world's carb
