Climate and land-use changes reduce the benefits of terrestrial protected areas

Ernest F. Asamoah*, Linda J. Beaumont, Joseph M. Maina

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    42 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Expanding and enhancing protected area networks (PAs) is at the forefront of efforts to conserve and restore global biodiversity but climate change and habitat loss can interact synergistically to undermine the potential benefits of PAs. Targeting conservation, adaptation and mitigation efforts requires understanding climate and land-use patterns within PAs, both currently and under future scenarios. Here, projecting rates of temporal and spatial displacement of climate and land-use revealed that more than one-quarter of the world’s PAs (~27%) are located in regions that will experience both high rates of climate change and land-use change by 2050. Substantial changes are expected to occur more often within PAs distributed across tropical moist and grassland biomes, which currently host diverse tetrapods and vascular plants, and fall into less-stringent management categories. Taken together, our findings can inform spatially adaptive natural resource management and actions to achieve sustainable development and biodiversity goals.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1105-1110
    Number of pages11
    JournalNature Climate Change
    Volume11
    Early online date25 Nov 2021
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Dec 2021

    Bibliographical note

    An author correction exists for this article and can be found in Nature Climate Change, 12, p.593, doi: 10.1038/s41558-022-01363-z

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