Expand and upgrade protected-area systems 3.2
SDG 15 is particularly relevant for the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems: “Protect, restore and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, manage forests sustainably, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss”. The 2030 Agenda also has a funding target: “15.a: Mobilize and significantly increase financial resources from all sources to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and ecosystems.” The overall conclusion is that the global goals for ecosystem and biodiversity conservation are differentiated and appropriate, but that achievement of the goals remains highly unsatisfactory. The targets of the first Strategic Plan for Biodiversity (2002-2010; CBD, 2002) were already missed. And regarding the implementation of the last Strategic Plan (2010-2020; CBD, 2010a), none of the 20 targets were fully achieved at the global level, and only six were partially achieved (SCBD, 2020; Section 3.2.3.3). The trends remain negative for biodiversity and the great majority of ecosystem services despite the action that has been taken up to now (IPBES, 2019a: Ch. 2.3.6; IPBES, 2019b:14). The targets cannot be met in business-as-usual scenarios, and further scenario analyses show that nature and its contributions to people will degrade drastically if there is no transformative change of course (Díaz et al., 2019). The proclamation of a ‘UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’ (2021-2030; Section 3.1) directly following the ‘UN Decade on Biological Diversity’ (2011-2020) points out that much greater efforts are needed to realize the CBD’s vision of Living in Harmony with Nature. The current discussion on an ‘apex target’ for the CBD is taken up in Box 4.4-3.
3.2.3 The expansion and upgrading of protected-area systems as a multiple-benefit strategy Protected-area systems can contribute to all three dimensions of the trilemma (Section 2.2), and are therefore treated as a multi-benefit strategy in this Section 3.2; they are subsequently focused on three priority topics as examples: IPLCs’ services for ecosystem conservation (Section 3.2.3.5), the integration of protected-area systems into the landscape (Section 3.2.3.6) and the financing of protected-area systems (Section 3.2.3.7). This multiple-benefit strategy is embedded in the larger context of a transformation towards sustainability (WBGU, 2011). The term ‘transformative change’ is therefore playing an increasingly important role in scientific and policy discourses on ecosystems and biodiversity (Díaz et al., 2019; IPBES, 2019b:14; SCBD,
2020). However, the societal, economic and political points of departure for this transformative change that affect ecosystem conservation lie to a large extent outside the protected areas. Such points of departure include, for example, the drivers that lead to ecosystem degradation inside and outside protected areas via telecouplings, the design of framework conditions for appreciating ecosystems and their services (Box 4.2-4), and the support options for private actors and by industrialized countries in international cooperation alliances (Section 4.5).
3.2.3.1 Protected-area systems as instruments of ecosystem and biodiversity conservation Many of the drivers of the biodiversity crisis mentioned in sections 2.2.3 and 3.2.1 can be countered by designating and upgrading protected areas in which biodiversity conservation is a priority. It is widely recognized in science and governance that protected-area systems are indispensable and effective tools for conserving ecosystems, their services and biodiversity (IPBES, 2018a:488, 2019a:Ch. 2.1; IUCN, 2014; CBD, 2004; UNEP-WCMC, 2018; Leclère et al., 2020; Jones et al., 2018; Gaston et al., 2008). On the one hand, protected areas are formally designated areas under national or international nature-conservation law, where effective ecosystem and biodiversity conservation is the priority objective. They are defined by the IUCN as follows: “A clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values” (IUCN, 2008; Box 3.2-1). On the other hand, there are also “other effective area-based conservation measures” which are not formally designated protected areas, but are “governed and managed in ways that achieve positive and sustained long-term outcomes for the in situ conservation of biodiversity, with associated ecosystem functions and services and where applicable, cultural, spiritual, socio-economic, and other locally relevant values” (OECMs: CBD, 2018d; Woodley et al., 2019). In addition to e.g. private protected areas, these include in particular areas used and conserved by IPLCs in the context of their traditional lifestyles (Section 3.2.3.5; CBD, 2018b; UNEP-WCMC, 2016a; IUCN, 2017). Contrary to frequent misunderstandings, protected areas are by no means about excluding any use other than nature conservation, but merely about giving priority to nature conservation. This can often be reconciled with sustainable use, and in some cases is even synergistically dependent on it, e.g. in the conservation of extensive pasture farming or with regard to arable
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