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Conservation scientists at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have highlighted substantial gaps in the compensation for lost or downgraded protected areas. These gaps risk undermining global efforts for the protection of biodiversity and threaten the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets, which aim to conserve 30% of the planet by 2030.

Protected areas play a crucial role in conserving biodiversity, mitigating climate change, and providing essential ecosystem services. These areas are intended for permanent protection, but since the 1900s, many protected areas have suffered downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD) events, which expose previously protected species and ecosystems to extinction risks. Despite efforts to implement PADDD offsets and establish new protected areas, these measures often fail to fully restore lost biodiversity protection that PADDD events caused.

The study, led by Associate Professor Roman CARRASCO from the NUS Department of Biological Sciences (NUS DBS) and Yan Yanyun, who conducted the research as a Research Assistant at NUS DBS, reveals a critical shortfall in efforts to compensate for lost or downgraded protected areas via PADDD. The research team used global biodiversity data and spatial modeling to evaluate whether offsets for PADDD events, and newly established, unrelated protected areas effectively restored the integrity of the reserve networks.

The findings have been published in the journal Conservation Biology on 25 September 2024.

Assoc Prof Carrasco said, "Our results demonstrate that the loss of protected areas is not sufficiently compensated by either dedicated offsets or the creation of new protected areas. While there appears to be partial recovery in terms of area, the quality of restoration across biodiversity metrics such as for birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles remains insufficient."

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