At the current pace, the goal of preserving at least 30% of the planet by the end of the decade is out of reach. In recent years, progress in expanding protected area networks, but also in improving the quality and governance of these spaces, has been too slow. According to the report Protected planetpublished on Monday, October 28, by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), we must redouble our efforts: the area of protected areas must double on Earth and triple in the sea by 2030. .
“It is essential that protected areas meet the 30% target, but it is equally important that they are effective and do not have a negative impact on the people who live there.underlines Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP. This report shows that some progress has been made, but we have not moved fast enough. »
This document, presented on the occasion of the 16my The world conference on biodiversity (COP16) constitutes the first global assessment of the progress recorded since COP15, organized at the end of 2022 in Montreal, Canada, during which 195 States and the European Union (EU) committed to putting under protection to almost a third. of the planet.
Beyond the quantitative objective, goal 3 (of twenty-three) of the Kunming-Montreal agreement establishes that protected areas be managed efficiently, equitably and respectful of the rights of indigenous peoples and local populations. To truly contribute to the conservation of species and ecosystems, they must also be representative of the most valuable ecosystems and be interconnected. Protected areas are insufficient on their own to put an end to the collapse of biodiversity, but they have demonstrated their usefulness in combating the destruction of natural spaces and the fragmentation of habitats.
It’s not huge to cross
According to the most recent data, 17.6% of land and 8.4% of seas are currently protected. In 2020, the milestone of 17% was reached for the terrestrial part and, in 2021, a previous report indicated that 7.74% of marine spaces were preserved. Since 2020, progress has been minimal, lament the UNEP and IUCN authors.
However, the efforts are worth noting. In four years, 629,000 square kilometers (km2) of land and 1.77 million km2 The seas have been officially placed under protected status and a third of countries and territories have expanded their networks. On the eve of the opening of the COP, the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores announced the creation of a 287,000 km marine protected area2the largest in the North Atlantic.
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