Abstract
A renewed global agenda to address biodiversity loss was sanctioned by adoption of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets in 2010 by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. However, Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 contained a significant policy and reporting challenge, conceding that both protected areas (PAs) and 'other effective area-based conservation measures' (OEABCMs) could be used to meet national targets of protecting 17 and 10 % of terrestrial and marine areas, respectively. We report on a consensus-based approach used to (1) operationalize OEABCMs in the Canadian context and (2) develop a decision-screening tool to assess sites for inclusion in Canada's Aichi Target 11 commitment. Participants in workshops determined that for OEABCMs to be effective, they must share a core set of traits with PAs, consistent with the intent of Target 11. (1) Criteria for inclusion of OEABCMs in the Target 11 commitment should be consistent with the overall intent of PAs, with the exception that they may be governed by regimes not previously recognized by reporting agencies. (2) These areas should have an expressed objective to conserve nature, be long-term, generate effective nature conservation outcomes, and have governance regimes that ensure effective management. A decision-screening tool was devel- oped that can reduce the risk that areas with limited conservation value are included in national accounting. The findings are relevant to jurisdictions where the debate on what can count is distracting Parties to the Convention from reaching conservation goals.
Highlights
People have recognized the importance of protected areas (PAs) for centuries, as cornerstones of biodiversity conservation, formally recognized in Article 8 of the 1992 United Nations (UN) Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
The findings described in this paper, while deliberated in a Canadian context, are relevant to jurisdictions where the debate on ‘‘what can we count?’’ distracts from the more important debate on ‘‘how will we reach our conservation goals?’’ In addition, the standardized approach can inform other conservation initiatives, including the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC), which manages the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA)
Target 11 aims to support this goal by accounting for PAs and other effective area-based conservation measures’ (OEABCMs)
Summary
People have recognized the importance of protected areas (PAs) for centuries, as cornerstones of biodiversity conservation, formally recognized in Article 8 of the 1992 United Nations (UN) Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). 5102 50th Ave., Yellowknife, NT X1A 2L9, Canada 8 Canadian Council on Ecolgical Areas & Nature Matters, 91 Cooper St., Cambridge, ON N3C 2N5, Canada 9 BALCAMAN, Nanaimo, BC, Canada This increase in PAs denotes increased recognition by governments, aboriginal communities and private conservationists for the need to conserve valuable samples of ecosystems. Despite the adoption of international agreements to conserve biodiversity, including the CBD, and the expansion of global PA networks, biodiversity continues to decline around the globe (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment [MEA] 2005; Butchart et al 2010) In response to this trend, in 2002, the Conference of the Parties to the CBD created the ‘2010 Biodiversity Target’ ‘‘to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth’’. This target is endorsed by the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the UN General Assembly, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
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