Abstract
Many islands are biodiversity hotspots but also extinction epicenters. In addition to strong cultural connections to nature, islanders derive a significant part of their economy and broader wellbeing from this biodiversity. Islands are thus considered as the socio-ecosystems most vulnerable to species and habitat loss. Yet, the extent and key correlates of protected area coverage on islands is still unknown. Here we assess the relative influence of climate, geography, habitat diversity, culture, resource capacity, and human footprint on terrestrial and marine protected area coverage across 2323 inhabited islands globally. We show that, on average, 22% of terrestrial and 13% of marine island areas are under protection status, but that half of all islands have no protected areas. Climate, diversity of languages, human population density and development are strongly associated with differences observed in protected area coverage among islands. Our study suggests that economic development and population growth may critically limit the amount of protection on islands.
Highlights
Many islands are biodiversity hotspots and extinction epicenters
In addition to strong cultural connections to nature[25], islanders derive a significant part of their economy and broader well-being from a wealth of natural resources with biodiversity-based tourism and fisheries accounting for more than half of the GDP in small island developing states[26]
We provide a global assessment of Protected areas (PAs) coverage on islands, utilizing an exhaustive database gathering information on 2323 islands
Summary
Many islands are biodiversity hotspots and extinction epicenters. In addition to strong cultural connections to nature, islanders derive a significant part of their economy and broader wellbeing from this biodiversity. We assess the relative influence of climate, geography, habitat diversity, culture, resource capacity, and human footprint on terrestrial and marine protected area coverage across 2323 inhabited islands globally. In addition to strong cultural connections to nature[25], islanders derive a significant part of their economy and broader well-being from a wealth of natural resources with biodiversity-based tourism and fisheries accounting for more than half of the GDP in small island developing states[26]. Food production is a critical issue on many islands where land area is limited and human populations are increasing, challenging their sustainable development and accelerating the conversion of available natural land to crop production[27] with major consequences for ecosystems[28]. The extent to which insular terrestrial and marine areas are covered by PAs compared to their continental counterparts is virtually unknown, while the key correlates of insular protection efforts are yet to be revealed
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