Abstract
BackgroundProtected areas, regarded today as a cornerstone of nature conservation, result from an array of multiple motivations and opportunities. We explored at global and regional levels the current distribution of protected areas along biophysical, human, and biological gradients, and assessed to what extent protection has pursued (i) a balanced representation of biophysical environments, (ii) a set of preferred conditions (biological, spiritual, economic, or geopolitical), or (iii) existing opportunities for conservation regardless of any representation or preference criteria.MethodsWe used histograms to describe the distribution of terrestrial protected areas along biophysical, human, and biological independent gradients and linear and non-linear regression and correlation analyses to describe the sign, shape, and strength of the relationships. We used a random forest analysis to rank the importance of different variables related to conservation preferences and opportunity drivers, and an evenness metric to quantify representativeness.ResultsWe find that protection at a global level is primarily driven by the opportunities provided by isolation and a low population density (variable importance = 34.6 and 19.9, respectively). Preferences play a secondary role, with a bias towards tourism attractiveness and proximity to international borders (variable importance = 12.7 and 3.4, respectively). Opportunities shape protection strongly in “North America & Australia–NZ” and “Latin America & Caribbean,” while the importance of the representativeness of biophysical environments is higher in “Sub-Saharan Africa” (1.3 times the average of other regions).DiscussionEnvironmental representativeness and biodiversity protection are top priorities in land conservation agendas. However, our results suggest that they have been minor players driving current protection at both global and regional levels. Attempts to increase their relevance will necessarily have to recognize the predominant opportunistic nature that the establishment of protected areas has had until present times.
Highlights
And throughout the world, societies have set aside land from its conventional uses in order to protect particular natural or cultural values (McNeely, Harrison & Dingwall, 1994)
The current distribution of protected areas responds to a deliberate process guided by a complex interplay of motivations related to perceived societal benefits (McNeely, Harrison & Dingwall, 1994; Pressey, 1994; Margules & Pressey, 2000; Watson et al, 2014)
The former corresponds to the preservation of specific biological, spiritual, economic, or geopolitical values offered by some territory. The latter corresponds to the protection of a balanced sample of the multiple biophysical environments hosted by a territory, a country, or the whole globe (Pressey, 1994; Lovejoy, 2006) (Table 1). These two groups of motivations interact with different opportunistic forces that shape conservation, as protected areas are frequently deployed in areas that face little human interventions and have comparatively low opportunity-costs, at least at the time of their establishment (Joppa & Pfaff, 2009; Aycrigg et al, 2013; Durán et al, 2013)
Summary
And throughout the world, societies have set aside land from its conventional uses in order to protect particular natural or cultural values (McNeely, Harrison & Dingwall, 1994). Part of the present-day expansion of protected areas aims to include areas of high species richness, endemism hotspots, or underrepresented ecological or biophysical conditions We classify these motivations as preferential or representative. The latter corresponds to the protection of a balanced sample of the multiple biophysical environments hosted by a territory, a country, or the whole globe (Pressey, 1994; Lovejoy, 2006) (Table 1) These two groups of motivations interact with different opportunistic forces that shape conservation, as protected areas are frequently deployed in areas that face little human interventions and have comparatively low opportunity-costs, at least at the time of their establishment (Joppa & Pfaff, 2009; Aycrigg et al, 2013; Durán et al, 2013). Attempts to increase their relevance will necessarily have to recognize the predominant opportunistic nature that the establishment of protected areas has had until present times
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