Abstract
In pursuit of socioeconomic development, many countries are expanding oil and mineral extraction into tropical forests. These activities seed access to remote, biologically rich areas, thereby endangering global biodiversity. Here we demonstrate that conservation solutions that effectively balance the protection of biodiversity and economic revenues are possible in biologically valuable regions. Using spatial data on oil profits and predicted species and ecosystem extents, we optimise the protection of 741 terrestrial species and 20 ecosystems of the Ecuadorian Amazon, across a range of opportunity costs (i.e. sacrifices of extractive profit). For such an optimisation, giving up 5% of a year's oil profits (US$ 221 million) allows for a protected area network that retains of an average of 65% of the extent of each species/ecosystem. This performance far exceeds that of the network produced by simple land area optimisation which requires a sacrifice of approximately 40% of annual oil profits (US$ 1.7 billion), and uses only marginally less land, to achieve equivalent levels of ecological protection. Applying spatial statistics to remotely sensed, historic deforestation data, we further focus the optimisation to areas most threatened by imminent forest loss. We identify Emergency Conservation Targets: areas that are essential to a cost-effective conservation reserve network and at imminent risk of destruction, thus requiring urgent and effective protection. Governments should employ the methods presented here when considering extractive led development options, to responsibly manage the associated ecological-economic trade-offs and protect natural capital. Article Impact Statement: Governments controlling resource extraction from tropical forests can arrange production and conservation to retain biodiversity and profits. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Highlights
Despite international commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity, global biodiversity remains in rapid, unsustainable decline (WWF 2018), which has grave implications for ecosystem functioning and services (Isbell et al 2011; Cardinale et al 2012)
Our study area was confined to the oil blocks of the Ecuadorian Amazon (Secretaría de Hidrocarburos del Ecuador 2017), regions bound by the oil blocks and the Ecuador–Peru border, and regions completely contained within the oil blocks (Fig. 1)
Adaptive approach for cost-effective conservation planning is for use in regions of high ecological and economic value, and it accounts for the imminence of threats
Summary
Despite international commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity, global biodiversity remains in rapid, unsustainable decline (WWF 2018), which has grave implications for ecosystem functioning and services (Isbell et al 2011; Cardinale et al 2012). The accelerating destruction of tropical forests (Kim et al 2015) is a principal driver of the decline (Barlow et al 2016; Alroy 2017). The extraction of fossil fuels and minerals contributes directly to tropical biodiversity loss. Forest is cleared and fragmented to establish wells, mines, pipelines, and access roads (Laurance et al 2009; McCracken & Forstner 2014; Sonter et al 2017). New roads generate extensive clearing along their routes as loggers, farmers, and hunters exploit fresh resources and markets (Laurance et al 2009; Suárez et al 2009; Espinosa et al 2014). Urban centers coalesce around extraction sites, expanding outward as economic activity attracts new human populations (Sonter et al 2017)
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