Abstract
Protected areas (PAs) have been established worldwide for achieving long-term goals in the conservation of nature with the associated ecosystem services and cultural values. Globally, 15% of the world’s terrestrial lands and inland waters, excluding Antarctica, are designated as PAs. About 4.12% of the global ocean and 10.2% of coastal and marine areas under national jurisdiction are set as marine protected areas (MPAs). Protected lands and waters serve as the fundamental building blocks of virtually all national and international conservation strategies, supported by governments and international institutions. Some of the PAs are the only places that contain undisturbed landscape, seascape and ecosystems on the planet Earth. With intensified impacts from climate and environmental change, PAs have become more important to serve as indicators of ecosystem status and functions. Earth’s remaining wilderness areas are becoming increasingly important buffers against changing conditions. The development of remote sensing platforms and sensors and the improvement in science and technology provide crucial support for the monitoring and management of PAs across the world. In this editorial paper, we reviewed research developments using state-of-the-art remote sensing technologies, discussed the challenges of remote sensing applications in the inventory, monitoring, management and governance of PAs and summarized the highlights of the articles published in this Special Issue.
Highlights
The World Commission on Protected Areas adopted a definition that describes a protected area (PA) as a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with the associated ecosystem services and cultural values [1]
Remote sensing is among the most fascinating frontiers of science and technology that are constantly improving our understanding of PAs
PAs are by no means uniform entities and have a wide range of management aims and are governed by many stakeholders
Summary
The World Commission on Protected Areas adopted a definition that describes a protected area (PA) as a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with the associated ecosystem services and cultural values [1]. Protected lands and waters serve as the fundamental building blocks of virtually all national and international conservation strategies, supported by governments and international institutions These policies and their implementations provide the protection of threatened species around the world. PAs are increasingly recognized as essential providers of ecosystem services and biological resources, key components in climate change mitigation strategies, as well as vehicles for protecting threatened human communities or sites of great cultural and spiritual value. A study mapped and analyzed the human footprint index at 1-km scale for 1834 terrestrial nature reserves of mainland China and concluded that the reserves designated at higher levels of governance were more pristine than those at lower levels This was significant as China started to consider the reclassification of some reserves as NPs [19]. In combination with field-based measurements, create new and exciting opportunities to meet the needs of monitoring PAs [21]
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