The extent and effectiveness of protected areas in the UK

Thomas Starnes,Alison E Beresford,Graeme M Buchanan,Matthew Lewis,Adrian Hughes,Richard D Gregory

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01745

Abstract

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to which 196 countries including the UK are contracting parties, set out 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets to be met by 2020. Elements of Aichi Target 11 call for at least 17% of terrestrial land and inland water to be protected and effectively managed by 2020. Each national government is requested to report progress against this goal in national reports submitted at intervals to the CBD, and these are used as the basis of reporting towards the 17% target. Figures reported for the UK’s protected area coverage are inclusive of a wide range of levels of designation, management and condition. Here, we examine the protection given to sites under UK legislation and designations as a case study. We find that although 28% of UK land is reported by the UK government to be protected, only 11.4% of land area falls within protected areas designated primarily for nature conservation. Condition monitoring indicates that at most 43–51% of protected areas in the UK are currently in favourable condition, which suggests as little as 4.9% of UK land area may be effectively protected for nature. However, estimates of protected area coverage vary greatly depending on the types of protected areas considered ‘effectively protected’ as measured by management category and site condition. Taking the UK as an example of a country that has reportedly met the target, we suggest that global progress may have been overestimated, and that future targets and indicators need to focus on the quality as well as quantity of protected areas.

Highlights

Protected areas are the cornerstone of international site-based conservation (Di Minin and Toivonen, 2015; Hockings, 2003; Leroux et al, 2010; Schulze et al, 2018), formed a key pillar of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 (Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 2010) and are mentioned within Article 8 of the convention itself (CBD, 1992)
As of December 2020, there were 10,278 terrestrial and 1 082 partially terrestrial protected areas in the UK recorded in the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA)
When designations not meeting the IUCN definition of a protected area were excluded, coverage was reduced to 61,147 km2 or 24.96% of UK land area

Summary

Introduction

Protected areas are the cornerstone of international site-based conservation (Di Minin and Toivonen, 2015; Hockings, 2003; Leroux et al, 2010; Schulze et al, 2018), formed a key pillar of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 (Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 2010) and are mentioned within Article 8 of the convention itself (CBD, 1992). Target 11 is one of only five targets that have been partially achieved (none were fully achieved) by 2020, with only the elements related to total coverage (protecting 17% of land and 10% of coastal and marine areas) being achieved (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2020). It has been argued, that this is due to a focus on increasing the protected area estate, without increasing genuine protection status (so-called ‘paper parks’) (Di Minin and Toivonen, 2015) and while ignoring biodiversity decline within it (Brooks, 2014; Watson et al, 2016). 86.5% of countries for which data were available showed little or no progress towards assessing protected area management effectiveness (Buchanan et al, 2020)

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion