The three new R’s for protected areas: repurpose, reposition and reinvest

Abstract

There appears to be a close convergence in the international policy arena on the goals of sustainable development and biodiversity conservation, including maintaining food and water security, strengthening climate resilience, and contributing to local and national economies, among other goals. Protected area networks can help deliver on these mutual goals, but if they are to do so, we must fundamentally change how we think about protected areas, while at the same time maintaining their fundamental value in safeguarding biodiversity. This article explores how we must repurpose protected areas in order to attain not only ecological but also sustainable development goals; how we must reposition protected areas within a specific policy context in order to ensure policy relevance, including within the development of national sustainable development goals and national biodiversity plans; and how we must reinvest significant financial resources in protected areas as an economically efficient strategy for simultaneously achieving sustainable development and biodiversity conservation goals.