Growth in protected areas continues.

AuthorYatsevich, Margarita
PositionVITAL SIGNS

The areas of the world that are officially protected grew by some 26 percent between 1997 and 2007. In total, land-based and sea-based protected areas occupy 21.8 million square kilometers, or 4.27 percent of Earth's surface. Globally, 12.4 percent of terrestrial land and territorial waters (that is, water up to 12 nautical miles from shore) are devoted to protection.

Protected areas include nature reserves, wilderness areas, national parks and monuments, habitat management areas, protected landscapes and seascapes, and so on. They are managed for a broad range of purposes, including recreation, use of natural resources, and conservation. Between 1872 and 2007, governments around the world designated nearly 114,000 terrestrial and marine sites. At present Germany boasts the highest number of protected areas (14,388), followed by Russia (11,181) and Estonia (9,617). In total protected area, the United States tops the list at over 3.2 million square kilometers; Brazil is second with over 2.5 million square kilometers and Russia third with 1.6 million square kilometers.

More than 30 percent of the world's protected areas are found in mountains, which are a valuable source of high-quality fresh water. Mountain ecosystems are marked by high levels of biodiversity and endemism (when a species is found only in a particular place) due to the isolation of mountains from one another and the lowlands. Mountain peoples are critical to planning efforts for protected areas because of their experience in sustainable coexistence with nature.

Marine environments are much less protected than their terrestrial counterparts: Only 0.7 percent (about 2 million square kilometers) of the world's oceans are included in protected areas. Over the last century, the annual rate of increase in protection of marine environments has been approximately 3-5 percent. At this rate, the Convention on Biological Diversity's target for 2012--that 10 percent of all marine and coastal eco-regions should be conserved--will not be met until 2069.

And simply creating protected areas is not enough to conserve biodiversity. According to a 2006 study by WWF International, success requires strong law enforcement, control of access, resource management, monitoring and evaluation, maintenance of equipment, budget management, and annual work plans.

International initiatives sometimes...

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