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How Marine Protected Areas Can Pay for Their Own Protection

The area right next to a marine protected area is a prime fishing spot—and researchers think fishermen will pay to access it.

Costa Rica Expands Cocos Island National Park by 27 times in size

President Carlos Alvarado of Costa Rica has signed a decree expanding the Cocos Island National Park, increasing the fully protected area in their Pacific waters by almost 53,000 square kilometers.

Costa Rica’s pristine ‘Shark Island’ now a massive marine reserve

Three times the size of the country’s mainland, the reserve’s abundance of sharks, whales, turtles, and other marine life has been described as an “underwater Jurassic Park.”

Using strategy to preserve biodiversity while saving space

In South and Central America, an especially high number of biodiverse areas are in jeopardy. Tropical rainforests are being cleared so that the land can be used for livestock grazing and planting soybeans. To compensate for these losses, other areas need to be placed under protection. The United ...

Are marine protected areas helping marine mammals and birds? Maybe, but more can be done

Our oceans are under pressure like never before, with over 60% struggling from the increasing impact of fishing, coastal activities and climate change. The harsh truth is that as we move towards 2022 only 3% of oceans are totally free from the pressure of human activity.

Researchers: ‘Yellowstone to Yukon’ work boosts conservation

It’s one thing to mount a decades-long conservation campaign on a continental scale like the Yellowstone to Yukon, or Y2Y. It’s another to prove anything about it worked.

Southern Ocean conservation cannot be left behind

The recent CCAMLR meeting failed to increase marine protected areas, but progress was made on regulating krill fishing

Quebec entrepreneur, 93, donates cherished island after protecting it from city sprawl

Nature Conservancy of Canada will protect Île Ronde habitat for birds and vulnerable turtle species.

National Park City status creates ‘higher expectations’ for park lands protection

The judges of Adelaide’s successful bid to become a globally-recognised National Park City say the title should lead to “higher expectations, accountability and standards” on planning decisions to rezone and commercialise the city’s park lands.

Conservation and food production must work in tandem, new study says

Strictly protecting 30% of Earth’s land and sea by 2030 would result in food production shortfalls, and would render a fifth of mammals and a third of birds at high risk of extinction, according to a new study.

Indigenous lands have less deforestation than state-managed protected areas in most of tropics

Areas managed by Indigenous peoples cover more than 25% of the world’s land and overlap with 40% of protected areas globally. Studies in Nicaragua and Brazil have found that Indigenous communities with ownership of their land have lower rates of deforestation than neighbouring areas. Often, defo ...

Botswana's Okavango Delta: World Heritage Site under threat

Environmental organizations are raising the alarm over mining for oil and gas in the world's largest cross-border nature reserve, known for its biodiversity and unique landscapes.

Endangered Caspian seal habitat awarded important marine mammal area status

Special status has been awarded to the habitat of a species of seal left endangered due to human activity.

Ndumo Game Reserve: The complicated balancing act of subsistence farming and nature conservation in KwaZulu-Natal

As cultivated fields expand and grazing cattle explore ever further in the Ndumo Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, researchers worry about unresolved efforts to address human poverty while also trying to protect the ever-shrinking spaces left for wildlife and nature conservation.

Portuguese islands create Europe’s largest protected marine area

The Selvagens Islands Nature Reserve, created 50 years ago in Portugal’s Madeira archipelago, is home to a unique ecosystem. A newly adopted legal framework makes it the largest protected marine area in Europe and the North Atlantic.

Creating a nature-positive future

Investing in effective protected and conserved areas is essential to protect nature, through biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.

We need to protect 50% of the planet — but even that’s not enough

You may have heard the idea that we need to protect half of the planet to ensure enough resources for the sustainable replenishment of natural resources.

Portugal Establishes the Largest Fully Protected Marine Reserve in Europe

Today the government of Portugal expanded a marine protected area around the Selvagens Islands, creating the largest fully protected marine reserve in Europe at 2,677 square kilometers. The Selvagens islands are a small archipelago in the North Atlantic located midway between Madeira and the Can ...

New WWF-Canada Grant Recipients Restoring Over 100 Hectares of Habitat to Support Wildlife and Absorb Carbon

Groups across Canada are answering the call for a "whole-of-society" approach to the biodiversity and climate crises, taking meaningful and measurable actions to restore nature, recover wildlife and absorb carbon.

[VIDEO] Protected areas can help end nature loss and protect people. Here's how.

Creating a nature-positive future

Investing in effective protected and conserved areas is an essential tool for achieving the protection of nature, through biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. In our Creating a Nature-Positive Future report we present a path to enhance protected and conserved areas coverage a ...

Over three-quarters of the world’s vital carbon stores are unprotected

Only 23 per cent of Earth’s most vulnerable and crucial carbon storage ecosystems are in protected areas. But a study that pinpoints these carbon stores could help inform initiatives to keep them safe from development, while also protecting biodiversity.

DRC: The creation of Congo Air Nature to safeguard protected areas

This is one of the major works envisaged by the new management team of the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The creation of an airline called Congo Air Nature. Its mission is to monitor and promote ecotourism through the country's 82 p ...

The European Union at the forefront of biodiversity in the DRC

Hidden in the thick primary rainforest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are a few silverbacks and a host of small, fiery eyes. The Baraka, one of the last families of mountain gorillas, are welcoming a happy event out of sight: a young male snuggled in his mother's arms. A new victory for ...

Razan Al Mubarak: indigenous people and youth must be empowered to protect biodiversity

Indigenous communities and young people must be empowered in order to protect the world’s biodiversity, says Razan Al Mubarak, the president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Building Support for Protected Areas and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs)

Reference: SCBD/SSSF/SK/PG/ESE/90000 (2021-078)
To: CBD National Focal Points and PoWPA Focal Points

Why the St. Martin's Island should be declared a marine protected area

Since St. Martin’s island is a hotspot for a wide range of species, from primary producers to top predators, a holistic approach is required to conserve biodiversity, so declaring a new MPA here would be a good option for conserving the multifariousness in this area

Canada’s marine protected areas aren’t as safe as you think

As the globe’s “do or die” UN climate conference gets underway next week, Canada must scale up efforts to meet its ambitious ocean conservation targets to simultaneously prevent the wholesale collapse of marine biodiversity and tackle climate change, experts say.

‘Biodiversity for future generations’: Two new national parks for NSW

Two private properties bought by the NSW government will be given national parks status to help safeguard up to 50 threatened plant and animal species including the eastern-fat tailed gecko and the major Mitchell cockatoo.

Five national parks to serve as nature conservation 'classrooms'

China's first five national parks will be partly open to the public and serve as the most beautiful "classrooms" for nature conservation education, an official with the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said on Thursday.

How China's new national parks are protecting biodiversity

It is well known China is the world's most populous country – what it not so well known is that it also has some of the highest numbers of different flora and fauna anywhere in the world. And this is what the nation's five inaugural national parks are trying to protect.

New protected area buffers Mauritania's shifting sands

Mauritania’s battle against encroaching desertification, which has damaged ecosystems and endangered species, has received a timely boost with the news that 200,000 hectares will be turned into a protected area to support biodiversity in the country.

China issues guidelines to further biodiversity protection work

China on Tuesday issued a guideline that outlines the country's biodiversity protection goals. According to the goals, protected natural areas, mainly national parks, will account for 18 percent of China's land area by 2025, when China's forest coverage rate and comprehensive grassland coverage ...

Why should St. Martin’s Island be declared as a marine protected area?

Bangladesh’s Exclusive Economic Zone covers 118,813km2 of the Bay of Bengal’s large marine ecosystem, which is located in the southeast corner of the country. With a 710 km coastline and three major coastal zones Bangladesh possesses a unique coastal and marine habitat. This marine ecosystem is ...

In Half-Earth Project, a full-on bid to get countries to protect biodiversity

As the world grapples with unparalleled rates of deforestation and extinction, an increasing number of governments and other entities are recognizing the importance of protecting 30% of the land and oceans by 2030. In fact, this goal is listed as a target in the first draft of the post-2020 glob ...

The New ‘Con’ in Conservation: Why the Proposed Voluntary, Paris Agreement-Style, ‘30×30’ Target for Protected Areas Won’t Save the World’s Biodiversity

The idea of increasing to 30% the portion of Earth’s lands and seas designated as protected areas by 2030 (‘30×30’) has become a rallying cry for conservationists.

Project to Expand the Marine Territory of Cocos Island Begins the Final Stretch

In order to protect new sites of marine conservation interest, the government and environmentalists seek to expand the marine territory of Cocos Island, while the fishing sector – artisanal, longliner, purse seine fishing and tourist fishing – expresses their opposition to the plan. at a time wh ...

New protections for high value conservation areas

The NSW Government has today announced the opening of nominations to identify and protect Areas of Outstanding Biodiversity Value (AOBVs) on both private and public lands across New South Wales.

UN cautions on depletion of biodiversity

Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Audrey Azoulay, has warned that biodiversity is depleting at an unprecedented speed.

The MPA Guide: A framework to achieve global goals for the ocean

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are now well established globally as tools for conservation, for enhancing marine biodiversity, and for promoting sustainable fisheries.

Ecuador seeks to expand Galapagos reserve to protect marine life

In hopes of protecting migratory marine species endangered by overfishing and climate change, Ecuador's government has proposed expanding marine reserves near the Galapagos Islands, a haven for sharks, turtles and whales.

Over 2.5 million hours of sea bottom trawling ploughed Europe’s ‘protected’ areas in 2020

As the global nature conservation community gathers in Marseille for the IUCN World Conservation Congress, at which marine protection targets will be discussed, Oceana releases new data revealing how EU countries continue to allow destructive fishing in Europe’s supposedly ‘protected’ areas and ...

With Ambitious Conservation Action, Governments Can Help Nature—and People—Thrive

Our planet is home to wonderfully diverse natural habitats that support a huge array of life and provide innumerable benefits to humankind. Yet nature is deteriorating faster than at any time in recorded history due to human activity, including overexploitation of natural resources and climate c ...

Creating awareness of MPAs

On Sunday, 1 August South Africa will become the first country in the world to celebrate Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day. To highlight the important role MPAs play in the conservation of marine biodiversity, a consortium of South African organisations passionate about the protection of marine l ...

Working through the pandemic to save the Cheer pheasant

Increasing anthropogenic pressures have led to severe environmental degradation and decline of several species. While protected areas offer refuge, a significant population of threatened species is found outside such areas -- unprotected areas are more widespread than these protected locations, ...

Five new designated Special Areas of Conservation in Cyprus

Five protected areas who were included in the Natura 2000 Network as Sites of Community Importance are now being designated as Special Areas of Conservation under the Nature and Wildlife Protection and Management Law.

Global study reveals effectiveness of protected areas

Researchers have conducted a global study on the effectiveness of recently established protected areas in preventing forest loss. The study explores protected area performance by countries, with South Africa, Cambodia, Latvia, Guatemala, Uruguay, Brazil and New Zealand leading the way in protect ...

Banking on protected areas to promote a green recovery

The rollout of vaccines globally, particularly as this effort picks up momentum, is spreading hope that countries will soon have control over the devastating health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries still, though, have a long path to travel for economic recovery.

Opening protected area off New England coast to commercial fishing compromises protections

A study published this week in the scientific journal Frontiers in Marine Science found that opening the 3.14 million acre Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing reduces species protection in the richly diverse and vital ecological area.

How protected are protected areas?

On the face of it, efforts to boost the amount of land and sea officially conserved for nature are going well. Since governments signed up to the Aichi biodiversity targets in 2010, almost 21 million square kilometres – an area larger than the Russian Federation – have been given new protected s ...