The Protected Planet Report 2020 edition provides the final report on the status of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, and looks to the future as the world prepares to adopt a new global target under the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
Protected Planet Reports are biennial landmark publications that assess the state of protected and conserved areas around the world.
What’s new in this year’s report?
The Protected Planet Report 2020 finds that the international community has made major progress towards the global target on protected and conserved area coverage, but has fallen far short on its commitments on the quality of these areas.
The report finds great progress since 2010 with 22.5 million km2 (16.64%) of land and inland water ecosystems and 28.1 million km2 (7.74%) of coastal waters and the ocean within documented protected and conserved areas, an increase of over 21 million km2 (42% of the current coverage) since 2010. It is clear that coverage on land will considerably exceed the 17% target when data for all areas are made available, as many protected and conserved areas remain unreported.
Yet a third of key biodiversity areas lack any coverage, and less than 8% of land is both protected and connected.
The report also identifies crucial opportunities for further improving the protected and conserved area network under the next set of global nature targets.
Source: UNEP website
