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Topic: Protected Planet Report 2020

Why in News?

• Recently, a report titled ""Protected Planet Report 2020" has been issued by United Nations Environment Programme - World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with support from the National Geographic Society.

Key Highlights of the Report

• The report underlined the progress the world has made toward the ambitious goals agreed by countries in 2010 at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
• To conserve 17 per cent of land and inland water ecosystems and 10 per cent of its coastal waters and oceans by 2020, known as Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, a set of 20 targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
• As many as 82 per cent of countries and territories increased their share of protected area and coverage of other effective area-based conservation measures (OECM) since 2010.
• Since OECMs were first recorded in 2019, these areas have added a further 1.6 million km2 to the global network. Despite being limited to only five countries and territories, the available data on OECMs already show that they make a significant contribution to coverage and connectivity. Of the area now covered by protected areas and OECMs, 42% was added in the past decade.
• OECM are a conservation designation for areas that are achieving the effective in-situ conservation of biodiversity outside of protected areas.
• On an average, 62.6 per cent of key biodiversity areas (KBA) either fully or partially overlap with protected areas and OECMs.
• KBAs are sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity, in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.
• The average percentage of each KBA within protected areas and OECMs is 4 3 . 2 per cent for terrestrial; 42.2 per cent for inland water and 44.2 per cent for marine (within national waters).
• There was an increase of 5 percentage points or less in each case since 2010, the greatest growth in marine and coastal areas.

Challenges

• Governance is a key contributor to effective conservation. Both protected areas and OECMs can have a variety of governance regimes: government, private, governance by indigenous peoples and local communities, or any combination of these.
• Data are still poor on governance diversity and quality for protected areas and OECMs.
• Integrating protected areas and OECMs across landscapes and seascapes, and in development sectors, remains a crucial challenge for ensuring the persistence of biodiversity.
• Measurable targets for integrated land-use and marine spatial planning are needed to facilitate progress.

Way Forward

• A global network of effective and equitable protected and conserved areas will play a vital role in safeguarding the health of people and planet for generations to come.
• The report also called for existing protected and conserved areas to be identified and recognised by accounting for the efforts of indigenous peoples, local communities and private entities.