The geometry of global protected lands

SCHAUMAN, SANTIAGO A.; PEÑUELAS, JOSEP; JOBBÁGY, ESTEBAN G.; BALDI, GERMÁN

Nature Sustainability

Nature Publishing Group

Año: 2023

Anthropogenic encroachment into nature is rapidly accelerating, with impacts on global biodiversity and human well-being. In response, the international community has markedly expanded the network of protected areas (PAs) worldwide. The prevailing agendas of international conservation, however, have dedicated less attention to the level of contact and intermingling of protected lands to their unprotected surroundings and its ramifications on critical issues such as the current and potential anthropogenic penetrability of protected nature. Here, we show how the global protected land has historically expanded by adding predominantly small and complex shaped PAs. As a result, one-third of protected lands are 100 km. International progress in area-based conservation goals is highly contrasting, with most developed countries displaying relatively smaller and highly dispersed, contorted, perforated and fragmented PAs, while less-affluent countries hosting relatively larger and more compact units. Likewise, the relatively smaller and less compact PAs were found in the most critically endangered biomes of the world. These results highlight overlooked threats for the long-term conservation of nature and its ecological integrity and the reduction of contact between wildlife, domestic animals and humans. As nations continue to expand their PA estates, the debate of the spatial geometry of protected lands becomes urgent.