Globally, biodiversity is imperiled. The 2020 Living Planet Index reported a 68 percent average decline in birds, amphibians, mammals, fish, and reptiles since 1970; one third of the world’s terrestrial protected areas are under intense human pressure and about two-thirds of the world’s oceans suffer from human impact, as habitat loss and degradation, pollution, exploitation, climate change and invasive species drive catastrophic biodiversity losses.
Biodiversity matters because of its intrinsic worth, and because ecosystem services, which depend upon biodiversity, underpin human wellbeing and support economic activity in a range of sectors. Our survival is, finally, impossible without intact natural landscapes and seascapes. Land- and marine-based ecosystems provide food, oxygen, water, carbon sequestration, resilience in the face of climate change, and a buffer against pandemics. They also foster economic activities such as tourism, which attract eight billion visitors to protected areas in a typical year. The need to protect these natural areas has never been greater.
At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a deep global recession in which much economic activity has declined and governments face increasing fiscal constraints and challenges in allocating scarce resources to support the health, security, and development of their populations. The tourism sector too, has suffered significant setbacks. In tourism-dependent economies in Africa and the Caribbean, for example, GDP is projected to shrink by 12 percent. Additionally, many biodiversity-rich protected areas are located in far-flung, neglected rural regions, in which poverty is persistent. Often, protected areas around these rural communities help leverage tourism to provide the few avenues available to support livelihoods and address development challenges.
These intersecting calamities – a pandemic in a time of biodiversity loss – call for a response which speaks to both crises, addressing economic losses and promoting recovery through actions which simultaneously support biodiversity conservation. Such a view brings the world’s protected areas into much-needed focus, as they are key to any global effort to contain biodiversity loss. Their role in doing so will be deliberated at the CBD COP-15 this year, where threats to biodiversity and their impacts on development will be stressed, and countries will be encouraged to set aside more land and marine areas for conservation.
How can countries address both crises? Can countries afford to bring even larger areas under protection when the need for economic recovery is so pressing, fiscal spaces are tight, and so many development challenges persist? This study set out to make the case that it is possible. That by promoting sustainable and inclusive tourism in protected areas, countries can respond to these escalating crises, recover from the economic fallout of the pandemic, address longstanding development challenges, and conserve biodiversity.
While governments see protected areas as key to addressing biodiversity loss, protected areas are often overlooked in economic development plans and economic recovery strategies. One reason for this is that data gaps make it difficult to demonstrate protected area tourism’s far-reaching stimuli to national and local economies, especially in developing countries. Banking on Protected Areas study therefore set out to quantify the impacts of protected area tourism on local economies to show that protected areas promote conservation and development.
The study explores economic impacts on local economies, as local economic development is a goal in-and-of itself, and community support is a critical concern for protected areas and is needed to secure their long-term integrity. It therefore estimates protected area tourism’s economic costs and benefits to local communities, and explores how benefits may be increased and costs reduced.
At the same time, a key challenge for protected areas is lack of finance. Research shows that poorly financed protected areas lose biodiversity through poaching, livestock incursions, land grabs, and illegal mining and logging; likewise, funding has been found to be the most robust predictor of successful ecological outcomes in marine protected areas. Pre-pandemic figures show a global biodiversity funding gap of US$598–US$824 billion per year, a figure mirrored for protected areas, which have lost further funding due to the pandemic. Thus, the study argues strongly for public investment in protected areas by providing estimated rates of return on investments.
Globally, biodiversity is imperiled. The 2020 Living Planet Index reported a 68 percent average decline in birds, amphibians, mammals, fish, and reptiles since 1970; one third of the world’s terrestrial protected areas are under intense human pressure and about two-thirds of the world’s oceans suffer from human impact, as habitat loss and degradation, pollution, exploitation, climate change and invasive species drive catastrophic biodiversity losses.
Biodiversity matters because of its intrinsic worth, and because ecosystem services, which depend upon biodiversity, underpin human wellbeing and support economic activity in a range of sectors. Our survival is, finally, impossible without intact natural landscapes and seascapes. Land- and marine-based ecosystems provide food, oxygen, water, carbon sequestration, resilience in the face of climate change, and a buffer against pandemics. They also foster economic activities such as tourism, which attract eight billion visitors to protected areas in a typical year. The need to protect these natural areas has never been greater.
At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a deep global recession in which much economic activity has declined and governments face increasing fiscal constraints and challenges in allocating scarce resources to support the health, security, and development of their populations. The tourism sector too, has suffered significant setbacks. In tourism-dependent economies in Africa and the Caribbean, for example, GDP is projected to shrink by 12 percent. Additionally, many biodiversity-rich protected areas are located in far-flung, neglected rural regions, in which poverty is persistent. Often, protected areas around these rural communities help leverage tourism to provide the few avenues available to support livelihoods and address development challenges.
These intersecting calamities – a pandemic in a time of biodiversity loss – call for a response which speaks to both crises, addressing economic losses and promoting recovery through actions which simultaneously support biodiversity conservation. Such a view brings the world’s protected areas into much-needed focus, as they are key to any global effort to contain biodiversity loss. Their role in doing so will be deliberated at the CBD COP-15 this year, where threats to biodiversity and their impacts on development will be stressed, and countries will be encouraged to set aside more land and marine areas for conservation.
How can countries address both crises? Can countries afford to bring even larger areas under protection when the need for economic recovery is so pressing, fiscal spaces are tight, and so many development challenges persist? This study set out to make the case that it is possible. That by promoting sustainable and inclusive tourism in protected areas, countries can respond to these escalating crises, recover from the economic fallout of the pandemic, address longstanding development challenges, and conserve biodiversity.
While governments see protected areas as key to addressing biodiversity loss, protected areas are often overlooked in economic development plans and economic recovery strategies. One reason for this is that data gaps make it difficult to demonstrate protected area tourism’s far-reaching stimuli to national and local economies, especially in developing countries. Banking on Protected Areas study therefore set out to quantify the impacts of protected area tourism on local economies to show that protected areas promote conservation and development.
The study explores economic impacts on local economies, as local economic development is a goal in-and-of itself, and community support is a critical concern for protected areas and is needed to secure their long-term integrity. It therefore estimates protected area tourism’s economic costs and benefits to local communities, and explores how benefits may be increased and costs reduced.
At the same time, a key challenge for protected areas is lack of finance. Research shows that poorly financed protected areas lose biodiversity through poaching, livestock incursions, land grabs, and illegal mining and logging; likewise, funding has been found to be the most robust predictor of successful ecological outcomes in marine protected areas. Pre-pandemic figures show a global biodiversity funding gap of US$598–US$824 billion per year, a figure mirrored for protected areas, which have lost further funding due to the pandemic. Thus, the study argues strongly for public investment in protected areas by providing estimated rates of return on investments.
.webp)