Protected areas don’t always boost biodiversity

Protected areas such as national parks have a "mixed impact" on wildlife, according to the largest ever global study of their effects co-authored by Professor Bill Sutherland (2008), Environment Fellow at St Catharine's and Miriam Rothschild Professor of Conservation Biology at the University of Cambridge. Published in the journal Nature, the findings show that managing parks to protect species and their habitats is crucial – and without such management, parks are more likely to be ineffective.

Later this year world leaders will gather in China to set the agenda of global conservation efforts for the next decade. Plans to formally protect 30% of the Earth’s surface by 2030 are gathering pace, but the study’s authors say this alone will not guarantee the conservation of biodiversity. They are arguing that targets need to be set for the quality of protected areas, not just the quantity.

Professor Sutherland commented:

“This paper shows that the two-step process of protection and effective management is essential for conservation. Our project looked at an astonishing dataset comprising regularly counts of more than 27,000 waterbird populations in 1,500 protected areas (in 68 countries), coordinated by Wetland International. This showed that simply declaring an area as protected had little benefit: once it is established as a protective area and also managed then there can be real benefits. This is illustrated locally by those visiting wonderful reserves such as Wicken or Lakenheath Fen. Our other work shows how the details of the management make a real difference."

The study was led by Dr Hannah Wauchope, who completed the work as part of her PhD at the University of Cambridge's Department of Zoology under the supervision of Professor Sutherland. She said:

"We know that protected areas can prevent habitat loss, especially in terms of stopping deforestation. However, we have much less understanding of how protected areas help wildlife. Our study shows that, while many protected areas are working well, many others are failing to have a positive effect. Rather than focussing solely on the total global area protected, we need more focus on ensuring areas are well-managed to benefit biodiversity."

This provided a much more accurate and detailed picture than previous studies.The study used a "before-after-control-intervention" method – comparing waterbird population trends before protected areas were established with trends afterwards, and also comparing the trends of similar waterbird populations inside and outside protected areas.

Dr Wauchope added, "We are not saying protected areas don't work. The key point is that their impacts vary hugely, and the biggest thing this depends on is whether they are managed with species in mind – we can’t just expect protected areas to work without appropriate management. It also appears that larger protected areas tend to be better than smaller ones."

The study focussed on waterbirds because they are well studied and found in many locations worldwide, and their mobility means they can quickly colonise or leave a location based on the quality of the conditions.

In addition to a core team from Cambridge, the research team included Wetlands International and the universities of Bangor, Queensland, Copenhagen, and Cornell, and the research relied on the efforts of many thousands of volunteers across the world, organised by the Christmas Bird Count (National Audubon Society) and the International Waterbird Census (Wetlands International), to collect the data on waterbird population numbers.

Dr Taej Mundkur, Coordinator of the International Waterbird Census with Wetlands International, said:

“The study has greatly benefited from and reiterates the importance of collection of long term series of bird census information in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Neotropics and the Americas and the role of committed networks of local volunteers and collaborators.” 

Reference

Wauchope, H.S., Jones, J.P.G., Geldmann, J. et al. Protected areas have a mixed impact on waterbirds, but management helps. Nature (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04617-0