{"id":45000,"date":"2021-07-26T11:21:54","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T01:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/?p=45000"},"modified":"2021-09-01T10:02:29","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T00:02:29","slug":"measuring-conservation-in-a-way-that-counts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/legacy\/media-releases\/measuring-conservation-in-a-way-that-counts","title":{"rendered":"Measuring conservation in a way that counts"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0new study<\/a> raises questions on whether current conservation science and policy for protected areas could be saving more biodiversity\u2014with political and economic expediency often having taken precedence in the past.<\/p>\n

Lead author Professor Bob Pressey, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) at James Cook University (JCU), said the term \u2018save\u2019 in conservation needs to be better defined.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross the world, protected areas are established where they least interfere with commercial activities, even though those activities can cause decline and extinction,\u201d Prof Pressey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut \u2018saving\u2019 means intervening in a way that prevents the loss of ecosystems and species,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere lies the problem. Business as usual means expanding protected areas where they make little difference while threatened biodiversity continues to disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prof Pressey said measures other than saving are used to assess conservation progress, and these are often politically convenient: money invested, km2<\/sup> protected areas established and the number of species contained in national parks. These measures can hide a lack of progress in real conservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do these measures actually tell us about saving?\u201d he said. \u201cNot much. Real progress in saving biodiversity is measured by how much loss we have avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n

While political, institutional and communication barriers are difficult to overcome, conservation measures need to be redefined. As an example, the study suggests the Aichi global Target 11<\/a> to increase protected areas to 17% of land and 10% of oceans hampers conservation. The target has instead motivated a race to increase coverage in the most expedient ways, both politically and economically.<\/p>\n

Prof Pressey said there is a real risk that post-2020 targets will do the same unless they focus on avoiding loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future of nature conservation lies in identifying where science and policy can make the most difference\u2014and then measuring, year by year, the difference made,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The study brought together a team of scientific and policy experts from across Australia, Austria, and the USA. Their results will contribute to ongoing global discussions about the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter science is needed to demonstrate that we can predict where, when, and how we can most effectively save biodiversity,\u201d Prof Pressey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd global policy makers need to revise their expectations and targets to address conservation impact, or avoided loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said saving biodiversity means developing global guidance for all jurisdictions to implement local interventions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this, we can achieve smarter and more meaningful conservation targets that go beyond the extent of the area being protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

PAPER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pressey R, Visconti P, McKinnon M, Gurney G, Barnes M, Glew L, Maron M. (2021). \u2018The mismeasure of conservation\u2019. Trends in Ecology & Evolution<\/em>. DOI: 10.1016\/j.tree.2021.06.008<\/a><\/p>\n

CONTACT<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bob Pressey<\/strong> (Townsville, AEST)
\nP:<\/strong> +61 (0)418 387 681
\nE:<\/strong> bob.pressey@jcu.edu.au<\/a><\/p>\n

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION<\/strong><\/p>\n

Melissa Lyne \/ Coral CoE<\/strong>\u00a0(Sydney, AEST)
\nP:<\/strong>\u00a0+61 (0)415 514 328
\nE:\u00a0<\/strong>melissa.lyne@jcu.edu.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0new study raises questions on whether current conservation science and policy for protected areas could be saving more biodiversity\u2014with political and economic expediency often having taken precedence in the past. Lead author Professor Bob Pressey, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) at James Cook University (JCU), said the term […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":264,"featured_media":45005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[13315],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45000"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/264"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45000"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45006,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45000\/revisions\/45006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralcoe.org.au\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}