Rethinking biodiversity beyond 30×30 – Opinion

If people understood how closely the extinction of a frog on a distant island is related to their well-being, they would probably consider it as important, if not more so, than climate change.

Major milestones in global biodiversity conservation made headlines in October. The Regional Assembly of the Portuguese Azores has officially approved the creation of the largest marine protected area in the North Atlantic Ocean. This newly designated marine reserve, covering almost 299,998 square kilometers, will protect the region’s rich biodiversity, including deep-sea corals and hydrothermal vents.

Earlier, Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek announced in a controversial manner that the government plans to expand the marine protected area around Heard Island and McDonald Islands by more than 300,000 square kilometers. 52 percent. This far exceeds the global target to effectively protect and manage 30 percent of the world’s terrestrial, inland waters, coastal and marine areas by 2030, known as the ’30×30′ target.

Additionally, in the United States, Joe Biden’s administration announced in October the creation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, the first tribally nominated marine sanctuary in the US. It spans 114 miles (187 km) of California’s coastline and covers more than 4,000 square miles (11,655 km²) of coastal and offshore waters, protecting rich marine biodiversity.

As the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD-COP16) kicked off in Colombia on October 21, many countries – both CBD Parties and non-Parties – were keen to review their progress on the to draw attention to the field of nature conservation. This year marks the second anniversary of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. How much progress has been made? According to CBD Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker, 31 parties have submitted their national biodiversity strategies and action plans, while 103 countries have submitted their national targets. The pace of adaptation is significantly faster than during the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

This is certainly a positive sign. At the CBD COP15 held in 2022, countries agreed on the ’30×30′ goal. However, as of August 2024, only 17.5 percent of the Earth’s land and inland waters were protected or conserved, while the protection rate for the oceans was only 8.5 percent (with less than 3 percent fully or strongly protected). With just six years to go to reach the 2030 target, the gap clearly remains significant, making the task ahead daunting.

A closer look shows that current reports from many countries still focus primarily on the area of ​​protected areas. However, the Kunming-Montreal framework includes four long-term goals for 2050 and 23 action goals for 2030, aimed at halting and reversing biodiversity loss. The goal of protecting 30 percent of land, oceans and inland waters is just one of these specific goals. More broadly, the 2050 targets emphasize the health of ecosystems and species, including halting human-induced species extinctions, using biodiversity sustainably, ensuring fair distribution of benefits and securing funding to close the $700 billion annual biodiversity funding gap.

Therefore, we must exercise due vigilance and avoid complacency about the achievements we are currently observing, because we are overlooking the broader context: global biodiversity is rapidly declining, and this trend is accelerating with no signs of abating.

First, the intense focus on protected areas can lead us to neglect the effectiveness of conservation efforts, especially in regions that really need protection, such as biodiversity hotspots. A recent study published in Nature Communications examined the distribution of globally protected areas and their influencing factors. It concludes that there is a significant imbalance in the global distribution of protected areas, especially in regions with high biodiversity, indicating that current conservation strategies may not effectively capture critical ecosystems and habitats. Another study published in Marine Policy in 2023 found that a third of assessed global marine protected areas may be “paper parks”. Of the 184 marine protected areas they analyzed, 30 percent were identified as such, with the majority located in Latin America and the Caribbean (31 percent), Southeast Asia and Oceania (25 percent), and the Indian Ocean (20 percent). ) was found.

This is why, when Australia announced in October that it would expand its marine protected areas to bring the total marine protected area to 52 percent of its waters – surpassing the global target of 30 percent – ​​it faced a wave of criticism from the scientific community. Experts argued that the government’s statement misled the public, highlighting that actual protected areas are much lower and that less than 25 percent are designated as ‘no-take’ marine reserves.

Second, I believe we must emphasize the benefits that biodiversity conservation brings to humanity through effective mainstreaming. Compared to communication about climate change, the discourse on biodiversity generally lags behind. However, biodiversity has a direct impact on human life and survival. Many sources of medicine, food and ecosystem services – such as water purification, soil fertility and climate regulation – depend on healthy ecosystems. Historically, many people believed that biodiversity conservation required sustainable financial investments. We need to shift our communications to more effectively showcase the ‘returns’ of these investments, using vivid real-world examples to create a compelling story. For example, the establishment of marine protected areas can provide significant benefits through the development of ecotourism (such as whale and dolphin watching), which in turn supports coastal communities or islanders. Similarly, reducing monotonous planting in urban green spaces, respecting wild areas and protecting and restoring small wetlands can help reduce urban water pollution and flood risks through nature-based solutions.

At a conference in 2018, I posed a question to Inger Andersen, then chief executive of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and now executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme: why is there significantly more attention to climate change than to biodiversity loss? ? Her response left a lasting impression on me: People often struggle to connect the extinction of a frog on a distant island with their lives, but they worry deeply about whether they can breathe clean air every day. If individuals understood how closely their well-being is linked to biodiversity, perceptions would change dramatically. This underlines the crucial importance of communicating the relevance of biodiversity. That is why mainstreaming biodiversity is key.

My third recommendation is to focus more on the issue of species extinction. It is important to remember that the Framework is a comprehensive initiative, not just the 30×30 target. The 2050 targets explicitly state that human-induced extinctions of known endangered species must be halted, aiming for a tenfold reduction in extinction rates and risks for all species, while increasing the abundance of native wild species to a healthy, resilient level. Furthermore, genetic diversity within populations of both wild and domesticated species must be maintained to protect their adaptive potential. Therefore, rather than just mentioning the newly announced size of protected areas, I hope that more countries will present their “report cards” on these crucial aspects.

The author is Deputy Secretary General of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation and a member of the IUCN Intersessional Council Working Group on the Development of a New Twenty-Year Strategic Vision for the Union. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.

The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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