DTE at COP16: Slow progress on meeting the target on protected areas

Need to double the protection on land and triple that in marine areas by 2030 to meet the 30x30 Target of KMGBF
DTE at COP16: Slow progress on meeting the target on protected areas
We have to double the protection on land and triple that in marine areas by 2030 to meet the 30X30 target.UNBiodiversity / X (formerly Twitter)
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The much-awaited Protected Planet Report 2024 was released at the 16th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16). This provides data on progress in protected areas since the world adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP15 in 2022. 

Under Target 3 of KMGBF, 30 per cent of land, inland water bodies and oceans have to be protected by 2030, a target popularly known as the 30x30 target. 

The report revealed that the global coverage of protected and conserved areas has now reached 17.6 per cent of terrestrial and inland waters and 8.4 per cent of marine and coastal areas. This means that we have to double the protection on land and triple that in marine areas by 2030 to meet the target, said Neville Ash, director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

This is still a long way off from the target. The progress has been slow. The data from May 2021 indicated that 16.64 per cent of land and inland water ecosystems, and 7.74 per cent of coastal waters and the ocean, were protected.

The data shows that there are 51 countries and territories that exceed the 30 per cent target on land and 31 countries that exceed the 30 per cent target at sea. Over two-thirds of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) are now partially or fully covered by protected and conserved areas. KBAs are areas of particular importance for biodiversity. 

Similarly, only a fourth of ecoregions have more than 30 per cent protection. In case of areas important for ecosystem functions and services, data showed that less than a fifth of these critical areas are currently protected. 

The report has, for the first time, provided data on inland water. It showed that 16.5 per cent of wetlands are protected and 18 per cent of rivers and streams by length are protected.

In case of marine protected areas, only 2.8 per cent of the ocean is in fully or highly protected marine protected areas, MPA in short, where no or only light extractive activities are allowed that have low total impact. 

Data is limited on the extent to which protected and conserved areas are equitably governed. Governance assessments have only been reported for 0.22 per cent of the area covered on land and 0.001 per cent of the area at sea. Beyond protected and conserved areas, indigenous and traditional territories cover at least 13.6 per cent of global terrestrial areas. 

Only 3.95 per cent of the area covered by protected and conserved areas are governed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLC) and 11.84 per cent are under shared governance. This data is important as KMGBF recognises that land owned by IPLCs could help meet Target 3. Protected areas are conserved for and by people and it is important that we work with IPLCs, said Grethel Aguila, director-general of IUCN. "We have only six years and the window is closing." 

However, as things stand, the report concluded that fully implementing all aspects of Target 3 would be a challenge for all countries. For one, more efforts are needed to ensure that the areas are connected and effective. 

“We cannot meet this target in isolation. Progress in meeting target on funding, stakeholder engagement pollution would be critical for viable protected areas,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP. 

Madhu Rao, chair, IUCN World Commission of Protected Areas pointed out that the challenge of reporting on qualitative aspects is more. She asked parties to step up on the recognition of areas but also on reporting of data on protected and conserved areas.

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