Study: Conservation actions highly effective at halting, reversing biodiversity loss

A New Study Provides Strong Evidence for the Success of Nature Conservation

A new study, led and contributed to by Arizona State University faculty, provides the strongest evidence to date that not only is nature conservation successful, but that scaling up conservation interventions would be transformational for halting and reversing biodiversity loss — a crisis that can lead to ecosystem collapse and a planet less able to support life — and reducing the effects of climate change.

Published in Science Journal

The study was published today, April 25, in the journal Science.

Importance of Conservation Action

These findings of the impact of conservation action are crucial, as more than 44,000 species are currently documented as being at risk of extinction, the result of which would cause tremendous consequences for the ecosystems that stabilize the climate and provide billions of people around the world with clean water, livelihoods, homes and cultural preservation, among other ecosystem services.

To address this risk, governments recently adopted new global targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, making it even more critical to understand whether conservation interventions are working.

Conservation is Working

“If you look only at the trend of species declines, it would be easy to think that we’re failing to protect biodiversity, but you would not be looking at the full picture,” said Penny Langhammer, lead author of the study, an adjunct professor of biology in the School of Life Sciences, affiliate researcher with the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes and executive vice president of Re:wild.

“What we show with this paper is that conservation is, in fact, working to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. It is clear that conservation must be prioritized and receive significant additional resources and political support globally, while we simultaneously address the systemic drivers of biodiversity loss, such as unsustainable consumption and production.”

Meta-Analysis of Conservation Interventions

Although many studies look at individual conservation projects and interventions, and their impact compared with no action taken, these papers have never been pulled into a single analysis to see how and whether conservation action is working overall.

The co-authors conducted the first-ever meta-analysis of 186 studies — including 665 trials — that looked at the impact of a wide range of conservation interventions globally, and over time, compared with what would have happened without those interventions.

The studies covered over a century of conservation action and evaluated actions targeting different levels of biodiversity: species, ecosystems and genetic diversity.

Effective Conservation Actions

The meta-analysis found that conservation actions — including the establishment and management of protected areas, the eradication and control of invasive species, the sustainable management of ecosystems, habitat loss reduction and restoration — improved the state of biodiversity or slowed its decline in the majority of cases (66%) compared with no action taken at all.

And when conservation interventions work, the paper’s co-authors found that they are highly effective.

For example:

• Management of invasive and problematic native predators on two of Florida’s barrier islands, Cayo Costa and North Captiva, resulted in an immediate and substantial improvement in nesting success by loggerhead turtles and least terns, especially compared with other barrier islands where no predator management was applied.
• In the Congo Basin, deforestation was 74% lower in logging concessions under a forest management plan (FMP) compared with concessions without an FMP.
• Protected areas and Indigenous lands were shown to significantly reduce both the deforestation rate and fire density in the Brazilian Amazon. Deforestation was 1.7 to 20 times higher and human-caused fires occurred four to nine times more frequently outside the reserve perimeters compared with inside.
• Captive breeding and release boosted the natural population of Chinook salmon in the Salmon River basin of central Idaho, with minimal negative impacts on the wild population. On average, fish taken into the hatchery produced 4.7 times more adult offspring and 1.3 times more adult second-generation offspring than naturally reproducing fish.

“Our study shows that when conservation actions work, they really work. In other words, they often lead to outcomes for biodiversity that are not just a little bit better than doing nothing at all, but many times greater,” said Jake Bicknell, co-author of the paper and a conservation scientist at DICE, University of Kent. “For instance, putting measures in place to boost the population size of an endangered species has often seen their numbers increase substantially. This effect has been mirrored across a large proportion of the case studies we looked at.”

Investment in Conservation

More than half of the world’s GDP, almost $44 trillion, is moderately or highly dependent on nature. According to previous studies, a comprehensive global conservation program would require an investment of between $178 billion and $524 billion, focused primarily in countries with particularly high levels of biodiversity.

To put this in perspective, in 2022, global fossil fuel handouts — which are destructive to nature — were $7 trillion. This is 13 times the highest amount needed annually to protect and restore the planet. Today, more than $121 billion is invested annually into conservation worldwide, and previous studies have found the cost-benefit ratio of an effective global program for the conservation of the wild is at least 1:100.

“Conservation action works — this is what the science clearly shows us,” said Claude Gascon, co-author and director of strategy and operations at the Global Environment Facility. “It is also evident that to ensure that positive effects last, we need to invest more in nature and continue doing so in a sustained way. This study comes at a critical time where the world has agreed on ambitious and needed global biodiversity targets that will require conservation action at an entirely new scale.

“Achieving this is not only possible, it is well within our grasp as long as it is appropriately prioritized.”

Effective Management of Protected Areas

The paper also argues that there must be more investment specifically in the effective management of protected areas, which remain the cornerstone for many conservation actions. Consistent with other studies, this study finds that protected areas work very well on the whole. And what other studies have shown is that when protected areas are not working, it is typically the result of a lack of effective management and adequate resourcing. Protected areas will be even more effective at reducing biodiversity loss if they are well resourced and well managed.

Future Research and Conclusion

Moving forward, the study’s co-authors call for more rigorous

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 14: Life Below Water – The article discusses the impact of conservation interventions on marine biodiversity, such as the management of invasive algae and the abundance of seahorses in protected marine areas.
• SDG 15: Life on Land – The article focuses on the importance of conservation actions in halting and reversing biodiversity loss, protecting ecosystems, and reducing habitat loss.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 14.2: By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take action for their restoration in order to achieve healthy and productive oceans – The article highlights the positive impact of conservation interventions on marine biodiversity, such as the management of invasive algae and the protection of marine areas.
• SDG 15.5: Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity, and protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species – The article emphasizes the importance of conservation actions in halting and reversing biodiversity loss and protecting endangered species.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Indicator for SDG 14.2: Proportion of coastal and marine areas that are protected – The article mentions the positive impact of protected marine areas on reducing deforestation rates and fire density in the Brazilian Amazon.
• Indicator for SDG 15.5: Red List Index – The article mentions that more than 44,000 species are currently documented as being at risk of extinction, highlighting the need for conservation actions to prevent species extinction.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: news.asu.edu

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