by Professor Jeff Langholz
Zeitz Foundation friend and Associate Professor of International Environmental Policy at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (Monterey, California, USA), Dr. Jeff Langholz, spends most of his time researching, identifying, and evaluating innovative approaches for integrating biodiversity, conservation, economic development, and social well being worldwide.
He is a recognised authority on the growing role that private protected areas play in accomplishing the “triple bottom line” of ecology, economics, and equity. His most recent article on private biodiversity reserves appears in the current issue of World Watch: Vision for a sustainable world (September/October 2009).
Biological diversity continues to decline across most of the world, and threats are mounting as climate change kicks in. Scientists have documented temperature-related changes to the number, range, and behaviour of several hundred species across the globe. Yet conservationists continue to tinker with the same old approach to saving species, when what they really need is a bold new strategy on a scale commensurate with the problem.
When it comes to biodiversity conservation, national parks and other government-protected natural areas have long served as the main tool. Since 1872,when the U.S. government established Yellowstone National Park (the world’s first), governments have set aside more than 108,000 protected areas worldwide that protect some 30 million square kilometres. Many countries have reached the international standard of formally protecting 10 percent of their terrestrial surface area.
That’s the good news. Hitting the 10-percent target is an impressive accomplishment, even if it took more than 135 years. But the spectre of climate change suggests that 10 percent will not suffice. On a warmer planet, thousands of plant and animal species must shift to higher latitudes (or elevations) to find climatic conditions similar to those under which they evolved. Making these range shifts will take decades, if not centuries. Landscapes must also be linked with protected natural areas that facilitate safe movement. Thus, protecting the world’s flora and fauna from mass extinction may require something on the order of 20 percent.
And we need to do it faster this time, say within 50 years.
Is this even possible? The challenge seems especially onerous given that we already picked the low-hanging fruit. Many of the world’s large, sparsely populated, ecologically significant
areas have already been brought under government protection. This leaves hard-to-protect areas where substantial human populations and high political and financial costs prevail.
The key is to change our outdated protected-area mindset. In many regions, the most critical biodiversity areas are in private hands, and hoping that governments will simply expropriate them—despite the legal, social, political, and budgetary obstacles—is absurd. Instead of leaving protected-area establishment primarily to governments, we should stimulate a robust private-sector investment in protected-area creation. Not only could this help to double the protected-area estate, many of the newly protected areas could also make immense contributions to sustainable economic development.
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