Protected areas for threatened species conservation: Are they enough?

Date: 14, Aug, 2018
Author(s):   Stephen Kearney, Vanessa Adams, Richard Fuller, Hugh Possingham and James E. M. Watson
Publisher: TSR Hub

In Australia, as around the world, protected areas have a central role in halting biodiversity decline. Australia is one of the first nations to have claimed to have met the target of terrestrial area coverage of 17% protected areas. With the expansion of protected area networks here and worldwide, it is vital to understand their effectiveness at conserving biodiversity. Australia makes a useful case study, with its history of recent extinctions and a further 1749 species listed as threatened under the EPBC Act as of early 2017. We set out to assess the extent to which protected areas can abate the processes that threaten species.