Urgent climate action is needed to ensure effectiveness of protected areas for biodiversity benefits

Akira S. Mori*, Andrew Gonzalez, Rupert Seidl, Peter B. Reich, Laura Dee, Haruka Ohashi, Yann Hautier, Michel Loreau, Forest Isbell

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The intertwined crises of biodiversity loss and climate change pose a significant sustainability challenge, threatening ecosystems and human well-being globally. Yet, the nuanced interplay between these challenges is often understated in policy dialogs. Global biodiversity targets, including 30% protection of the Earth's surface by 2030, may fall short without robust climate change mitigation. Here, we illustrate that conservation through protected areas can effectively preserve forest productivity and carbon capture, which depend on tree diversity. However, failing to mitigate climate change diminishes the effectiveness of these areas, especially in warmer biomes. Even with optimal protected area selection, preserving tree diversity-dependent productivity could be compromised without significant climate change mitigation. Our findings emphasize the need to integrate climate change mitigation into biodiversity conservation policies to ensure the success of the 30 × 30 targets and sustain the ecosystem benefits biodiversity provides to society.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1874-1885
Number of pages12
JournalOne Earth
Volume7
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 Oct 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors

Funding

A.S.M. was supported by the Ichimura New Technology Foundation, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (22KK0102) , and the Advanced Studies of Climate Change Projection Grant by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (JPMXD0722678534) . A.G. was supported by the Liber Ero Chair in Biodiversity Conservation. R.S. was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (grant agreement 101001905) . M.L. was supported by the TULIP Laboratory of Excellence (ANR-10-LABX-41) . F.I. was supported by the US National Science Foundation (DEB-1845334, DEB-1831944, and DBI-2021898) . A.S.M. and H.O. were funded by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund of the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency of Japan (JPMEERF15S11400) and were supported by the supercomputer of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Technology Center, Japan during the analysis.

FundersFunder number
and Technology Development Fund of the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency of JapanJPMEERF15S11400

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