The socioeconomic and environmental niche of protected areas reveals global conservation gaps and opportunities

David Mouillot (), Laure Velez, Camille Albouy, Nicolas Casajus, Joachim Claudet, Vincent Delbar, Rodolphe Devillers, Tom B. Letessier, Nicolas Loiseau, Stéphanie Manel, Laura Mannocci, Jessica Meeuwig, Nicolas Mouquet, Ana Nuno, Louise O’Connor, Valeriano Parravicini, Julien Renaud, Raphael Seguin, Marc Troussellier and Wilfried Thuiller
Additional contact information
David Mouillot: IRD
Laure Velez: IRD
Camille Albouy: Unite Ecol & Modeles Halieut
Nicolas Casajus: FRB – CESAB
Joachim Claudet: 195 rue Saint-Jacques
Vincent Delbar: Maison de la Télédétection
Rodolphe Devillers: Univ Réunion
Tom B. Letessier: Zoological Society of London
Nicolas Loiseau: IRD
Stéphanie Manel: IUF
Laura Mannocci: IRD
Jessica Meeuwig: University of Western Australia
Nicolas Mouquet: IRD
Ana Nuno: NOVA University Lisbon
Louise O’Connor: Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine
Valeriano Parravicini: Université de Perpignan
Julien Renaud: Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine
Raphael Seguin: IRD
Marc Troussellier: IRD
Wilfried Thuiller: Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract The global network of protected areas has rapidly expanded in the past decade and is expected to cover at least 30% of land and sea by 2030 to halt biodiversity erosion. Yet, the distribution of protected areas is highly heterogeneous on Earth and the social-environmental preconditions enabling or hindering protected area establishment remain poorly understood. Here, using fourteen socioeconomic and environmental factors, we characterize the multidimensional niche of terrestrial and marine protected areas, which we use to accurately establish, at the global scale, whether a particular location has preconditions favourable for paestablishment. We reveal that protected areas, particularly the most restrictive ones, over-aggregate where human development and the number of non-governmental organizations are high. Based on the spatial distribution of vertebrates and the likelihood to convert non-protected areas into strictly protected areas, we identify ‘potential’ versus ‘unrealistic’ conservation gains on land and sea, which we define as areas of high vertebrate diversity that are, respectively, favourable and unfavourable to protected area establishment. Where protected areas are unrealistic, alternative strategies such as other effective area-based conservation measures or privately protected areas, could deliver conservation outcomes.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-53241-1

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