Protecting Natural Areas Not Enough to Safeguard Plants, Wildlife
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Protected areas are important for supporting environments with many different kinds of plants and animals.
The United Nations Environment Program estimates protected areas hold 15% of the carbon stored on land.
Andrew Wetzler is head of the nature program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group based in the United States. He says "Protected areas are one of the most important things that we can do to stem the loss of biodiversity and to help solve the climate crisis." He spoke to the Reuters news agency.
Across the northern hemisphere and Australia, protected areas often proved effective at slowing human activity when compared with unprotected areas.
But in South America, Southeast Asia and African countries south of the Sahara Desert, pressure from human activity inside protected areas was notably higher.
The study found agriculture is a major driving force behind human activity in protected areas.
Andrew Wetzler said, "Simply designating a place as protected can't be the beginning and the end of a conservation effort."
Experts add that working with local communities and involving them with conservation efforts is also important.
Jonas Geldmann noted, "We've seen from other studies that if you don't engage with the people living in and around the protected areas, if they're not partners to the protected areas, then making (reserves) work is much more difficult."