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Largest ever study reveals globally protected areas benefit broad range of species

Credit: University of Sussex

Swansea University scientists have been involved in a collaborative study which reveals for the first time that the world’s protected areas do benefit a broad range of species

The study, published in Nature Communications, led by the University of Sussex working together with the Natural History Museum, the UNEP - World Conservation Monitoring Centre and Swansea University, is the largest ever analysis of globally protected areas.

By analysing biodiversity samples taken from 1,939 sites inside and 4,592 sites outside 359 protected areas, scientists have discovered the protected area samples contain 15 percent more individuals and 11 percent more species compared to samples from unprotected sites.

Protected areas are considered a quintessential measure for biodiversity conservation and many nations have committed to increase them to cover at least 17% of the terrestrial area (‘Aichi biodiversity targets’ of the Convention on Biological Diversity). It was hence timely to carry out a comprehensive global evaluation of the effectiveness of protected areas.

– Associate Professor Luca Börger , Swansea University