IUCN Identifies the Most Irreplaceable Environments

A new study in the journal Science has calculated the "irreplaceability" of the world's protected areas, providing analysis and practical advice for improving the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation efforts.

Scientists from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other international conservation organizations assessed 173,000 terrestrial protected areas and 21,500 species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, calculating and comparing the "contribution each protected area makes to the long-term survival of species," the IUCN said in a statement.

The researchers identified 78 sites (comprising 137 protected areas in 34 countries) as "exceptionally irreplaceable." Combined, the sites serve as the home to more than 600 birds, amphibians and mammals, half of which are globally threatened, and many of which cannot be found in any other locations, the IUCN said.

Among the threatened species found in the most irreplaceable zones are the Laysan luck (Anas laysanensis), which is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and 13 species of amphibian native only to Canaima National Park in Venezuela.

Some of the protected areas, including Ecuador's Galápagos Islands, Peru's Manú National Park, and India's Western Ghats, are already recognized by UNESCO as having "outstanding universal value."

But much of the land in the considered irreplaceable is not designated by UNESO, including what what the IUCN calls the "most irreplaceable site in the world for threatened species," Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Natural National Park in Colombia. Other protected areas that the IUCN notes do not enjoy international protection under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention include Tanzania's Udzungwa Mountains National Park and Cuba's Ciénaga de Zapata Wetland.

"These exceptional places would all be strong candidates for World Heritage status," said Soizic Le Saout, lead author of the study. "Such recognition would ensure effective protection of the unique biodiversity in these areas, given the rigorous standards required for World Heritage sites."

The study also highlighted what the IUCN calls "insufficient management" of existing protected areas.

"Páramo Urrao National Protective Forests Reserves, in Colombia, for example, does not really exist," explained Paul Salaman, an expert in Colombian biodiversity and CEO of the Rainforest Trust. "It was legally created in 1975, but this was never translated into on-the-ground management."

Simon Stuart, chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, said protected areas "can only fulfill their role in reducing biodiversity loss if they are effectively managed."

"Given limited conservation budgets, that is not always the case, so governments should pay particular attention to the management effectiveness of highly irreplaceable protected areas," he said.