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Protected areas can play a role in preserving biodiversity and climate, but they are not a panacea.
Respect for the rights, wisdom and way of life of indigenous peoples and other local communities is more effective. Studies show that nature is in better shape where it is in condition and has land rights.
Plans like “30% by 2030” have sounded alarm bells among environmentalists and human rights activists: up to three hundred million people could suffer if the land on which they have lived in harmony with nature for many generations was suddenly “protected. “
Protected areas, such as national parks, adhere to the concept of a “nature conservation fortress”, which demands the strict separation between man and nature, imposed through rangers armed to the teeth. Human rights violations and even killings in protected areas have been reported. .
“This long-term land grab will have to stop,” said Ladislas Désiré Ndembet of Cameroonian NGO Synaparcam.
Can more spaces save biodiversity? It is doubtful. Because despite the multiplicity of these spaces, the climate and biodiversity crises have worsened.
Instead of setting arbitrary goals like protecting 30% of the planet’s surface, it makes more sense to cover biodiversity in spaces where it is of utmost importance. These include tropical forests.
It is also imperative that we triumph over our current way of doing business and living, which is based on the overconsumption of raw materials, agricultural products and energy.
In the face of the extinction crisis, we want effective responses and not insufficient concepts. Please call the network outside the rights of indigenous peoples.
Globally, there are many types and categories of areas. They differ basically in terms of what is considered worthy of protection, who is responsible, what is allowed, and what is prohibited. Here’s an overview.
In Germany, the spectrum ranges from bird sanctuaries and landscape cover spaces to national parks and biosphere reserves. The Natura 2000 designation is not unusual in the EU.
In the external sphere, UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Man and Biosphere Reserves and Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance play a prominent role. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies spaces into six categories.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) refers to “protected areas” and “other area-based conservation measures”.
One of the main drivers of the intense debate is the plan by the UN and many countries to protect 30% of the Earth’s natural surface. WWF and some scientists are even calling for 50% protection.
For the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity in Montreal, Canada, in December 2022, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is propagating the “30 to 30” target. According to this, 30% of the Earth’s surface and oceans will have to be placed under nature conservation until 2030.
This “Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework” will shape foreign nature conservation policy for decades, well beyond 2030. Bad decisions will be difficult to correct.
Already in 2011, the external network set itself a target: by 2011, at least 17% of land and inland waters and 10% of coasts and seas will be placed under nature protection. However, none of those Aichi goals have been fully achieved. The same goes for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
We can safely assume that the 30% figure is a marketing tool. “30 to 30” is more memorable than, say, “25 to 2030” or “40 to 2025. “In any case, there is no clinical basis for the figure. . In June 2022, a study in the journal Science set a goal of protecting 44% of Earth’s land surface, an area that is also home to 1. 8 billion people. Biologist and popular Edward O. Wilson declared the purpose of “half the Earth. “”- with their participation of humans sharing the planet equitably with nature.
However, according to a 2020 study, expanding protected areas by 2. 3% would be enough to protect almost all rare and threatened species. It should be noted that the study authors still target 30%.
That is debatable. For example, we can succeed by 30% through protecting the Sahara, northern Canada and Siberia, but that wouldn’t do much for biodiversity. It is true that few people live there and social conflicts would be easy to avoid.
If the 30% target makes a difference, regions with the highest levels of biodiversity will have to be protected; However, millions of people live there and may be deprived of their rights. In addition, the highest biodiversity is found in the classic lands of other indigenous peoples and other marginalized population groups. Therefore, their livelihoods and crops are threatened.
On the other hand, the figure of 30% could be reached today if indigenous territories were protected. For this to happen, the UN and other organizations recognize that the indigenous way of life can make a very important contribution to nature conservation.
In a word: the countries of the North have become rich because they have had no qualms about exploiting nature. They are thus to blame for the biodiversity and climate crises. From now on, large areas of the planet want to be so that these crises do not get worse. Since pristine nature and greater biodiversity are still discovered in the poorer tropical countries, they bear the greatest burden by hitting spaces under strict cover instead of employing the resources at their disposal. Thus, the poor are invited to make sacrifices, while the rich slightly restrict their consumption of resources.
We are concerned that indigenous and local communities are among the losers. Up to 300 million people could suffer if the land on which they have lived in harmony with nature for many generations was suddenly “protected. “(50% of this amount) would have effects on more than one billion people).
The online environmental page Mongabay writes that the “30 to 30” purpose has a “conservation battleground. “
In short: “30 to 30” pursues a neocolonial and militarized technique to “strengthen conservation” that does not come with the local and predominantly indigenous population, but oppresses them, further marginalizes them and violates their rights. Space experiences, particularly in Africa and Asia, are cause for concern. In the Congo Basin, for example, the creation of 34 sites led to the displacement of 26 local communities without compensation.
In Tanzania, the indigenous Maasai population suffers displacement and violence because the government wants to expand the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) to promote tourism. Rainforest Rescue is campaigning for Maasai rights with a petition.
“30 to 30” is based on a Western attitude towards nature and conservation and ignores the indigenous of the global and knowledge.
The status quo and control of spaces and “other effective area-based conservation measures” can be a lucrative business style for giant environmental companies and organizations. Critics see it as a new source of investment for the “conservation industry. “
“Other effective area-based conservation measures” come with carbon offsetting and “nature-based solutions,” such as planting trees wholesale, a measure that is also recommended for climate protection.
Protected areas such as national parks are already controlled in public-private partnerships (PPPs): in this process, States transfer their responsibility, but also their control, to corporations or non-governmental organizations:
Founded by Dutch billionaire Paul Fentener van Vlissingen, African Parks manages 22 national parks in 12 African countries through 2022, covering a domain of more than 20 million hectares. (To put this in context, the UK has a domain of 24. 3 million hectares. )The organization aims to increase the number of parks it manages to 30 by 2030. According to the company’s website, it pursues “a transparent business technique to maintain Africa and the remaining domains of nature. “The president of the organization is Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
The draft post-2020 global biodiversity framework mentions, among others, areas, “nature-based solutions” to climate change, wildlife trade, environmental pollutants such as plastic, “rights of nature” and government subsidies to end environmental nuisance.
His vision is to “live in harmony with nature” until 2050. This requires a transformation of economic, social and monetary systems.
While the draft mentions the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, classical knowledge and girls’ rights, NGOs fear they will be neglected.
In the context of the Covid pandemic, the popularity of the link between the pandemic and environmental degradation is very likely to count the negotiations, for example, under the title One Health.
One sticking point is funding. Rich countries, blamed for much of the extinction crisis, have a duty to supply billions of dollars. However, it is questionable whether they do. As we have noted with weather protection, even commitments that are too small for effective measures are being met.
What is transparent is that the targets set for 2020 have largely been missed. The starting point of negotiations for the era until 2030 is a failure. Some member states even question the price of stricter targets due to the lack of implementation and investment of past targets.
The extinction rate we are witnessing recently last occurred 66 million years ago, when the dinosaurs disappeared. This sixth mass extinction in the history of our planet was not caused by an asteroid impact, but by us. Plant and animal habitats, hunt, poach, pollute the environment with toxins and ruin the climate in such a way that many species cannot adapt.
You can read more about this on our biodiversity pages.
Extremely so!
Humans are causing a mass extinction of species, and we can interfere and prevent the worst from happening. To do this, we want to take drastic measures quickly. COP 15 of the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity will outline how species conservation will be organized in the coming decades.
One fear in the run-up to the convention is that the host country, China, has invited only ministers of heads of state and government. The Beijing government needs to trivialize the issue, while the good fortune of overseas meetings necessarily depends on the host’s commitment.
(Officially, China is COP 15, due to the Covid pandemic, it is taking a position in Canada, where CBD is based. )
To: CBD Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, CBD Member States and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
Dear Madam Executive Secretary,
Dear Chancellor,
ladies and gentlemen
The collapse of biodiversity is one of the existential crises of our time, along with the climate crisis. They require far-reaching reforms and movements in our society.
Protected areas and “other effective area-based conservation measures” (OECMs) play a role in biodiversity and ecosystem conservation, but are subject to significant risks. 2030 poses several threats.
– Many spaces and OECM are related to violence, impoverishment and displacement, especially of other people who have lived there in accordance with nature for generations. The value of nature conservation is then the violation of human rights. “30 to 30” has the prospect of being the largest land grab in history.
– Many spaces and OECM do little to conserve nature; Their status quo serves only as an alibi and diverts attention from effective measures.
– Targets such as 30 or even 50% are clearly based on political considerations rather than clinical facts.
– The creation and control of protected areas and OECM promise benefits to large Western organizations and corporations and help them pursue their climate-damaging business style through land-occupying “nature-based solutions. “
– The control of protected areas and OECM does not take into account regional and local specificities.
At the same time, there is a growing recognition, backed by science, that nature is preserved where indigenous peoples and local communities live and where their rights are protected.
We call you to:
– Strengthen the rights of indigenous peoples and communities. This includes ensuring forest and land rights, the right to free, prior and informed consent, coverage against violence and displacement, and equitable participation in economic and social development.
– Strengthen the role of indigenous peoples and local communities in national and foreign negotiations and in the implementation or follow-up of decisions taken. Traditional indigenous wisdom should be incorporated.
– Work to ensure that indigenous peoples and local communities are better funded so that they can effectively fulfil their role as guardians of nature.
– Act to address the root causes of the biodiversity crisis, adding to the exploitation and overconsumption of resources.
Yours sincerely,
Not a panacea
As a conservation organization, does Rainforest Rescue oppose the areas?
No, we are not opposed to spaces as such.
Many play a vital role in preserving biodiversity and protecting the climate. We speak out when protected areas are threatened, for example, when concessions are granted for logging or oil exploitation in those spaces. Moreover, we are sometimes opposed to the felling of these reserves.
However, spaces are not a panacea: their creation carries dangers and can even lead to neglecting effective measures. Designing spaces is attractively simple, while basic adjustments to our consumerist way of life are unpopular and harder to achieve.
have land rights
Studies show that nature is greatest where indigenous peoples and local communities are guilty and have land rights.
According to the Territories of Life 2021 report, if the territories they manage were added to formal spaces (17% of the Earth), 31% of the Earth would already be under protection.
In words, identifying and protecting all indigenous lands, which are home to 80% of the world’s biodiversity, would achieve the 30% target. This underscores that indigenous rights and biodiversity coverage are closely linked.
Ladislas Désiré Ndembet of Cameroonian NGO Synaparcam
Ladislas Désiré Ndembet of the association Synaparcam:
The 30% of the territory to be retained is too much for our deficient or emerging countries such as those in Africa or Gabon where I come from. This allocation will be the bad government we are already suffering. This will increase corruption and poverty because the phenomenon of land grabbing will become more important.
In 2002, Gabon committed 11% of its territory to the creation of thirteen national parks. Many promises have been made to indigenous peoples and local communities in the area of development, adding ecotourism. To date, none of this has happened. Riverside communities continue to suffer distress and poverty. This percentage has increased with foreign lawsuits and promises of carbon offsetting.
Since 2012, land has been made available to agribusinesses and other carbon credit investors. No, this cannot continue. This long-term land grab will have to stop. In our country, where rural dominance is not explained at all, such an allocation will literally push indigenous populations and local communities into absolute precariousness.
All I can say to this macabre assignment is that it will surely have to be fought.
where it is the largest, so each and every species will have to be saved from extinction, no matter the place.
The “international community” in this case includes member states of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). CBD is in Montreal, Canada.
are in this sense
According to the Territories of Life 2021 report, if the territories they manage were added to formal spaces (17% of the Earth), 31% of the Earth would already be under protection.
In words, identifying and protecting all indigenous lands, which are home to 80% of the world’s biodiversity, would achieve the 30% target. This underscores that indigenous rights and biodiversity coverage are closely linked.
We are committed to rainforest conservation. Our petitions denounce destructive projects and call out the perpetrators. Please talk to the rainforests of the world: your signature has genuine weight!