Conservation areas may already cover 27% of Earth's land, far more than official figures show

Conservation areas probably already cover 26.81% of the world's land, well above the 18.5% in official global figures, according to a study published in Nature on 14 October. The research, led from the University of Kent's Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, suggests the world may be much closer to its goal of conserving 30% of land by 2030 than anyone thought.

The gap comes from sites that countries record in their own national data but that never made it into the global database, such as some privately and community-run areas.

A sample of 25 countries changed the count

Checking every country's national records would take years, so the team built a globally representative sample of 25 countries and territories, combined their national datasets with the global figures and extrapolated the result to the whole planet.

“Our analysis suggests that much more of the land is in some type of conservation area than currently recognized,” said lead author Helen O'Neill of the Institute of Zoology in London, according to a University of Kent statement. The study's lead investigator is Bob Smith, director of the Durrell Institute, and its authors include Heather Bingham, who leads the Protected Planet Initiative at the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

More land, but the same gaps

The extra land does not fix the biggest weakness. The newly counted areas do little to cover habitats that are missing from today's networks, the authors found, so meeting the area part of the target would do little on its own to stop biodiversity loss. Grasslands and shrublands, home to uniquely adapted wildlife, are among the habitats with limited protection.

The 30% goal is Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Besides the area, it asks for sites that are managed effectively, well connected, placed where they matter most for biodiversity and fair to local people. In the official Protected Planet data, protected areas cover 17.58% of land and inland waters, or 18.69% when other effective conservation areas are included.

Some of that coverage is new: in Australia, Victoria created three new national parks this year. Restoring damaged habitat, the subject of many habitat restoration stories, is a separate target in the same framework.

Recognition and management are the next steps

The researchers call for two things. Countries should formally report the conservation areas they already have, so that the global data catch up with national records. And funding and attention should go to how well all conservation areas are run, since adding hectares achieves little if the sites are not effectively and fairly managed, Smith said. With just over four years left until 2030, the study does not estimate how much of the newly counted land is managed well.