At the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal, Canada this past winter, nations committed to protecting 30% of the world’s lands and oceans by 2030.
The ’30 x 30′ goal relies on the creation of protected areas, but uncertainties remain about the effectiveness of these protected areas. Encouragingly, recent research led by Jedediah Brodie at the University of Montana, and contributed to by GEODE members Scott Goetz, Patrick Burns, Patrick Jantz, Chris Hakkenberg and Zaneta Kaszta suggests protected areas are associated with higher vertebrate biodiversity. Not only that, but researchers also found that large protected areas were associated with increased mammal diversity in adjacent unprotected areas, a concept called ‘spillover.’
Learn more here, or head straight to the science!
