Abstract
Climate change is a pervasive and ongoing threat to natural and human communities around the globe, and protected areas are not exempt from its impacts. However, protected areas are also a powerful and increasingly utilised tool to enhance climate mitigation and increase the adaptation of human and natural communities alike. From the protection of ecosystems that draw carbon out of the atmosphere and protect human communities, to the ability to help species move to more favourable conditions and adapt to a changing environment, protected areas have the potential to aid the global fight to address the climate crisis while reinforcing their ‘traditional’ role to protect biodiversity.
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16.1 Introduction
The interconnected crises of biodiversity loss and climate change are having profound effects on human well-being and the natural world on which society depends (Newbold, 2018). Addressing these crises will require leveraging and integrating natural processes more fully into management and policy actions. Protected areas (PAs) are increasingly recognised as a tool to protect, restore, and enhance critical natural processes. Traditionally established for biodiversity conservation, PAs also serve as tools for climate change adaptation and mitigation by protecting and maintaining carbon sinks and reservoirs, natural infrastructure that protects human communities, species that are threatened by climate change, and the ecological processes and services that humans depend on in an increasingly variable world (Dinerstein et al., 2019; IPCC, 2019; Rockström et al., 2017).
While this ‘traditional’ role addresses the biodiversity crisis, the ability of PAs to be designed for and act to address climate change is a recently recognised and increasingly implemented management model. In fact, the recent sixth assessment report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recognises ecosystem-based adaptation through area-based conservation, protection, and restoration of ecosystems as an effective strategy to reduce the vulnerability of biodiversity and humans to climate change (Pörtner et al., 2022). This interplay of humans and nature is integral to successfully addressing the climate and biodiversity crises. Rather than requiring the exclusion of people, the role of PAs in climate adaptation, and the need for greater protection of biodiversity and ecosystems services require both intentional, thoughtful governance and the integration of human and natural systems. Globally, 37% of remaining natural lands are traditionally owned, managed, or occupied by indigenous peoples (Garnett et al., 2018). The traditional conservation and management practices implemented in these areas are integral to the cultural practices of these communities and are increasingly recognised for the important benefits they bring to biodiversity conservation, as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation (Dinerstein et al., 2019; Schuster et al., 2019). These and other co-benefits make PAs a powerful tool to enhance climate mitigation and the adaptation of ecological and human communities.
16.2 Impacts of Climate Change on Protected Areas
From the most visited national park to the most remote marine reserve, there is no corner of the globe that is untouched by climate change. The release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from burning fossil fuels and other human activities has led to increasing global air and sea temperatures, ocean waters that are more acidic and lower in oxygen, alterations to atmospheric and oceanic circulation, and countless changes to ecosystems and species. Although some areas have enjoyed more climate stability than others, resulting in refugia, these areas are now also threatened (Brown et al., 2020; Kocsis et al., 2021). Climate change is now one of the top five drivers of biodiversity loss globally (Diaz et al., 2019) and thus a prevalent threat to PAs, including World Heritage sites (Osipova et al., 2020). In addition, non-climate stressors such as habitat fragmentation, pollution, direct damage to ecosystems, and unsustainable management further increase the vulnerability of ecosystems to climate change (Pörtner et al., 2022).
Most climate change impacts on PAs are a direct or indirect result of an increase in temperature. Perhaps most noticeably, gradual warming encourages species to move in geographic space, generally poleward, upslope, or to deeper waters to track preferred conditions (Pinsky et al., 2020; Poloczanska et al., 2013). Such range shifts have already been observed in plant and animal species found in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats (Feeley et al., 2020; Pinsky et al., 2020; Poloczanska et al., 2013) and can have profound ecological impacts regardless of biome. One widespread example is the over-grazing of temperate macroalgae and seagrass habitats by poleward expanding tropical herbivorous fishes in marine PAs (MPAs), from Japan (Nagai et al., 2011) and Australia (Vergés et al., 2016) to the Mediterranean (Vergés et al., 2014b) and the United States (Fodrie et al., 2010; Vergés et al., 2014a). Further, range shifts are predicted to result in declines in terrestrial species abundance within the European PA network (Araújo et al., 2011). Such climate-driven changes in ecosystem interactions and species composition and abundance can prevent PAs from meeting their conservation objectives (Araújo et al., 2011; Johnston et al., 2013).
Species movements and changes to ecosystem structure are also influenced by other factors. In the ocean, warming-driven changes to ocean currents (Peng et al., 2022) and oxygen levels (Laffoley & Baxter, 2019) affect species movement and ecosystems. Further, increasing temperatures are reducing the thickness and extent of Arctic sea ice, threatening ice-dependent species and the people who depend on these unique ecosystems. On land, warmer and drier climates are leading to a loss of alpine communities, even in the large PA complexes of North America (Holsinger et al., 2019), and are causing tundra ecosystems to be overtaken by trees and shrubs (Myers-Smith et al., 2015). Changes in precipitation and atmospheric circulation can have profound impacts on terrestrial and freshwater species and ecosystems. Decreases in precipitation can lead to local species extinctions, especially for species dependent on freshwater. In particular, the interaction of water loss and temperature increases makes amphibian species extremely vulnerable to climate change (Lertzman‐Lepofsky et al., 2020). The drying of wetlands has already caused the decline of several amphibian species within Yellowstone National Park (McMenamin et al., 2008).
In addition to gradual changes, extreme events are increasing in frequency and intensity. Flooding and droughts are already altering freshwater wetlands, including those in PAs. In the Pripyat River in Eastern Europe, large areas of flood plains are drying out, which could result in reduced plant recruitment and an ecological shift (Moomaw et al., 2018). Further, a mass die-off of mangrove forests in Australia’s Gulf of Carpentaria Marine Park has been attributed to El Niño-driven drought and sea level anomalies (Abhik et al., 2021; Duke et al., 2017), while an unprecedented localised mortality event in the U.S.’s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary may have been triggered by a flood-induced pulse of river water (Johnston et al. 2018). Droughts have also been associated with an increase in tree mortality globally, as well as a loss of threatened bird species and outbreaks of woodboring insects (Ruthrof et al., 2018). Compounding this effect, warmer, drier air can cause landscape-scale fires (Liu et al., 2010) that devastate landscapes and release carbon into the atmosphere. Because of their slow generation time, trees are highly vulnerable to rapid changes in climate and there are concerns that existing forests might not persist in the future (Brodribb et al., 2020). Increasingly frequent and severe heatwaves (Frölicher et al., 2018; Perkins-Kirkpatrick & Lewis, 2020) also exacerbate the impacts of gradual warming such as species range shifts (Lonhart et al., 2019), drought (Ruthrof et al., 2018), fire (Liu et al., 2010), ecosystem transformation (Beas‐Luna et al., 2020), and coral bleaching (Day et al., 2020). A 2016 marine heatwave compressed upwelling in California’s Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary closer to shore. Humpback whales followed the associated prey shoreward, encountering fishing gear from a Dungeness crab fishery delayed due to a harmful algal bloom (Santora et al., 2020). This confluence of events driven by the heatwave led to record levels of whale entanglement (Santora et al., 2020).
MPAs are also experiencing additional climate impacts. Warmer waters have a lower capacity to hold oxygen and warming may have already led to a two per cent decrease in global ocean oxygen since 1960, with the potential loss of an additional three to four per cent by 2100 (Laffoley & Baxter, 2019; Stramma & Schmidtko, 2019), increasing rates of hypoxia (Altieri & Gedan, 2015; Chan et al., 2019) and threatening benthic ecosystems and species (Diaz & Rosenberg, 1995). Further, rising sea levels driven by warming-induced thermal expansion of sea water and melting ice caps threaten to drown coastal ecosystems like mangroves and salt marshes that provide critical nursery habitat and coastal protection. Ecosystems can also be damaged by tropical cyclones and other extreme storms, which are becoming stronger and wetter as the ocean warms (Knutson et al., 2019). In 2018, Hurricane Walaka passed through Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, erasing an islet important to endangered Hawaiian monk seals and devastating a nearly pristine coral reef (Pascoe et al., 2021). Independent of warming, the absorption of increasing atmospheric CO2 by ocean waters has raised the acidity of the ocean by at least 30% since the 1800s (Doney et al., 2009). Ocean acidification reduces the ability of organisms such as shellfish and corals to make and maintain their stony shells and skeletons (Hofmann et al., 2010) and can threaten the survival and growth of larvae and plankton (Bednarsek et al., 2020; Bednaršek et al., 2017). Reductions in these populations can create cascades through the food chain that threaten higher trophic levels (Hodgson et al., 2018; Piatt et al., 2020).
16.3 Protected Areas as a Tool for Climate Adaptation
Buoyed by strong policy and management, PAs represent one of our most effective tools to adapt to a changing climate. Furthermore, they have been shown to provide a thermal buffer against climate change (Xu et al., 2022). The role of PAs in aiding natural resources, and the human communities that depend on them, adapt to climate change is increasingly being recognised. The IPCC recently highlighted that ‘maintaining the resilience of biodiversity and ecosystem services at a global scale depends on effective and equitable conservation of approximately 30 to 50% of Earth’s land, freshwater and ocean areas’ (Pörtner et al., 2022). By enhancing the resilience of biodiversity and ecosystems, PAs contribute to the adaptation of natural and human communities.
16.3.1 Ecological Adaptation
Well-managed and well-designed PAs minimize non-climate stressors such as habitat destruction, pollution, and invasive species, providing an environment that gives organisms their best chance to adapt to climate changes. This adaptation benefit is demonstrated by the slower rate of decline of some species, especially birds (Virkkala et al., 2019), within PAs. In many instances, PAs are expected to retain better climatic suitability compared to unprotected areas (Araújo et al., 2011; Johnston et al., 2013). Targeting areas for protection where changes are occurring more slowly, known as ‘spatial climate refugia’, can give organisms the time they need to adapt to changing conditions. For example, British birds and butterflies that have shifted their distributions towards the poles survive better within PAs (Gillingham et al., 2015). Similarly, protecting areas where organisms are already adapted to conditions similar to expected future conditions, known as ‘adaptive climate refugia’, can ensure species have the genetic diversity to adapt to environmental change (Boyd et al., 2016; Dawson et al., 2011).
The size and geographical characteristics of a PA can also play a critical role in its ability to provide climate adaptation benefits. Species often have a restricted distribution and uneven population densities within PAs and, in the absence of barriers, can often shift their distributions and abundance patterns within a PA of sufficient size (Thomas & Gillingham, 2015). For instance, when temperatures increase, species can adapt by moving uphill or to deeper waters, shifting to slopes facing towards the poles, or moving into denser vegetation or other microhabitats (Scridel et al., 2018; Suggitt et al., 2011). In mountain areas, if PAs are large enough, species can adjust to warmer temperatures by reaching higher elevations, as observed with small mammals in Yosemite National Park (de la Fuente et al., 2022; Moritz et al., 2008). Temperature gradients related to the aspect of hill slopes (Thomas & Gillingham, 2015), vegetation cover (Lenoir et al., 2017; Suggitt et al., 2018), localised upwelling, and other features can also provide a variety of microclimates for species to adapt locally, without having to move out of a PA. However, small and isolated PAs are likely to be more vulnerable to changing climatic conditions (Loarie et al., 2009) and, in some cases, less likely to allow species to adapt locally. In addition, species that already occupy the coolest microclimates within a PA will not be able to shift their distribution locally into more suitable conditions. When species do undergo large geographic shifts, it is important to consider the whole PA network rather than individual PAs and seek to enhance its suitability for species to adapt to climate change.
When integrated into well-designed networks, PAs that are connected to each other and integrated with other land use plans can facilitate species’ adaptation to climate change and act as stepping stones for range shifts (Littlefield et al., 2019; Lopoukhine et al., 2012; MacKinnon et al., 2020). PA networks that incorporate considerations of both connectivity and climate change in their design and management provide protected routes and safe ‘landing places’ for shifting species, ensuring they remain protected even as they move in geographic space (Roberts et al., 2017). Empirical evidence of PAs facilitating species dispersion have been found in Great Britain for butterfly and odonate (dragonfly) species (Gillingham et al., 2015), as well as other invertebrate species and birds (Thomas et al., 2012). Furthermore, ecological networks and corridors between PAs allow species to adapt by shifting their ranges to more suitable habitats and climates (Hilty et al., 2020). Such connectivity considerations are particularly important to the conservation of highly migratory species, which may move across jurisdictional boundaries, as well as species with limited dispersal ability, which may require targeted protection.
Effective protection, facilitated by adaptive and intentional PA design, is a powerful tool to increase the adaptation of ecological communities to climate change. However, sometimes PAs may also need more direct management actions to facilitate the adaptation of ecosystems most at risk from climate change. For example, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is working with partners to identify and grow genetic strains of coral resistant to warming and disease to be used during reef restoration. Further, managers in multiple PAs have been able to accelerate the adaptation of coastal wetlands to sea level rise by adding sediment (Berkowitz et al., 2017), restoring hydrological regimes (White & Kaplan, 2017), or providing space for these habitats to move inland (Wigand et al., 2017).
16.3.2 Human Adaptation
Effectively managed PAs provide essential ecosystem services such as food, clean water, recreation, economic opportunities, cultural practices, and disaster protection, that can help people adapt to the negative impacts of climate change (Dudley et al., 2010; Ivanić et al., 2017). Importantly, many terrestrial PAs contribute to the conservation and enhanced management of natural ecosystems that provide freshwater supplies (Harrison et al., 2016; MacKinnon et al., 2019) for agriculture, domestic use, and management of natural resources. For example, Cambodia’s Tonle Sap lake, which has been designated as a PA, provides a critical supply of water and other ecosystem services to millions of people (Neugarten et al., 2020). PAs can also contribute to human health by protecting habitats that provide access to traditional medicine and protect the genetic material on which modern medicines depend (MacKinnon et al., 2019). Further, by protecting intact natural ecosystems, PAs play a key role in limiting the spread of zoonotic diseases (Terraube et al., 2017). Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of PAs in buffering against novel disease outbreaks by maintaining ecosystem integrity is being increasingly recognised (McNeely, 2021; Terraube & Fernández-Llamazares, 2020). Finally, PAs can also protect biodiversity that is important for agriculture, including crop wild relatives that facilitate crop breeding and pollination services (Dudley et al., 2010), which are currently better represented in PAs than in seed banks (Wambugu & Henry, 2022).
In addition to the direct provision of services, PAs often protect habitats such as terrestrial and mangrove forests, tidal marshes, and coral reefs that provide protection to communities from climate impacts and natural disasters. This ‘green infrastructure’ stabilises slopes from earth and snow movement (Dudley et al., 2010) and reduces the effects of waves (Möller et al., 2014), flooding (Narayan et al., 2017), storm surges (Krauss et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2012), and wind damage (Das & Crépin, 2013). These ecosystems provide benefits on the order of billions of dollars annually (Storlazzi et al., 2019) and save lives during extreme events like cyclones and tsunamis (Bayas et al., 2011). PAs also often preserve more pristine ecosystems, such as primary forests, that are less susceptible to wildfire and other disasters (Adrianto et al., 2019). Similarly, PAs that conserve grasslands, dry forests, and healthy desert vegetation can contribute to halting desertification (Dudley et al., 2015), protect watersheds, increase soil water retention, and reduce grazing pressure.
16.4 Protected Areas as a Tool for Climate Mitigation
Attaining the Paris Climate Agreement will require rapid and significant reductions in GHG emissions supplemented by maintaining and enhancing the ability of natural ecosystems to draw down carbon, preventing the release of stored carbon, and large-scale permanent removals of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. According to the IPCC, the removal of 200 to 800 Gt of atmospheric CO2 will be required to meet the 2050 target of net zero (IPCC, 2022), yet none of the technological solutions for CO2 removals are operational on the scale and time frame needed. However, nature can provide part of the solution and biological sinks already absorb up to 59% of anthropogenic GHG emissions (IPCC, 2021). Besides absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, ecosystems also store carbon as organic matter in the vegetation and soils of forests, peatlands, freshwater wetlands, grasslands, tidal marshes, mangroves, seagrass beds, and on the ocean floor (Fig. 16.1) (Smith et al., 2020). If released, much of the carbon stored within ecosystems is considered irrecoverable within a timeframe relevant for attaining the Paris Climate Agreement targets. About 23% of this irrecoverable carbon is found within PAs, with about half of it concentrated in just 3.3% of the planet’s land (Noon et al., 2021).
The estimated values of carbon sequestration for different ecosystems are derived from Supplementary material in (Taillardat et al., 2018). Below, estimates of global carbon storage in selected ecosystems are from several sources: Macreadie et al. 2021 for coastal blue carbon; Lorenz and Lal [2018] for grasslands; Strack et al. [2022] for peatlands; Woods Hole Climate Research Center et al. [2020] for forests. For forests, the bar is split into the estimates for boreal forests (left, darkest green), tropical forests (centre, mid-shade green), and temperate forests (right, lightest green)
International opinion is converging on the importance of ensuring that Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) have benefits for biodiversity, human well-being, and climate change, while avoiding perverse incentives and outcomes that have only modest climate change benefits (Bradfer‐Lawrence et al., 2021; Donatti et al., 2022; Leclère et al., 2020; Pascual et al., 2022; Pörtner et al., 2021; Smith et al., 2019). PAs can play a key role towards achieving multiple positive outcomes and are increasingly recognised as one of the most effective solutions for addressing several societal issues, particularly the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss (Cook-Patton et al., 2021). In fact, the role of PAs in climate change mitigation has already been demonstrated. In Asia, carbon emissions in PAs are 61% lower than outside PAs, and biodiversity hotspots (measured as species richness) overlap with carbon-dense hotspots in 38% of mapped areas (Graham et al., 2021). Similarly, the 364 refuges in the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Systems store 16.6 Gt of carbon, with the refuges created earlier storing more carbon per unit area than refuges created more recently, and with more carbon stored within the wildlife refuge system than outside it (Zhu et al., 2022).
16.4.1 Forests
The vast extent of forests globally (~40 million km2, 25% of the earth’s land surface), make them essential for climate change mitigation. Since 1870, 26% of CO2 emissions have come from deforestation and forest degradation (Watson et al., 2018) while, in contrast, PAs were responsible for a 29% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2012 (Bebber & Butt, 2017). Primary forests are particularly important for climate change mitigation and are estimated to have carbon stocks consisting of 49–53% of all tropical forest carbon, as well as CO2 drawdown rates equivalent to 8–13% of annual global anthropogenic emissions (Mackey et al., 2020).
16.4.2 Grasslands
Grasslands currently cover 31–43% of the Earth’s terrestrial area (excluding Greenland and Antarctica) and make key contributions to climate change mitigation (O’Mara, 2012). However, mainly due to land conversion, grasslands appear to have switched from being a GHG sink to a source of 1.8 ± 0.7 Gt CO2 each year (Gomez-Casanovas et al., 2021). Remaining grassland soil stocks are estimated to be about 343 Gt C (Lorenz & Lal, 2018) and increasing the representation of grasslands in PAs can play an important role in preventing further loss (Griscom et al., 2017).
16.4.3 Freshwater Wetlands
At present, freshwater wetlands are considered net carbon sinks, drawing down about 6% of the current annual increase in CO2 (Moomaw et al., 2018). Wetlands continue to accumulate carbon in their substrate over centuries to millennial time scales—making their carbon stores irrecoverable (Taillardat et al., 2020). When they are disturbed or warmed, however, wetlands can become carbon sources by releasing three major greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Due to this effect, different types of freshwater wetlands have different roles in climate change mitigation. Peatlands remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in deep layers of organic soil, which build up over hundreds to thousands of years. They cover about 3% of the earth’s land area (~4.23 million km2), but are estimated to store up to 30% of all soil carbon (~600 Gt C) and act as a carbon sink with the potential to absorb 1.1 to 2.6 Gt CO2/year globally by 2030. Again, negative feedbacks from warming temperatures could turn peatlands into sources of greenhouse gases. Indonesia’s tropical peatlands cover 24,000 km2 (Astuti, 2021) and store approximately 55 Gt of carbon—20 times more than non-peat containing tropical rainforest of the same size (Jaenicke et al., 2011). Conversion of Indonesian peatlands to agriculture and other human activities has resulted in the release of significant amounts of this stored carbon, but PAs have been shown to be effective in avoiding deforestation of these areas, while also reducing carbon emissions (Graham et al., 2021).
While at least 75% of the remaining peatlands are relatively undisturbed (Strack et al., 2022), they are poorly represented in PA networks. For example, the 350,000 km2 Hudson Plains peatland complex in Northern Canada stores about 30 Gt C (Packalen et al., 2014) and captures 74.6 Mt of CO2 per year (Bergeron & Fenton, 2012), but only 12% is protected (Abraham & McKinnon, 2011). Similarly the Cuvette Centrale, in the Congo Basin, possibly the most extensive tropical peatland complex in the world, covers 145,500 km2 and stores ~ 30.6 Gt of carbon below ground (Dargie et al., 2017). Only 11% of it is protected (Avagyan et al., 2017).
The protection of freshwater mineral wetlands, wetlands that do not produce peat, has received less attention than other ecosystems as carbon sinks and stores. This is likely because the extent to which freshwater mineral wetlands capture and store, or produce and emit, GHGs is tied to microbial soil populations, which in turn respond to hydrological regimes. The balance between microorganisms that release the potent GHG methane (methanogens) and microorganisms that consume methane (methanotrophs) determines whether a mineral wetland is a net source or sink of greenhouse gases (Maietta et al., 2020).
16.4.4 Blue Carbon
Oceanic blue carbon refers to non-coastal marine habitats and processes that contribute to carbon drawdown and storage. The ocean covers 71% of the surface of the Earth, has absorbed about 90% of the heat generated by rising GHG emissions, and captured about 40% of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere in the last century (DeVries, 2022; UNFCCC, 2021). In addition, the ocean stores about 38,000 Gt C in its sediments, which has accumulated over millennia, and absorbs about 1.4 Gt C (=5.13 Gt CO2) from the atmosphere each year (Bollmann et al., 2010). Because of complex relationships between marine biota, ocean chemistry, and climate change, about 1% of absorbed CO2 ends up as stored carbon, largely in deep ocean sediments (DeVries, 2022; Henson et al., 2022). Organisms living in the upper ocean are key players in the global carbon cycle through absorption of atmospheric CO2 and eventual carbon storage in sediment. However, the ocean has experienced devastating impacts (i.e., acidification, warming, oxygen depletion) due to its function in climate change mitigation, including increasing risks to marine life and coastal communities (UNFCCC, 2021). The role of marine systems in climate change mitigation differs between the vegetated coastal zone, or coastal blue carbon (mangroves, tidal marshes, seagrass meadows), and the open ocean.
Coastal blue carbon habitats, covering an estimated 410,000 km2 (Taillardat et al., 2018) to 490,000 km2 (Herr et al., 2017), are found on every continent except Antarctica, and have carbon drawdown rates more than 10 times greater (on a per-area basis) than those of terrestrial ecosystems (McLeod et al., 2011). Although coastal blue carbon ecosystems are the most efficient per-area natural carbon sinks, their limited global scale minimises their climate change mitigation potential. However, the most recent IPCC report recognises the importance of coastal blue carbon in mitigating climate change by 2050 (Nabuurs et al., 2022). Coastal blue carbon can contribute to GHG emission reduction targets for countries with large coastlines and small GHG emissions. For example, in 2014, mangroves mitigated more than 1% of national fossil fuel emissions in Bangladesh, Colombia, and Nigeria (Taillardat et al., 2018). Some permanent effects of increased CO2 in the atmosphere have been blurred by the ability of the ocean to remove CO2. It is predictable that this process is finite and reversible, especially as ocean acidification and increased surface temperatures are starting to counteract the ability of the ocean to remove atmospheric CO2 and the role of biota is not yet well understood.
16.5 Policy and Action to Enhance the Role of Protected Areas as Tools to Address Climate Change
While PAs provide a wealth of benefits that enhance climate mitigation and the adaptation of both human and ecological communities, to successfully achieve these benefits, strong PA policy and management are necessary to reduce other threats and integrate climate change proactively into management (Gross et al., 2016).
16.5.1 Expanding and Enhancing the Global Protected Areas Network
Increasing the coverage of PAs can significantly enhance community resilience to climate change (Lehikoinen et al., 2021). In 2010, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) set a target to protect 17% of the land and 10% of the ocean by 2020 and, as of August 2022, 15.8% of the land and 8.1% of the ocean were protected (Bingham et al., 2021). The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022, is even more ambitious. It set a target to protect at least 30% of terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas by 2030 (see Chapter 1). In addition to coverage, for PAs to efficiently address climate change, it will be crucial to improve (1) PA management effectiveness to combat other threats, such as habitat loss and degradation due to land conversion, and the overexploitation of natural resources; and (2) the connectivity and integration of PAs in the surrounding landscape and seascape (MacKinnon et al., 2020).
16.5.2 Incorporating Protected Areas into National and International Climate Strategies and Agreements
NCS are also increasingly recognised as crucial to attaining the Paris Climate Agreement goal to limit the mean global temperature to well below two degrees Celsius, and preferably one point five degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. More than a third of countries identified PAs in their nationally determined contributions towards the Paris Climate Agreement as a means of attaining their adaptation and mitigation goals, with half of these intending to expand their PA coverage (Hehmeyer et al., 2019). However, almost half of the countries did not mention PAs and almost a third did not consider NCS. Thus, while PAs are imperative to achieve climate change mitigation and adaptation targets, there is the potential for them to play an even greater role as countries increase their climate change ambitions.
Protecting areas that are rich in biodiversity and important carbon reservoirs provides multiple benefits (Roberts et al., 2020). While PAs are effective in maintaining carbon stores and enhancing carbon drawdown, they have rarely, if ever, been created for this specific purpose (Graham et al., 2021; Shi et al., 2020). Global mapping shows a 38% overlap between hotspots for carbon and areas with both high biodiversity and intactness. Yet only 12% of these areas of overlap are in PAs (Fig. 16.2) (Soto-Navarro et al., 2020). Although areas rich in biodiversity and those high in carbon do not always overlap, in cases where they do, vast potential exists for creation of new types of PAs, variously labelled as ‘carbon stabilization areas’ (Dinerstein et al., 2019), ‘strategic carbon reserves’ (Law et al., 2018), or ‘carbon stewardship areas’ (Wilson & Hebda, 2008).
(Source Printed with permission)
(top) Area of overlap between a ‘proactive biodiversity index’ (areas of high local biodiversity [high species richness, range-size rarity], high local intactness, and high average habitat condition) with carbon density (carbon in biomass and soil organic carbon to one metre depth). The dark brown depicts areas of highest overlap. (below) Area of overlap between a ‘reactive biodiversity index’ (areas of high local biodiversity but low average habitat condition and high threats) with carbon density. The dark brown depicts areas of the highest overlap (Soto-Navarro et al., 2020)
16.5.3 Planning and Managing Protected Areas for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
Reinforcing PA management and policies to better take climate change into account is key to enhancing the role PAs play in climate change adaptation and mitigation. PA managers will increasingly have to manage for change, rather than focus on maintaining existing systems. This will involve reviewing and revising management plans and taking climate change into account during PA designation, management, and expansion (Gross et al., 2016; Lawler et al., 2020). Furthermore, it is increasingly important that a diversity of climatic conditions are represented within PAs (Elsen et al., 2020).
Funding affects the quality of PA management, and hence their ability to adapt to climate change (Coad et al., 2019). By linking funding for climate change, biodiversity conservation, and human well-being, new funds can be leveraged to provide multiple benefits. Some of these funding mechanisms include Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD + ) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and voluntary carbon credits or regulatory offsets. The value of these programmes has increased in recent years (e.g., the monetary value of voluntary carbon markets has tripled since 2016) (Sreekar et al., 2022). However, the monetisation of nature also has an increasing number of detractors, in part because evidence shows that many long-standing carbon offset programmes overestimate the carbon benefits (Badgley et al., 2022; Hook & Laing, 2022; West et al., 2020). Strong commitments are needed across national borders to not only better manage PAs in the face of climate change, but entire landscapes and seascapes. PAs provide a key instrument to address these related issues by offering an efficient way to integrate climate change mitigation, adaptation, and related development goals (Roberts et al., 2020). They are a powerful tool to address the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, but strong national and international policy is necessary to ensure these benefits are maintained and leveraged to their fullest extent.
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Cannizzo, Z.J., Belle, E.M.S., Smith, R.B., Mommsen, T.P. (2024). Climate Change—Protected Areas as a Tool to Address a Global Crisis. In: Finneran, N., Hewlett, D., Clarke, R. (eds) Managing Protected Areas. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40783-3_16
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