Abstract
Expanding and managing current habitat and species protection measures is at the heart of the European biodiversity strategy. A structured approach is needed to gain insights into such issues is systematic conservation planning, which uses techniques from decision theory to identify places and actions that contribute most effectively to policy objectives given a set of constraints. Yet culturally and historically determined European landscapes make the implementation of any conservation plans challenging, requiring an analysis of synergies and trade-offs before implementation. In this work, we review the scientific literature for evidence of previous conservation planning approaches, highlighting recent advances and success stories. We find that the conceptual characteristics of European conservation planning studies likely reduced their potential in contributing to better-informed decisions. We outline pathways towards improving the uptake of decision theory and multi-criteria conservation planning at various scales, particularly highlighting the need for (a) open data and intuitive tools, (b) the integration of biodiversity-focused conservation planning with multiple objectives, (c) accounting of dynamic ecological processes and functions, and (d) better facilitation of entry-points and co-design practices of conservation planning scenarios with stakeholders. By adopting and improving these practices, European conservation planning might become more actionable and adaptable towards implementable policy outcomes. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Ecological novelty and planetary stewardship: biodiversity dynamics in a transforming biosphere’.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 20230015 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-12 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Biological Sciences |
| Volume | 379 |
| Issue number | 1902 |
| Early online date | 8 Apr 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 27 May 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2024 The Authors.
Funding
M.C. would like to acknowledge financial support from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg (Austria) and the National Member Organizations that support the institute in taking part in the Young Scientists Summer Program. M.J., L.O., R.S., H.K. and P.V. would like to acknowledge funding under the Horizon Europe project \u2018NaturaConnect\u2019. NaturaConnect receives funding under the European Union\u2019s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 101060429. M.J. and P.V. furthermore acknowledge funding from the 2021\u20132022 BiodivERsA call for research proposals under the BiodivProtect program (funding organization: FWF Austrian Science Fund, Grant DOI 10.55776/I6396). DA received support from the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) project UIDB/05183/2020. There is an urgent need to halt the decline of biodiversity in the EU, and the ecosystem services it supports. Despite important past efforts to preserve biodiversity, such as the Birds and Habitats Directives or Water Framework Directive, there has been insufficient progress towards halting biodiversity decline [\u2013]. For this reason, the European Union (EU) has committed to an ambitious biodiversity recovery plan supported by the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Green Deal [] and backed by the Global Biodiversity Framework []. These policy advances aim to set biodiversity in a recovery path and move towards sustainable development, focusing on the restoration of degraded habitats, protecting undisturbed lands, extending the network of protected areas and improving the effectiveness of management, governance and funding in this coming decade. Where and how these ambitioned goals are to be achieved, however, depends on the strategic allocation of conservation measures under limited and uncertain budgets [] and an overall strong competition for land resources by multiple sectors. Given these challenges there is thus a need for robust decision-making into where and what to achieve with conservation and restoration actions in space and time. M.C. would like to acknowledge financial support from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg (Austria) and the National Member Organizations that support the institute in taking part in the Young Scientists Summer Program. M.J., L.O., R.S., H.K. and P.V. would like to acknowledge funding under the Horizon Europe project \u2018NaturaConnect\u2019. NaturaConnect receives funding under the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 101060429. M.J. and P.V. furthermore acknowledge funding from the 2021\u20132022 BiodivERsA call for research proposals under the BiodivProtect program (funding organization: FWF Austrian Science Fund, Grant DOI 10.55776/I6396 ). DA received support from the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) project UIDB/05183/2020. Acknowledgments
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme | |
| Austrian Science Fund | |
| European Commission | |
| International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis | |
| Horizon Europe research and innovation programme | 101060429 |
| Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | UIDB/05183/2020 |
| Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia |
Keywords
- biodiversity conservation
- decision theory
- prioritization
- spatial optimization
- stakeholder
- ‘30 × 30’