Item Link: Access the Resource
Date of Publication: April 12
Year of Publication: 2021
Publication City: Washington, DC; New York, NY
Publisher: Vox Media
Author(s): Benji Jones
The goal to protect 30 percent of the Earth is more arbitrary than you might think.
Right now, in the conservation movement, a lot of people are fixated on a single number: 30.
The US and more than 50 other countries have pledged to conserve 30 percent of their land and water by 2030 as a means to help thwart the biodiversity crisis.
Biodiversity tends to increase with the area of land or water conserved, yet just 16 percent of global land is in protected areas today (in the US, it’s closer to 12 percent), according to the World Database on Protected Areas. Intact ecosystems also play a major role in mitigating climate change.
As conservationists have recognized the importance of protecting rich ecosystems before they’re bulldozed, drained, deforested, or abandoned, “30 by 30” has become a rallying call for the movement’s most influential organizations, political leaders, and advocates.
Read the full article here.
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