A Decision-Support Tool to Augment Global Mountain Protection and Conservation, including a Case Study from Western Himalaya

Mountains are remarkable storehouses of global biodiversity that provide a broad range of ecosystem services underpinning billions of livelihoods. The world’s network of protected areas includes many iconic mountain landscapes. However, only ca. 19% of mountain areas globally are protected (excludin...

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Published in:Land
Main Authors: Peter Jacobs, Clinton Carbutt, Erik A. Beever, J. Marc Foggin, Madeline Martin, Shane Orchard, Roger Sayre
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023
Subjects:
S
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/land12071323
https://doaj.org/article/5e30d6a34f4d411ea00ab745da0bc9fe
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spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5e30d6a34f4d411ea00ab745da0bc9fe 2023-08-20T04:02:03+02:00 A Decision-Support Tool to Augment Global Mountain Protection and Conservation, including a Case Study from Western Himalaya Peter Jacobs Clinton Carbutt Erik A. Beever J. Marc Foggin Madeline Martin Shane Orchard Roger Sayre 2023-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/land12071323 https://doaj.org/article/5e30d6a34f4d411ea00ab745da0bc9fe EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/7/1323 https://doaj.org/toc/2073-445X doi:10.3390/land12071323 2073-445X https://doaj.org/article/5e30d6a34f4d411ea00ab745da0bc9fe Land, Vol 12, Iss 1323, p 1323 (2023) biodiversity hotspots decision-support tool ecosystem services global mountain priorities Key Biodiversity Areas mountain biodiversity Agriculture S article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/land12071323 2023-07-30T00:35:22Z Mountains are remarkable storehouses of global biodiversity that provide a broad range of ecosystem services underpinning billions of livelihoods. The world’s network of protected areas includes many iconic mountain landscapes. However, only ca. 19% of mountain areas globally are protected (excluding Antarctica); many mountain areas are inadequately (<30% of their total terrestrial area) or completely unprotected. To support the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s Global Biodiversity Framework goal of protecting at least 30% of the world’s lands by 2030, we have developed a strategic decision-support tool for identifying and prioritizing which candidate mountain areas most urgently require protection. To test its efficacy, we applied the tool to the Western Himalaya Case Study Area (WHCSA). The six-step algorithm harnesses multiple datasets including mountain Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), World Terrestrial Ecosystems, Biodiversity Hotspots, and Red List species and ecosystems. It also makes use of other key attributes including opportunities for disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, developing mountain tourism, maintaining elevational gradients and natural ecological corridors, and conserving flagship species. This method resulted in nine categories of potential action—four categories for follow-up action (ranked by order of importance and priority), and five categories requiring no further immediate action (either because countries are inadequately equipped to respond to protection deficits or because their KBAs are deemed adequately protected). An area-based analysis of the WHCSA identified 33 mountain KBAs regarded as inadequately protected, which included 29 inadequately protected World Mountain Ecosystems. All 33 inadequately protected KBAs in the WHCSA are Category A1: first-priority mountain KBAs (located in the Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot in developing countries), requiring the most urgent attention for protection and conservation. Priorities for action can be fine-filtered by ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Land 12 7 1323
institution Open Polar
collection Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
op_collection_id ftdoajarticles
language English
topic biodiversity hotspots
decision-support tool
ecosystem services
global mountain priorities
Key Biodiversity Areas
mountain biodiversity
Agriculture
S
spellingShingle biodiversity hotspots
decision-support tool
ecosystem services
global mountain priorities
Key Biodiversity Areas
mountain biodiversity
Agriculture
S
Peter Jacobs
Clinton Carbutt
Erik A. Beever
J. Marc Foggin
Madeline Martin
Shane Orchard
Roger Sayre
A Decision-Support Tool to Augment Global Mountain Protection and Conservation, including a Case Study from Western Himalaya
topic_facet biodiversity hotspots
decision-support tool
ecosystem services
global mountain priorities
Key Biodiversity Areas
mountain biodiversity
Agriculture
S
description Mountains are remarkable storehouses of global biodiversity that provide a broad range of ecosystem services underpinning billions of livelihoods. The world’s network of protected areas includes many iconic mountain landscapes. However, only ca. 19% of mountain areas globally are protected (excluding Antarctica); many mountain areas are inadequately (<30% of their total terrestrial area) or completely unprotected. To support the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s Global Biodiversity Framework goal of protecting at least 30% of the world’s lands by 2030, we have developed a strategic decision-support tool for identifying and prioritizing which candidate mountain areas most urgently require protection. To test its efficacy, we applied the tool to the Western Himalaya Case Study Area (WHCSA). The six-step algorithm harnesses multiple datasets including mountain Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), World Terrestrial Ecosystems, Biodiversity Hotspots, and Red List species and ecosystems. It also makes use of other key attributes including opportunities for disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, developing mountain tourism, maintaining elevational gradients and natural ecological corridors, and conserving flagship species. This method resulted in nine categories of potential action—four categories for follow-up action (ranked by order of importance and priority), and five categories requiring no further immediate action (either because countries are inadequately equipped to respond to protection deficits or because their KBAs are deemed adequately protected). An area-based analysis of the WHCSA identified 33 mountain KBAs regarded as inadequately protected, which included 29 inadequately protected World Mountain Ecosystems. All 33 inadequately protected KBAs in the WHCSA are Category A1: first-priority mountain KBAs (located in the Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot in developing countries), requiring the most urgent attention for protection and conservation. Priorities for action can be fine-filtered by ...
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Peter Jacobs
Clinton Carbutt
Erik A. Beever
J. Marc Foggin
Madeline Martin
Shane Orchard
Roger Sayre
author_facet Peter Jacobs
Clinton Carbutt
Erik A. Beever
J. Marc Foggin
Madeline Martin
Shane Orchard
Roger Sayre
author_sort Peter Jacobs
title A Decision-Support Tool to Augment Global Mountain Protection and Conservation, including a Case Study from Western Himalaya
title_short A Decision-Support Tool to Augment Global Mountain Protection and Conservation, including a Case Study from Western Himalaya
title_full A Decision-Support Tool to Augment Global Mountain Protection and Conservation, including a Case Study from Western Himalaya
title_fullStr A Decision-Support Tool to Augment Global Mountain Protection and Conservation, including a Case Study from Western Himalaya
title_full_unstemmed A Decision-Support Tool to Augment Global Mountain Protection and Conservation, including a Case Study from Western Himalaya
title_sort decision-support tool to augment global mountain protection and conservation, including a case study from western himalaya
publisher MDPI AG
publishDate 2023
url https://doi.org/10.3390/land12071323
https://doaj.org/article/5e30d6a34f4d411ea00ab745da0bc9fe
genre Antarc*
Antarctica
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctica
op_source Land, Vol 12, Iss 1323, p 1323 (2023)
op_relation https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/7/1323
https://doaj.org/toc/2073-445X
doi:10.3390/land12071323
2073-445X
https://doaj.org/article/5e30d6a34f4d411ea00ab745da0bc9fe
op_doi https://doi.org/10.3390/land12071323
container_title Land
container_volume 12
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