UNEP-WCMC

Protected areas are inspirational and transformative destinations for millions of people worldwide every year; effectively managed protected areas also help conserve biodiversity and wild nature, sustain ecosystem services, aned provide natural solutions to climate change.

The UNESCO World Heritage List includes 217 properties recognized for their outstanding natural heritage values. Despite UNESCO estimating that up to a quarter of these World Heritage sites are under development pressure from existing and future activities of extractive industries, to date there is no reliable analysis of the extent of overlap on a global scale.

Asia has a rich cultural and natural heritage, but rapid development, population growth and an erosion of traditional practices are resulting in habitat loss and degradation, which is putting protected areas in Asia at risk and leading to serious decline in the biodiversity they harbour.

The Protected Planet Report series, launched in 2012, helps track international progress towards achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 - a target for the global protected area network and for other related targets. One of the key messages of the 2012 Protected Planet Report was that a better understanding and more complete overview of each element of Target 11 would be helpful.

La Lista de Patrimonio Mundial incluye 156 sitios que explícitamente son reconocidos por sus excepcionales valores en biodiversidad, y representan todos los principales ecosistemas del mundo. Sin embargo, aún existen áreas de excepcionales valores en biodiversidad que todavía no son parte de esta red de ‘sitios de Patrimonio Mundial por su biodiversidad’. Para abordar este tema, la UICN y el PNUMA-WCMC han creado este estudio temático global, con un enfoque en el ámbito terrestre.

This study focuses on projected estimates of biodiversity change for the 21st century. Results were used for the third Global Biodiversity Outlook.

This publication highlights the interconnectivity and linkages between coastal ecosystems (mangroves, coral reefs, seagrasses, estuaries, and lagoons) across environmental, economic, social, and management contexts. It presents innovative approaches to better understand, protect and value ecosystems services across linked habitats, informing the trade-off of different land-use management decisions and the effects on healthy systems from drawing on ecosystem services from linked habitats.

Reefs at Risk Revisited is part of a series that began in 1998 with the release of the first global analysis, Reefs at Risk: A Map-Based Indicator of Threats to the World’s Coral Reefs. Two regionspecific publications followed with Reefs at Risk in Southeast Asia (2002) and Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean (2004). These regional studies incorporated more detailed data and refined the modeling approach for mapping the impact of human activities on reefs.