Assessing climate change-robustness of protected area management plans-The case of Germany
- Protected areas are arguably the most important instrument of biodiversity conservation. To keep them fit under climate change, their management needs to be adapted to address related direct and indirect changes. In our study we focus on the adaptation of conservation management planning, evaluating management plans of 60 protected areas throughout Germany with regard to their climate change-robustness. First, climate change-robust conservation management was defined using 11 principles and 44 criteria, which followed an approach similar to sustainability standards. We then evaluated the performance of individual management plans concerning the climate change-robustness framework. We found that climate change-robustness of protected areas hardly exceeded 50 percent of the potential performance, with most plans ranking in the lower quarter. Most Natura 2000 protected areas, established under conservation legislation of the European Union, belong to the sites with especially poor performance, with lower values in smaller areas. InProtected areas are arguably the most important instrument of biodiversity conservation. To keep them fit under climate change, their management needs to be adapted to address related direct and indirect changes. In our study we focus on the adaptation of conservation management planning, evaluating management plans of 60 protected areas throughout Germany with regard to their climate change-robustness. First, climate change-robust conservation management was defined using 11 principles and 44 criteria, which followed an approach similar to sustainability standards. We then evaluated the performance of individual management plans concerning the climate change-robustness framework. We found that climate change-robustness of protected areas hardly exceeded 50 percent of the potential performance, with most plans ranking in the lower quarter. Most Natura 2000 protected areas, established under conservation legislation of the European Union, belong to the sites with especially poor performance, with lower values in smaller areas. In general, the individual principles showed very different rates of accordance with our principles, but similarly low intensity. Principles with generally higher performance values included holistic knowledge management, public accountability and acceptance as well as systemic and strategic coherence. Deficiencies were connected to dealing with the future and uncertainty. Lastly, we recommended the presented principles and criteria as essential guideposts that can be used as a checklist for working towards more climate change-robust planning.…
Verfasserangaben: | Juliane Geyer, Stefan Kreft, Florian JeltschORCiDGND, Pierre L. Ibisch |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185972 |
ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
Pubmed ID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28982187 |
Titel des übergeordneten Werks (Englisch): | PLoS one |
Verlag: | PLoS |
Verlagsort: | San Fransisco |
Publikationstyp: | Wissenschaftlicher Artikel |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Jahr der Erstveröffentlichung: | 2017 |
Erscheinungsjahr: | 2017 |
Datum der Freischaltung: | 20.04.2020 |
Band: | 12 |
Seitenanzahl: | 25 |
Fördernde Institution: | Faculty of Forest and Environment of the Eberswalde University; German Academic Scholarship Foundation; Potsdam University; Lincoln University (New Zealand); German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety through German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation; German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (project INKA BB); Eberswalde University |
Organisationseinheiten: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Biochemie und Biologie |
Peer Review: | Referiert |