Revisiting protected areas for biodiversity conservation

Biodiversity and Sustainable Development

Biodiversity is the foundation of a healthy planet and essential for sustainable development. It provides clean water, food, and regulates our climate. Forests, oceans, and wetlands stabilize the climate, protecting against extreme weather events and supporting ecosystem resilience.

Unprecedented biodiversity loss

Yet, the world faces a biodiversity crisis, with species loss happening at unprecedented rates. Nearly one million species are at risk, with extinction rates 1,000 times higher than natural levels. A recent report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services highlights the urgency of addressing drivers like habitat destruction, overexploitation, pollution, illegal wildlife trade, invasive species, and climate change. Protecting biodiversity is vital for a resilient future.
 

Global 30x30 biodiversity conservation initiative

The alarming loss of biodiversity we are witnessing today demands urgent global action, and the Global 30x30 initiative, part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) at COP 15, aims to protect 30% of land and oceans by 2030. This initiative seeks to halt biodiversity decline and restore ecosystems. Given that species and ecosystems transcend borders, collective international action is essential to strengthen policies, increase funding, and enforce conservation.
 

Protected Areas for biodiversity conservation 

Traditional conservation strategies have focused on Protected Areas (PAs), legally designated spaces intended to safeguard species and habitats. While the global PA network has grown over the past 25 years, there is limited understanding of their effectiveness in protecting endemic species—those unique to specific countries or regions—that are at risk due to small populations and restricted habitats. The lack of timely, location-specific data has impeded conservation efforts.
 

New World Bank global biodiversity database with expanded species coverage

To address this, we developed a global biodiversity database covering nearly 600,000 species across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems using open-access data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). In addition to the traditionally well-represented vertebrates (amphibians, birds, fish, reptiles, and mammals), our database significantly expands habitat information—by fivefold for plants and tenfold for invertebrates and other phyla. This new data enables more targeted conservation efforts by mapping the overlap between protected areas and critical habitats and identifying gaps for vulnerable species.
 

Assessing PA Coverage for Preserving Endemic Species

We overlaid PA boundaries from the World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA 2024) with endemic species occurrence regions from the World Bank database to calculate the number of currently protected species.

Key Insights from our case Studies

Our findings reveal several important trends:

• Varied Protection Levels: Protection levels vary significantly across countries (see figure below). Some, like Costa Rica (59%) and Bhutan (49%) have protected substantial portions of their land, while others, such as Algeria (6%), Turkmenistan (5%) and Bangladesh (4%) still have a long way to go.
• Traditional focus on vertebrates missed many other critical species: Expanded coverage of species beyond vertebrates in our new dataset revealed that many species in other groups (e.g., arthropods) have not received adequate attention in PA selection.
• Diverse Taxa Representation: The diversity of unprotected species varies widely across different countries, highlighting the unique conservation challenges each faces.
• Spatial Clustering of Unprotected Species: In certain countries, unprotected species are concentrated in particular areas, such as in Guyana, Costa Rica, Benin, Angola, Malaysia and Philippines, while in others, like Peru, South Africa and Indonesia, they are more dispersed. 

Implications of our findings for countries’ 30x30 commitments

Our analysis highlights important implications for countries striving to meet their international 30x30 commitments. While nations like China and India can protect newly identified endemic species within the 30% territorial standard, others—such as Brazil, Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Tanzania—may need to exceed this threshold. In Brazil, for example, 5,499 separate protected areas (highlighted in green on the map below) currently cover 30.6% of the country, providing significant protection for 93% of endemic species. However, 1,412 species have little to no coverage, with their occurrence mainly in the less-protected eastern and southeastern regions. These species, many mapped for the first time in the World Bank data, remain vulnerable despite the existing protected area network.

Overall, even modest expansions of protected areas can lead to significant gains, especially in regions with concentrated species. Tailored conservation strategies, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, are crucial. By assessing their unique ecological contexts, countries can preserve biodiversity and meet their 30x30 goals through flexible, strategic planning.

For World Bank operations, this will support the implementation of ESS6 (Biodiversity Conservation) during project preparation and implementation in key biodiversity-rich countries.

If you’re interested in the new database and our research on Species Occurrence Regions, please see Revisiting Global Biodiversity: A Spatial Analysis of Species Occurrence Data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10821.

The PA boundaries used in our analysis are from UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (2024), Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) / OECM Database [Online], [10/2024], Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN. Available at: www.protectedplanet.net.

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Global Environment Facility.