SPACE FOR NATURE SYMPOSIUM Safeguarding space for nature and securing our future Developing a post-2020 Strategy | FEBRUARY 27– 28, 2018 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TABLE OF CONTENTS SYMPOSIUM OVERVIEW 3 AGENDA 4 ABSTRACTS TUESDAY, FEB. 27 | Current targets, progress and shortfalls on protection of space for nature under Aichi Target 11 SESSION 1 Plenary 6 SESSION 2 How much is currently protected? 6 SESSION 3 Areas important for biodiversity 7 SESSION 4 How ecologically representative are current networks? 10 SESSION 5 The need for effective and equitable management 12 SESSION 6 Other effective area-based conservation measures 14 SESSION 7 Connectivity and integration into the wider land/sea-scape 16 SESSION 8 Posters and Reception 17 WEDNESDAY, FEB. 28 | An Ambitious Post-2020 Strategy On Space For Nature SESSION 9 Plenary 18 SESSION 10 How much space do we need for nature? 18 SESSION 11 Space for nature in a post-2020 biodiversity strategy: how to achieve it? 19 SESSION 12 Space for nature in a post-2020 strategy: what to include? 21 SPEAKER AND CHAIR BIOGRAPHIES 23 POSTER ABSTRACTS 38 SYMPOSIUM OVERVIEW SAFEGUARDING SPACE FOR NATURE AND SECURING OUR FUTURE: DEVELOPING A POST-2020 STRATEGY THE CHALLENGE We are rapidly losing Earth’s wild species and wild spaces, with global vertebrate populations having declined by two-thirds by in the last 40 years. Under the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have pledged to protect at least 17% of land and freshwater and 10% of our oceans by 2020. The plan focuses on areas of importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services in systems of effective, equitable and ecologically connected protected and conserved areas. Beyond these milestone targets, conservationists, scientists and policymakers are grappling with the question of how much space needs to be conserved - and how - in order to sustain humans and the rest of life on earth. Over the next few years, governments will be reviewing the current Strategic Plan and considering a new strategy to meet the vision of conserving biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem services and a healthy planet for all by 2050, as part of the wider 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. THE SYMPOSIUM As part of the process to develop a post-2020 strategy, this symposium will bring together international scientists, conservation practitioners, policy-makers, business leaders, civil society and donors to: • Review the science informing future area-based conservation targets • Evaluate the implications of various policy options • Provide balanced, evidence-based recommendations to Parties to the CBD and other policy processes • Raise awareness of the need for a more ambitious, holistic and effective strategy to safeguard space for nature, incorporating protected areas and other effective area- based conservation measures. The symposium will complement and integrate the work of other groups reviewing this issue, such as the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Beyond the Aichi Targets Task Force. The outputs of the meeting will feed into post-2020 negotiations in the run up to the CBD’s 14th Conference of the Parties and the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development of the UN’s Economic and Social Council later in 2018 and will help to ensure that nature conservation is at the heart of sustainable development. Learn more about the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Beyond the Aichi Targets Task Force at IUCN.org/protected-areas/wcpa/what-we-do/beyond-aichi-targets This symposium will be hosted by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and National Geographic Society (NGS), in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), BirdLife International/RSPB, UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD). 3 SPACE FOR NATURE SYMPOSIUM AGENDA TUESDAY, FEB. 27 | Current targets, progress and shortfalls on protection of space for nature under Aichi Target 11 9:00 SESSION 1 - WELCOME AND PLENARY Chair, Matthew Hatchwell, Zoological Society of London 9:45 SESSION 2 - HOW MUCH IS CURRENTLY PROTECTED? Chair, Matthew Hatchwell, Zoological Society of London 10:30 BREAK 11:00 SESSION 3 - AREAS IMPORTANT FOR BIODIVERSITY Chair, Jane Smart, International Union for the Conservation of Nature 12:20 LUNCH 13:30 SESSION 4 - HOW ECOLOGICALLY REPRESENTATIVE ARE CURRENT NETWORKS? Chair, Melanie Heath, BirdLife International 14:30 SESSION 5 - THE NEED FOR EFFECTIVE AND EQUITABLE MANAGEMENT Chair, Ken Norris, Zoological Society of London 15:30 BREAK 16:00 SESSION 6 - OTHER EFFECTIVE AREA-BASED CONSERVATION MEASURES Chair, Kathy MacKinnon, International Union for Conservation of Nature World Commission on Protected Areas 17:00 SESSION 7 - CONNECTIVITY AND INTEGRATION INTO THE LAND/SEA-SCAPE Chair, Nina Bhola, UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre 18:05 SESSION 8 - POSTERS AND RECEPTION 19:15 SYMPOSIUM DINNER THE FULL, DETAILED AGENDA CAN BE VIEWED HERE 4 SPACE FOR NATURE SYMPOSIUM AGENDA WEDNESDAY, FEB. 28 | An ambitious post-2020 strategy on space for nature 9:00 SESSION 9 - PLENARY Chair, Jonathan Baillie, National Geographic Society 9:40 SESSION 10 - HOW MUCH SPACE DO WE NEED FOR NATURE? Chair, Jonathan Hutton, Luc Hoffmann Institute 11:00 BREAK 11:30 SESSION 11 - SPACE FOR NATURE IN A POST-2020 STRATEGY: HOW TO ACHIEVE IT? Chair, Neville Ash, UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre 12:30 LUNCH 13:30 SESSION 12 - SPACE FOR NATURE IN A POST-2020 STRATEGY: WHAT TO INCLUDE Chair, Martin Harper, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds 14:30 BREAK 15:00 SESSION 13 - CONCLUSIONS AND ACTIONS Chair, Simon Stuart, Synchronicity Earth 16:30 CLOSING REMARKS THE FULL, DETAILED AGENDA CAN BE VIEWED HERE 5 SPACE FOR NATURE SYMPOSIUM DAY 1: Current targets, progress and shortfalls on protection of space for nature under Aichi Target 11 | SESSION 1 | PLENARY CRISTIANA PAȘCA PALMER Plenary remarks will provide context in three areas: (1) Where we are with respect to Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, and where we will likely be in 2020; (2) Why we need to create more space for nature and how this might be done; and (3) How to make this part of a larger transformational change. | SESSION 2 | HOW MUCH IS CURRENTLY PROTECTED? NAOMI KINGSTON UN ENVIRONMENT WORLD CONSERVATION MONITORING CENTRE COVERAGE OF THE CURRENT GLOBAL PROTECTED AREA ESTATE Coverage of the global protected areas estate is changing rapidly – particularly in the marine environment. Some of this increase is due to better collation of data in the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), but much reflects a real increase, evidenced in the recent spate of new large Marine Protected Areas. However, the widely differing conservation objectives and management of areas makes it difficult to provide a consistent view of protected area coverage. Similarly, the low levels of reporting and recognition of areas under other forms of protection and conservation management, such as those conserved privately, or through the activities of indigenous peoples’ and local communities, means that it is not possible to provide a comprehensive measure of the areas receiving protection. Future enhancements to the World Database on Protected Areas and its online Protected Planet interface will allow the quality and timeliness of the data to increase, and thus allow tracking change in the global protected areas estate in real-time. Likewise, by improving the channels for reporting the contribution of non-government actors to area based conservation can gain recognition and consideration in global metrics. However, simply tracking coverage is not enough and all aspects of Aichi target 11, such as effectiveness, equity, representatively and connectivity must also be met, and the mechanisms to comprehensively track these aspects of the target must be put in place. 6 SPACE FOR NATURE SYMPOSIUM RACHEL GOLDEN KRONER GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL THE CONSERVATION IMPLICATIONS OF PROTECTED AREA DOWNGRADING, DOWNSIZING, AND DEGAZETTEMENT (PADDD) Though conservation policy assumes that national parks and other protected areas are permanent fixtures on the landscape, recent research reveals widespread protected area downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD). More than 3,000 enacted PADDD events have been documented since 1900 in 70 countries, affecting an area of more than 2.2 million km2 – nearly 10 times the size of the United Kingdom. Although some have proposed PADDD as a key instrument for enlightened conservation planning, PADDD is primarily driven by industrial-scale resource extraction and development, as well as local land pressures and land claims, with links to accelerated forest loss, fragmentation, and carbon emissions. Larger protected areas located nearer to population centers, as well as less effective protected areas are more likely to lose protection. In addition, more than 700 proposed PADDD events have been documented in 34 countries; the potential impacts of these proposals remain unknown. PADDD not only reduces the protected area estate, removing “space for nature,” but also may compromise the Aichi Target 11’s goals to maintain representative, well-managed, and well-connected systems of protected areas. Alongside efforts to track PA expansions and upgrades, future work is needed to document PADDD rigorously using archival research and assess its risks and impacts using robust counterfactual