Protected Planet Report 2024:
The Protected Planet Report 2024, produced by the UNEP– World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the IUCN and its World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), is the first comprehensive evaluation of the global status of protected and conserved areas.
- It highlights both the progress made and the challenges ahead in achieving Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework(KM-GBF).
Highlights of the Protected Planet Report 2024:
- Global Coverage Progress: 17.6% of land and inland waters, and 8.4% of oceans and coastal areas are under protection.
- While progress has been made, the increase is minimal (less than 0.5% in both realms) since 2020.
- To meet the 30% target by 2030, additional protection is needed: 12.4% more land needs to be protected and 21.6% more ocean needs to be safeguarded.
- Progress in Ocean Conservation: Strongest progress since 2020 has been in the ocean, but most of this has been in national waters.
- In areas beyond national jurisdiction, coverage remains very low (<11% of the total area covered by marine and coastal protected areas).
- Less than 5% of land and 1.3% of marine areas have been assessed for management effectiveness. Only 8.5% of protected land is well-connected.
- Governance remains a challenge, with only 0.2% of land and 0.01% of marine areas assessed for equitable management.
- Only one-fifth of areas identified as important for biodiversity are fully protected. Biodiversity is unevenly conserved.
- Though over two thirds of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are partially or fully covered by protected and conserved areas, the remaining one third (32%) of KBAs fall entirely outside these areas and lack formal protection.
- Indigenous communities govern less than 4% of protected areas, despite holding 13.6% of global terrestrial areas outside formal protection.
- Governance data is lacking for these territories, and their contributions are often not fully recognized.
