Screen Shot 2014-11-12 at 06.41.33Protecting the leftovers. Failing to stop the losses. Aiming for the wrong targets.

Just in time for the World Parks Congress in Sydney, Bob Pressey has a piece in The Conversation asking, if we have more parks than ever, why is wildlife still vanishing?

So why are protected areas making so little difference?

This is a vital question about the future of nature that should be discussed at Sydney’s World Parks Congress, beginning today.

This once-in-a-decade Congress, led by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), will be attended by thousands. A sobering reality will lie behind the excitement and networking: while protected-area systems expand, we are losing the planet’s species at an alarming rate.

One reason is that protected areas are only one of our tools, and will never do the job alone. IUCN could say, though, that it’s doing the best it can.

But another reason, more confronting for IUCN, is that protected areas tend to be in the wrong places.

You can read the full article, which includes Bob’s “Four steps to make parks work” at The Conversation.

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