2014/06/24 by Peter Anthamatten, Helen Hazen
Environmental Science · #Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies #Land Use and Ecosystem Services
paper · doi:10.1080/00330124.2014.921014
crossref issued 2014/06/24 · crossref published 2014/06/24 · crossref published-online 2014/06/24 · openalex publication_date 2014/06/24 · crossref created 2014/06/24 · crossref published-print 2015/04/03 · crossref deposited 2023/01/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Between 2003 and 2012, the terrestrial area protected for conservation increased slightly, from 11.9 to 12.2 percent globally. Using data from the World Database on Protected Areas and Olson et al.'s (2001) ecological regionalization scheme, we examined the changing distribution of nationally designated protected areas. Over this period, the distribution of protected areas became slightly more even by realm, but biases increased across biomes. Current biases perpetuate long-standing trends, favoring more biodiverse ecosystems (especially tropical rainforests) at the expense of the “less lush” (particularly dry forests and deserts). Ecosystems of high agricultural value, especially temperate grasslands, also remain underrepresented.