Trade-offs between nature and people in Ethiopia’s protected areas demonstrate challenges in translating global conservation targets into national realities. Conservation costs and often the least able to pay. Great work from James Borrell at RBG Kew.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Quasi-experimental analysis of the effects of Ethiopia’s protected areas on environmental and human wellbeing is combined with surveys of conservation professionals to explore why improving protected ...
Ethiopia’s protected areas are working — and that is worth celebrating.
Our new paper in @natecoevo.nature.com looks at what Ethiopia’s experience can teach us about the challenges in turning global conservation targets into effective and equitable national action. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
There is also an accompanying News & Views by Johanna Eklund, which places the study in the wider context of assessing national progress towards 30-by-30.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Encouragingly, some protected areas appear to benefit both people and nature.
These examples show that trade-offs are not inevitable — and that better outcomes may be possible.
Learning from these sites could help guide future conservation efforts.
Using a quasi-experimental approach, we find that Ethiopia’s protected areas reduce forest loss, slow agricultural expansion and help maintain grasslands, despite major development pressures and limited resources.
That is a real conservation achievement.
Quasi-experimental analysis of the effects of Ethiopia’s protected areas on environmental and human wellbeing is combined with surveys of conservation professionals to explore why improving protected ...
www.nature.com
This work was only possible through a long-running collaborations.
Huge thanks to all co-authors, collaborators and partners involved, especially our Ethiopian colleagues and institutions for their leadership, expertise and long-term commitment to this work.
But these gains have come with costs.
People living near protected areas experienced greater declines in food security.
For global conservation targets to succeed, protected areas need to be effective, representative and fair - and local costs need to be recognised so they can be reduced.
