"Protect 30% of the planet for nature," scientists urge in new report

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/asu-3o070820.php


News Release 8-Jul-2020
Arizona State University


In an independent report published today, an analysis from over 100 experts finds the benefits of protecting 30% of the planet outweigh the costs by a factor of at least 5:1. The report entitled, "Protecting 30% of the planet for nature: costs, benefits, and economic implications," represents the first multi-sector analysis that assesses the global impacts of terrestrial and marine protected areas across the nature conservation, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors. It is the most comprehensive global assessment of the financial and economic impacts of protected areas ever completed.

The report's main finding is that protecting at least 30% of the world's land and ocean provides greater benefits than the status quo, both in terms of financial outcomes and key non-monetary benefits including ecosystem services such as climate change mitigation, flood protection, clean water provision, and soil conservation. 30% protection generates economic benefits from these "public goods" averaging $350 billion annually and leads to increased economic output averaging $260 billion annually by 2050. Encouragingly, this protection would require just 0.16% of the global GDP, which is less than one-third of the government subsidies currently directed to activities that destroy nature.

"There's a misconception that we either can protect our planet or we can have economic growth, but in fact, it's not an 'and/or' dichotomy.

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