Protected areas, as a research topic, encompass geographically defined spaces that are formally designated and managed to achieve specific conservation objectives, typically the long-term maintenance of biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and associated ecosystem services. Scientific inquiry focuses on their design (e.g., size, shape, connectivity), governance regimes, management effectiveness, and socio-ecological outcomes, including impacts on species persistence, genetic diversity, habitat integrity, and local communities. Research also examines zoning, threat mitigation, monitoring frameworks, and the integration of protected areas into broader landscape and seascape planning, as well as their role in meeting international conservation targets and informing evidence-based environmental policy.
Historically protected by cultural traditions, sacred forests are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic pressures, particularly in West Africa, where natural areas and wildlife populations have dwindled as human populations ...
Successful conservation relies on choosing the right tools for each goal and context. As the world aims to protect 30% of Earth's land and seas under the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, conservation planners ...
Ecology
Sep 24, 2025
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19
New research reveals "unprecedented" conservation results of community-based management of protected areas in the Amazon—as many face a future in which they may become increasingly degraded due to low enforcement of regulations, ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 19, 2025
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1489
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), ratified in 2022 by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, sets out a new global agenda for safeguarding nature.
Ecology
Sep 15, 2025
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21
Protecting Indigenous territories in areas of the Amazon rainforest with high levels of forest cover may help reduce the number of cases of several diseases (including malaria and respiratory conditions) in the surrounding ...
Environment
Sep 11, 2025
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27
Despite their importance to water security and their legal protection, diffuse seeps—which are primarily responsible for the formation of wetlands in Brazil's Cerrado savanna biome—continue to be systematically neglected ...
Ecology
Sep 9, 2025
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18
In the heart of French Polynesia, a narrow channel carves its way through the Fakarava Atoll, connecting a vast lagoon to the open ocean. To the casual eye, it's a beautiful stretch of turquoise water. To a thriving community ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 9, 2025
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48
What happens when a national park or conservation area is created next to a business that emits toxic substances into the environment?
Environment
Sep 3, 2025
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21
To protect biodiversity, a meta-analysis finds that agriculture should use a combination of biodiversity-friendly approaches and protected areas. For decades, scientists have debated how agriculture can both feed the world ...
Ecology
Sep 2, 2025
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20
There is strong support for the global 30–30 target on biodiversity, which means that one-third of Earth's surface should be protected by 2030. This is shown in a study from the University of Gothenburg that measured public ...
Environment
Aug 28, 2025
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27
