7.

Protected areas and the Sustainable

Development Goals
7.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
GOALS
On 25 September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution, “Transforming our
world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” [148]. The 2030 Agenda is a “plan of action for
people, planet and prosperity, peace and partnership” which all countries and stakeholders will implement
collaboratively. The 2030 Agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 specific
targets that will guide decisions over the next 15 years.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development explicitly recognises that social and economic development
depends on the sustainable management of natural resources. Biodiversity considerations are reflected
across more than half of the Goals and targets, for example linking ecosystem health to human well-being
(Goal 3), the delivery of clean water and sanitation (Goal 6), sustainable cities and communities (Goal 11),
climate action (Goal 13) and sustainable management of life below water and life on land (Goals 14 and 15).
The emphasis on the interlinkages between social protection, economic development and environmental
health makes the 2030 Agenda truly integrated and supportive of better investment in natural resource
management.
The SDGs complement the Aichi Biodiversity Targets well and are mutually reinforcing [149] (Box 7.1).
This chapter highlights how protected areas can contribute towards the implementation and achievement
of relevant targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and briefly summarises current
information on the agreed indicators that use protected area information.

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Box 7.1. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the Targets
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals set ambitious end points to achieve sustainable development by 2030.
These include, inter alia, ending poverty and hunger, providing quality education and gender equality, ensuring
clean water and energy for all, sustainable use of natural resources, reducing inequality, achieving sustainable
cities and protecting life on land and in the seas.

Biodiversity conservation is explicitly considered as central to achieving these goals. The Strategic Plan for
Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets therefore reinforce and complement the 2030 Agenda.
A recent review of the links between the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development [149] shows that all 20 Targets have links to the targets of the SDGs. At least 35 of the SDG agreed
indicators across all but one goal have a direct relationship with the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, and 77% of these
are considered to have a moderate to strong relationship with the SDGs.
Source: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org and UNEP (2015) [149]

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7.2 THE ROLE OF PROTECTED AREAS IN ACHIEVING THE
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Protected areas deliver benefits that extend beyond their boundaries. They play a key role in achieving
health, livelihoods and well-being; strengthening ecosystem restoration and resilience (Aichi Biodiversity
Targets 14 and 15); and promoting positive contributions to local economies and reducing poverty
(Aichi Biodiversity Target 2). Protected areas deliver natural solutions to numerous global challenges
[110,118,120,150,139], including storing and sequestering carbon to mitigate climate change [133,151], helping
communities and protected area managers cope with the increasing risk of natural disasters [141], and
offering opportunities to engage women in management of protected areas (Box 7.2).

Box 7.2. Considering gender-related issues within protected areas and the
delivery of SDGs.
By: United Nations Environmental Programme-Gender and Social Safeguards (GSSU)
“Inter-connectedness” is the essence of the SDG 2030 Agenda. It is widely accepted that poverty is
multidimensional and that environmental changes are driven by society. Gender-related characteristics (including
one’s sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation and self-gender identity) interact with other features such as
race, income level, literacy, nationality and geographical location. Decisions and the ability to make choices in
life are shaped by gender. Therefore, gender defines the social relations and power balance between the sexes.
This is why gender equality is a key central factor to consider in the achievement of any development goal. An
environmental gender perspective entails focusing on women’s and men’s social roles and their relationship
with each other and with natural resources [153]. If gender is not taken into account in the delivery of the
SDGs, environmental projects, policies and programmes can aggravate existing inequalities and
produce inadequate long-term results. This is equally true in relation to protected areas.
While the establishment of protected areas is an important strategy to conserve biodiversity, it is inevitably not
gender-neutral. The interaction of people with the environment is influenced by gender roles and norms. The
nexus between protected areas and gender could be two-fold:
First, women and men do not have the same opportunity to voice their concerns and influence
decisions. Evidence suggests that countries with higher parliamentary representation of women are more
likely to ratify environmental agreements and more likely to set aside areas of protected land [153]. Excluding
women from participating in decision making in sustainable community forestry, for instance, can contribute to
ineffective protection of forests. Staff at the Jaú National Park in Brazil carried out a gender appraisal in 1997.
Several questions specific to the region were incorporated into the standard appraisal. One question addressed
to women, “When was the last time you cooked...?” yielded a wealth of information about game and fish
consumption. This question was followed by a list of possible animals or aquatic products. Since women are
responsible for food preparation and distribution, the data provided by women about consumption, variety and
frequency by season are far more complex and thorough than the information provided by men. In addition,
some men, as hunters or fishermen, were reluctant to answer the questions for fear of retaliation [154]. Thus,
biodiversity conservation can benefit from existing local knowledge and experience by involving both men and
women in decision-making at all levels.
Second, men and women may not be able to benefit from protected areas equally, based on their
different decision-making power and societal roles. Generally, women have lower levels of ownership of
and access to land. Insecurity in regards to land tenure has an effect on how much time women and men are
willing to spend on sustainable development practices [155]. Ensuring that both women and men benefit through
financial returns from ecotourism, land taxation relief, etc., is likely to enhance protection and conservation of
natural resources within protected areas.

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Protected areas are essential for sustainable development and therefore are a fundamental mechanism to
help meet many of the SDGs. Table 7.1 shows some selected examples that emphasize their role.

Table 7.1. Selected examples of how protected areas (PAs) contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Sustainable
Development
Goal Protected area contribution (selected examples)
More than 1.1 billion people depend on PAs for a significant percentage of their livelihoods [128].

The European Natura 2000 network supports important agricultural practices and agro-
ecosystems, representing 38% overall of the total area included in Natura 2000 [156].

Physical activity within Victorian Parks in Australia has resulted in health cost savings of about
AU$200 million. The Langtang National Park in Nepal is home to 411 species of medicinal plants
[126].

PAs provide a significant proportion of the drinking water for a third of the world’s 105 largest cities
[119].

Terrestrial PAs are estimated to receive about 8 billion visits per year globally, generating
approximately US$600 billion/year in direct in-country expenditure and US$250 billion/year in
consumer surplus [13].

Between 2000 and 2005, unprotected humid tropical forests lost about twice as much carbon to
deforestation as the same area of protected forest [151].
The flood prevention value of Mantadia National Park in Madagascar was valued at US$126,700 in
1997 (when per capita GDP was $207) [126].

Conserving 20-30% of global oceans in marine PAs could create 1 million jobs, sustain fish
catch worth US$70–80 billion/year and provide ecosystem services with a gross value of roughly
US$4.5–6.7 trillion/year [157].

In many of the world’s major biomes, PAs represent a significant land use – PAs cover almost 21%
of the world’s major inland water types, 20% of the world’s natural forests, 19% of the world’s
mountain area, 17% of the world’s island area, and 13% of the world’s dryland area [2].The Living
Planet Index (LPI) in terrestrial PAs has declined by less than half the rate of decline of the LPI
across all terrestrial areas globally [116].

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Protected areas will also make an important contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals through
the Promise of Sydney. The Promise of Sydney, which was the main outcome from the IUCN World Parks
Congress 2014, held in Sydney in 2014 (Box 1.1), considers a number of actions that will contribute to the
implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, as well as at least 12 of the Sustainable
Development Goals (Table 7.2).

Table 7.2. Specific recommendations and commitments from Promise of Sydney to accelerate
implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and to make significant contributions
towards at least 12 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals

Achieving SDGs Protected Area Progression Increase of investment to achieve /maintain conservation
6, 14, 15 through outcomes
Parks
Priority Locations Situate PAs in priority areas to reduce biodiversity loss and
prevent extinction
Quality Protected Areas Greater emphasis on effectively achieving both biodiversity
conservation and social outcomes rather than percentage targets
Performance Standards Increased professional capacity and greater efforts to develop,
apply and verify IUCN Green List of Protected Areas Standards
Achieving SDGs Protected Area governance Stronger, more supportive legal and policy frameworks
4, 5, 10, 12, 16 recognizing and including areas conserved by private actors,
through People indigenous peoples and local communities
Human Rights Agreements Strengthen agreements to respect human rights and embrace
equitable sharing of costs and benefits of protected and
conserved areas.
Resource exploitation Establish clear limits of unsustainable natural resource
exploitation - "no-go" policies and non-regression principles
Awareness Comprehensive programme to connect urban communities,
young people and other groups to nature
Achieving SDGs Mainstream Protected Areas Include in development strategies; promote as natural solutions
2, 3, 6, 11, 13 to climate change through their values, functions and services
through Planet
Improve health and wellbeing Strengthen policy and practice to promote role of nature and
address universal right to nature
Support human life Strengthen land, water and marine spatial planning to enhance
role and impact of PAs on food, water and livelihoods
Development Incorporate role of PAs for achieving SDGs in environment,
governance and land-use planning frameworks; integrate PA
values into economic accounting.

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7.3. PROTECTED AREA INDICATORS FOR THE SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOALS
As with the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, the SDGs are to
be implemented at a national level, with each government deciding how to best incorporate these global
targets in national planning processes, policies and strategies. Global trends in achieving the goals will be
assessed through a suite of indicators developed by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators
(IAEG-SDGs) and agreed by countries [158]. It is recognized that baseline data for several of the targets
remain unavailable, and support for strengthening data collection and capacity building to develop
national and global baselines where they do not exist will be extremely important in measuring progress
towards achieving these goals indirectly.
While protected areas have indirect relevance to the implementation of actions to achieve many of the
SDGs, three specific protected area indicators have been agreed by the IAEG-SDGs using the World
Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) to track progress towards Goals 14 and 15 (Table 7.3). These
indicators combine global data on protected areas and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) to assess the extent
and trends in protected area coverage over time for KBA (see Target 11 in Chapter 4) that are completely
covered by protected areas.

Table 7.3. SDG indicators agreed by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs)
that use data from the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and the World Database of Key
Biodiversity Areas (WDKBAs).

Sustainable
Development Goal SDG Target SDG Indicator
Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use 14.5 By 2020, conserve at least 10% of 14.5.1 Coverage of protected areas in
the oceans, seas and marine resources coastal and marine areas, consistent relation to marine areas
for sustainable development. with national and international
law and based on the best available
scientific information.
Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote 15.1 By 2020, ensure the conservation, 15.1.2 Proportion of important sites for
sustainable use of terrestrial restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity
ecosystems, sustainably manage terrestrial and inland freshwater that are covered by protected areas,
forests, combat desertification, and ecosystems and their services, by ecosystem type
halt and reverse land degradation and in particular forests, wetlands,
15.4.1 Coverage by protected areas
halt biodiversity loss. mountains and drylands, in line
of important sites for mountain
with obligations under international
biodiversity
agreements.
15.4 By 2030, ensure the conservation
of mountain ecosystems, including
their biodiversity, in order to enhance
their capacity to provide benefits
that are essential for sustainable
development.

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The first baseline analysis for these three indicators [159] reveals that the percentage of marine, freshwater,
terrestrial and mountain KBAs completely protected increased dramatically between 1990 and 2000, but
growth has slowed down since 2006 (Figure 7.1, see also Target 11 in Chapter 4). This growth has been more
pronounced in the marine realm, where protection has increased by 25% in the past 15 years. KBAs in
mountains have the highest coverage, with one in five sites completely protected. Terrestrial and marine
KBAs have a similar level of protection, with 19.3% of sites completely covered by protected areas, while this
proportion is lower in freshwater KBAs, with 16.6%. For all four subsets, the level of protected area coverage
of KBAs is higher in developed than in developing regions.

Figure 7.1. Trends in percentage of important sites (Key Biodiversity Areas) for terrestrial, freshwater,
marine and mountain biodiversity in developed and developing regions that are completely covered by
protected areas. Source: BirdLife International, IUCN and UNEP-WCMC 2016 .

7.4. CONCLUSIONS
● T
he Sustainable Development Goals and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets are complementary and
mutually supportive. National and regional development strategies should consider these links to
enhance implementation of actions that target sustainable development and biodiversity conservation
simultaneously.
● P
rotected areas have played and will continue to play a key role in the achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals. There are many examples highlighting the important role of protected areas
beyond their primary role of achieving biodiversity conservation. They can contribute to most of the
SDGs, specifically to poverty reduction, water delivery and food security, climate change mitigation and
adaptation, and sustainable consumption and production.
● C
urrently three protected areas indicators are used to track progress towards the achievement of SDGs
14 and 15. These show that, despite the growth of protected areas in the past decade (Target 11 in Chapter
4), important sites for terrestrial (19.3%), freshwater (16.6%), marine (19.3%) and mountain (20%)
biodiversity are completely covered by protected areas.

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