Antarctica's protected areas are inadequate, unrepresentative, and at risk

PLoS Biol. 2014 Jun 17;12(6):e1001888. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001888. eCollection 2014 Jun.

Abstract

Antarctica is widely regarded as one of the planet's last true wildernesses, insulated from threat by its remoteness and declaration as a natural reserve dedicated to peace and science. However, rapidly growing human activity is accelerating threats to biodiversity. We determined how well the existing protected-area system represents terrestrial biodiversity and assessed the risk to protected areas from biological invasions, the region's most significant conservation threat. We found that Antarctica is one of the planet's least protected regions, with only 1.5% of its ice-free area formally designated as specially protected areas. Five of the distinct ice-free ecoregions have no specially designated areas for the protection of biodiversity. Every one of the 55 designated areas that protect Antarctica's biodiversity lies closer to sites of high human activity than expected by chance, and seven lie in high-risk areas for biological invasions. By any measure, including Aichi Target 11 under the Convention on Biological Diversity, Antarctic biodiversity is poorly protected by reserves, and those reserves are threatened.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antarctic Regions
  • Biodiversity*
  • Conservation of Natural Resources*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Environmental Decision Hub (National Environment Research Program Australia) and Australian Antarctic Science Project 4024. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.