Protected areas are intended to protect the species and habitats they contain. When well-managed, they can result in clean water, healthy soils, and reduced poaching pressure, all of which can spill over to nourish and replenish surrounding areas. But new research from Borneo suggests we could improve the performance of these sanctuaries of life by better selecting where to locate them in the first place. Focusing protection efforts in forest areas with not only high biodiversity but also high risk of development could significantly improve conservation outcomes for key measures of biodiversity, according to the study. It used the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), a wildcat about the size of a medium dog, as a proxy for these measures. Such an “assertive” approach to protected area design is becoming a matter of urgency in Borneo, where studies show that massive infrastructure projects underway will significantly erode core habitats for clouded leopards, even inside existing protected areas. However, this recommended strategy stands in stark contrast to prevailing practices the world over. Multiple studies show that, globally, protected areas are typically situated in rugged and remote landscapes that are safeguarded more by their inaccessibility to development, rather than by proactive conservation planning. The concentration of conservation efforts in areas with few competing interests could risk overlooking more development-prone, but nonetheless ecologically valuable, areas. “We risk using our limited attention, social capital, financial capital to do stuff that is not in fact advancing the protection of nature (or, at least, is doing less…This article was originally published on Mongabay
The post Study shows, via clouded leopards, how to better protect forests first appeared on EnviroLink Network.