Objective: averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas

The expert Juan Carlos Guix, who collaborates at the Department of Animal Biology, is one of the authors of the international study.
The expert Juan Carlos Guix, who collaborates at the Department of Animal Biology, is one of the authors of the international study.
Research
(26/07/2012)

Many of the worldʼs tropical protected areas are struggling to sustain their biodiversity, according to a study published in Nature by more than 200 scientists from around the world, including the expert Juan Carlos Guix, who collaborates at the Department of Animal Biology and who is member of the research group of the UB called Evolutionary Ecology and Biology of Tetrapods. Applications to their Conservation. The research, led by William Laurance, Professor from James Cook University, in Australia, warns of the major threats to the biological richness of worldʼs tropical forests and it also outlines strategies for action to improve their conservation in the long term.

The expert Juan Carlos Guix, who collaborates at the Department of Animal Biology, is one of the authors of the international study.
The expert Juan Carlos Guix, who collaborates at the Department of Animal Biology, is one of the authors of the international study.
Research
26/07/2012

Many of the worldʼs tropical protected areas are struggling to sustain their biodiversity, according to a study published in Nature by more than 200 scientists from around the world, including the expert Juan Carlos Guix, who collaborates at the Department of Animal Biology and who is member of the research group of the UB called Evolutionary Ecology and Biology of Tetrapods. Applications to their Conservation. The research, led by William Laurance, Professor from James Cook University, in Australia, warns of the major threats to the biological richness of worldʼs tropical forests and it also outlines strategies for action to improve their conservation in the long term.

In recent years, deforestation has advanced rapidly in tropical nations and most reserves are losing some of their surrounding forests, which are like “arks for biodiversity”, but these are increasingly threatened around the world. As Professor Laurance states, “about half of the reserves are struggling to sustain their original biodiversity. Some of the arks are in danger of collapsing and we have no choice: a lot of the biodiversity will vanish without good protected areas”. According to Carolina Useche, of the Humboldt Institute, in Colombia, “the scariest thing about our findings is just how widespread the decline of species is in the suffering reserves. It is affecting an alarmingly wide array of animal and plant species: big predators, many primates, fish, amphibians, etc.”.

Biodiversity: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Many of the worldʼs tropical protected areas are relatively small and isolated from each other by crops, pasture or recently deforested areas. The international team of scientists has studied the changes over the last thirty years in a wide range of biomarkers and ecological parameters for 60 protected areas across the tropical Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific. According to the study, which identifies the environmental changes that might threaten the reserves, the areas that were suffering most were those that were poorly protected and suffered encroachment from illegal colonists, hunters and loggers.

According to the expert from the UB Juan Carlos Guix, who has an outstanding research career in the Atlantic rainforest of eastern Brazil, “you cannot preserve an area if you ignore its surrounding landscape. Everything indicates that there are strong ecological links between tropical forests and their surrounding habitats: environmental changes outside reserves seem nearly as important as those inside. In many cases, the excessive simplification of the ecosystems surrounding tropical forests generates dangerous interferences in ecosystems and species that are intended to be protected. Real biodiversity lies in its whole, not in the sum of its parts”.

Forests that act as mirrors

According to co-author Kadiri Serge Bobo, of the University of Dschang, in Cameroon, “it is not just what happens inside a reserve that is important. Almost as important is what goes on outside it. 85 % of the reserves we studied lost some nearby forest cover over the past 20-30 years, but only 2 % saw an increase in surrounding forests”. The article also describes that many reserves act like mirrors, meaning that they can reflect the threats and changes in their surrounding landscapes (deforestation, impact of invasive species, etc.). This can be seen in all tropical forests studied in this international research. As Carolina Useche warns, “if a reserve is surrounded by areas that have a lot of fires or illegal mining, these same threats can also penetrate inside it”.

A more sustainable future is possible

In the long term, will the current worldʼs tropical protected areas suffice to ensure the preservation of the biodiversity of these natural ecosystems? In general, this wonʼt be the case, as Juan Carlos Guix claims. According to the authors of the study, a better job needs to be done in protecting the protected areas, which means fighting both their internal and external threats and building support for protected areas among local communities. 

“To counteract the negative interferences caused by human action, loss of habitats and the extinction of species ―states Guix― new, urgent measures must be taken to manage biodiversity. For example, increasing the size of the smallest forest areas, connecting them with other forests that are also isolated by means of biological corridors and reducing the environmental interferences that threaten protected areas, that is, uncontrolled fire in the nearer pasture lands, invasive alien species, poaching, etc.”.

Developing countries and industrialised countries: the big dilemma

Protecting the tropical forests of the planet will also require a new perspective to address the management of large natural areas. “Ecological problems cannot be dissociated from the social and economic reality of each country. No strategy for action can be planned without a social perspective. We face a great imbalance between rich and poor countries, and here lies the graet dilemma: in terms of natural resources, we would nearly need three planets and a half so that most people in developing countries could have similar living standards to those in most industrialized countries” highlights Juan Carlos Guix.

“Developed countries are wasting resources —points out Guix—. In Brazil, for example, agriculture and animal husbandry are deforesting many areas. This already happened 400 years ago, but nowadays it doesnʼt make sense. Cultivation and farming need to be managed more efficiently, without an extremely high cost to the environment. The same goes for palm oil, which is being produced in Indonesia and Malaysia at the expense of tropical forests. At the base of this major environmental imbalance between rich and poor countries lie the values of consumer society. It is imperative to rethink and reflect upon these values in order to reduce the impact on our planet”.