Measures to Protect Biodiversity: Protected Areas
Protected areas play a central role in the conservation and promotion of biodiversity. Many species depend on specific habitats (e.g., bogs, coral reefs, rainforests). Protected areas provide them with refuges; without these, these habitats would shrink significantly. An important step in preserving biodiversity is therefore to maintain existing protected areas and designate new ones.
Audioplayer
Botanist Prof Dr Thomas Borsch calls for action and clarification
Audio in German | “We can't afford any more loss.”
International agreements on protected areas
According to the "Protected Planet Report", around 17.5 per cent of the world's land and inland water areas are located in formal protected areas or conserved areas. Formal protected areas are legally designated areas that are protected by state or supranational regulations, whereas conserved areas describe areas that effectively contribute to the protection of biodiversity, e.g. through traditional use, private initiatives or other forms of governance, without necessarily being designated as protected areas. In addition, around 8.4 per cent of marine areas are designated as protected areas. At the 2022 World Conference on Nature in Montreal, the international community adopted a global agreement for the protection, sustainable use and restoration of nature, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
Questions and answers
Question
What does the "Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework" say?
Answer
At the 15th World Summit on Nature in Montreal in 2022, the global community agreed to effectively protect 30 per cent of land and 30 per cent of the oceans by 2030. The framework agreement also recognises that the remaining intact ecosystems alone are not enough to effectively protect biodiversity. Too many ecosystems are already disturbed. The GBF therefore sets a further target of effectively restoring at least 30 per cent of disturbed land and marine areas by 2030. Environmentally destructive subsidies are to be reduced and biodiversity conservation integrated into agriculture, fisheries and forestry. Indigenous peoples and local communities are also to be strengthened and involved through the agreement. By 2030, at least USD 200 billion per year is to be made available for biodiversity conservation and restoration. Of this, 30 billion US dollars are to be given annually to countries of the Global South. At the subsequent 16th World Summit on Nature, further agreements were reached on financing, monitoring and implementation mechanisms.
The European Union (EU) also set itself ambitious targets for biodiversity conservation in 2024 with the Nature Restoration Regulation. By 2030, the EU wants to achieve good status for at least 30 per cent of the affected habitat types in poor condition. According to the EU, when a habitat is considered "good" should be based on the status of the area 70 years ago. However, this is not mandatory. Reference periods for the good status of habitats can be defined flexibly by the member states based on the available data. By 2040, 60 per cent of these habitats should be in good status, and by 2050, 90 per cent. Areas that have achieved good status should not be allowed to deteriorate significantly again.
Implementation challenges in Germany
Video recordings of the event
Protected areas are often caught between different interests. Areas are already being used for agriculture or forestry or are crucial for infrastructure, for example for road and housing construction, the construction of power lines or wind turbines. Tourism or leisure activities such as skiing, hiking or water sports can also collide with protected areas.
In addition, there are administrative and legal obstacles to the implementation of measures for more protected areas. The challenges and solutions for more, larger or better protected areas in Germany were discussed at a Leopoldina symposium in autumn 2023.
Rewetting of moors and renaturalisation of floodplains
Bogs and floodplains are special ecosystems in Germany. Nowhere else in Central Europe is the diversity of species as high as in these wetlands. Bogs in particular are unique ecosystems, as they are characterised by peat mosses and low-oxygen water and therefore provide a habitat for numerous animals and plants that are adapted to these special conditions.
Questions and answers
Question
What ecosystem services do peatlands provide?
Answer
Moors are true all-rounders. As wetlands, they retain water in the landscape and thus cushion periods of flooding and drought. Peatlands store around ten per cent of the world's fresh water. They are also important carbon sinks due to the build-up of peat mass (plant residues that only decompose incompletely under low-oxygen and wet conditions). In a global comparison, peatlands store around 8 times more carbon per hectare than forests. If peatlands are drained, this climate effect is reversed. The organic substances in the peat are decomposed by the lack of water and thus releaseCO2 again. As a habitat, moors are important retreats for numerous specialised species, for example black grouse, moor frogs, rare butterfly species, but also peat mosses or rare carnivorous plants such as sundew.
In Germany, around 94 per cent of moors have been drained and almost all floodplains have been cut off from rivers. It is therefore crucial that the still intact moors and free-flowing waters in Germany are preserved. The rewetting of drained moors and the renaturalisation of floodplains could bring biodiversity back to these areas. However, this requires solutions for the areas used primarily for agriculture. All stakeholders at federal, state and local level, from administration, associations, landowners and land users must be involved in this process.
Deepening the topic
- Digital dossier "Moors and floodplains: On the transformation of wet landscapes" (German only)
- Statement "Climate - water balance - biodiversity: in favour of an integrated use of peatlands and floodplains" (2024, German only)
- Virtual panel "Wet moors! Climate protection, nature conservation and utilisation perspectives" (German only)
- "Cleverly linking the powers of technical and natural systems" - Interview with Klement Tockner and Franziska Tanneberger
Published: October 2020, Updated: April 2026