Working in collaboration with government agencies, NGOs, and industry bodies, geographers at the University of Kent have developed context-specific state-of-the-art decision-support tools that have changed conservation standards.
Issue
Under targets set by the Convention on Biological Diversity, countries must protect 17% of their terrestrial area. Previously in Guyana, only 8.5% of the country's terrestrial area was protected, with no strategy in place to guide where new protected areas should be designated.
Approach
Researchers from the University of Kent worked with the Government of Guyana’s Protected Areas Commission between 2012 and 2016 and developed a decision-support framework that underpinned a new protected area expansion policy for the country.
The team led the testing of the High Carbon Stock decision-support tool (HCS) in Malaysia to determine whether high-carbon stock areas also maintain high biodiversity.
The team also co-led the systematic conservation planning analyses used to develop new criteria for Key Biodiversity Areas.
Impact
The President of Guyana committed to achieving the 17% target by 2023, based directly on the Kent research team’s findings. The process of establishing the new protected areas is now underway.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil formally adopted the HCS tool as the principle means by which all oil palm companies seeking certification should identify forest areas for conservation or production.
The new Key Biodiversity Area Standard was launched in 2016. It incorporated the work led by the team that framed the approach in terms of systematic conservation planning.
More information
Institution: University of Kent
Researchers: Professor Zoe G. Davies, Professor Robert J. Smith, Dr Matthew J Struebig