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

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

SUBMITTER: Shaw JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4060989 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature