New strategies that involve better integration of people and carnivores inside and outside of protected areas will be needed if further species of carnivores are not to become extinct.
- Nigel Leader-Williams
Organised by an international team of conservation and land use change scientists, including from the University of Cambridge, the study concludes that immediate action is needed to prevent habitat loss and conflict with humans in priority areas for carnivore conservation.
Mammalian carnivores have suffered the biggest range contraction of all biodiversity, and are particularly vulnerable to habitat loss and fragmentation.
“We assessed how expected land use change will affect priority areas for carnivore conservation in the future,” said study lead author Dr Enrico Di Minin from the University of Helsinki. “The analysis revealed that carnivores will suffer considerable range losses in the future. Worryingly, it seems that the most important areas for carnivore conservation are located in areas where human-carnivore conflicts are likely to be most severe.”
Presently, South American, African, and South East Asian countries, as well as India, were found to contribute mostly to carnivore conservation. While some of the most charismatic species, such as the tiger and giant panda were found to be at high risk under future land use change, smaller, less charismatic species, with small ranges were found to be equally threatened by habitat loss.
Carnivores include some of the most iconic species that help generate funding for biodiversity conservation and deliver important benefits to humans. Protecting carnivores will conserve many other bird, amphibian, reptile and mammal species that live in priority areas for carnivore conservation.
“International targets have proposed that 17 percent of land should be set aside for conservation,” said study co-author Professor Nigel Leader-Williams from Cambridge’s Department of Geography. “However, we show that this will prove inadequate for maintaining viable populations of carnivores, as well as other biodiversity. Therefore, new strategies that involve better integration of people and carnivores inside and outside of protected areas will be needed if further species of carnivores are not to become extinct.”
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Reference: Enrico Di Minin et al. ‘Global Priorities for national carnivore conservation under land use change.’ Scientific Reports (2016). DOI: 10.1038/srep23814
Image: Lion Cub with Mother in the Serengeti
Credit: David Dennis
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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