Are protected areas preserving ecosystem services and biodiversity? Insights from Mediterranean forests and shrublands

Does Protection Really Matter? A Case Study from Central European Oak Forests

“…It, therefore, seems that PAs with a higher status of protection not always provide higher levels of biodiversity (understood as a high degree of naturalness of flora) as it was stated by Lecina-Diaz et al [6]. Moreover, the results of Sallustio et al [51], revealing that habitat quality depends on the intensity of the anthropogenic impacts and is sensitive to different protection levels are not confirmed in this study.…”

“…On the one hand, our results suggest that the fact of establishing protection does not ensure a favourable state of conservation of forest communities. On the other hand, well-preserved forests with a high degree of naturalness can also be expected outside PAs and hence they may become an important target for nature protection in the future [6,10,53]. It may also mean, that the current conservation status of forest communities assessed based on their cover, continuity in the landscape and role in provisioning ecosystem services, e.g., [4,5] should be treated with caution and may require an update, based on direct field research on their species composition.…”

“…It is considered that protected areas (hereafter PAs) are of the particular importance of conservation biology due to their role in reducing the decline in biodiversity in various types of ecosystems and species extinction rates [1,2]. It is also assumed that they give an opportunity for constant provisioning of ecosystem services of high quality [3][4][5][6]. Therefore, it seems obvious that PAs have become one of the main tools used in nature conservation in the face of rapid changes in the global environment.…”

Supply potential of lignocellulosic energy crops grown on marginal land and greenhouse gas footprint of advanced biofuels—A spatially explicit assessment under the sustainability criteria of the Renewable Energy Directive Recast

“…The projected biomass potential relies to a large extent upon the conversion of shrublands. However, shrublands contribute to several ecosystem services, such as maintaining biodiversity and nutrient provision (Lecina‐Diaz et al, 2019). Considering further environmental constraints to avoid the conversion of shrublands would reduce biomass potentials between 248 and 1491 PJ year −1 depending on crop type and relevant point in time (see Section S13 sensitivity analysis).…”

Hindrances to Effective Implementation of the Habitats Directive in Italy: Regional Differences in Designating Special Areas of Conservation

“…Such general low awareness is also at the root of perceived conflicts between biodiversity conservation and economic development. Hence, research that looks into nature's contributions to people, with particular reference to protected areas (e.g., [56][57][58]), on the inclusion of ecosystem services' tradeoffs and their assessment within planning processes [59][60][61][62], and on the ecosystem approach to spatial planning [63] could, in principle, contribute to raising awareness on the multiple benefits that nature and biodiversity provide to human beings, and at the same time provide new tools to manage the perceived conflicts.…”