What should protected area managers do to preserve biodiversity in the face of climate change?

摘要

Since the 1960s the rate of change of greenhouse gas concentration, radiative forcing and climate warming has been, and will continue to be, more rapid than previously known in geological history. As a result, biomes, species distributions, hydrology and the cryosphere will undergo profound changes. It will threaten some cultural resources and change visitor activities, satisfaction and safety. Protected area management cannot contribute significantly to climate change mitigation, but it can help nature adapt to it, and help society to understand its causes and consequences. The tools for managers are: research and monitoring; awareness and engagement; leading by example; and action on the ground. The management of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems should focus on the restoration and maintenance of ecosystems, natural processes, biodiversity and abiotic processes, forms and environments that are free of significant impacts from local or regional threats to ecological integrity, cultural resources and human health. Ideally, protected areas should be nested within ecological regions that are permeable for the movement of native species and that contain sufficient habitat for the self-perpetuation of native wildlife populations. Fast and slow migrant native species should be managed to permit orderly ecological shifts that favour the maintenance of high biodiversity. Alien species should be managed to minimize their presence The management oi marine ecosystems should focus on the conservation of biotic resources and sustainable resource use, . also free from significant local and regional threats to wild populations and human health. Conversely, parks-Should neither be manipulated to sequester carbon or to buffer against natural disasters, nor be moved in pursuit of migrating or tuture ecoregions. Where-natural regions guide park establishment, they should not be recast wholesale in anticipation of landscape evolution.