Wilderness and biodiversity

2010 has been declared the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) by the United Nations.

PAN Parks welcomes this declaration as we also look to the opportunities triggered by natural succession and ecosystem dynamics to protect global biodiversity. In PAN Parks Wilderness areas, the priority is protecting ecosystem dynamics and supporting the protection of biodiversity - ecosystem dynamics link.

DOWNLOAD the article on the relations of Biodiversity and PAN Parks Wilderness

Many examples of this could be provided so this page will be devoted to providing a collection of case studies, interviews, articles on the relation of wilderness and biodiversity and the PAN Parks efforts to protect biodiversity through wilderness protection.

STUDIES, ARTICLES, ESSAYS ON WILDERNESS AND BIODIVERSITY

Biodiversity and PAN Parks Wilderness DOWNLOAD
PAN Parks Foundation set out to protect Europe’s wilderness by creating a network of large well-managed wilderness protected areas which would provide a unique experience for visitors and benefits for local communities in a way that guarantees maximum protection of nature in its original form and at the same time contribute to biodiversity conservation.

Investigating the environmental cause of global wilderness and species richness distributions DOWNLOAD
Environmental factors that affect the distributions of wilderness character and the species richness of mammals, birds, flowering plants (angiosperms), and conifers and cycads (seedbearing plants) were investigated at the global scale using national species richness data and a continuous wilderness quality grid. Principle Component Analysis and Multiple Regression were used to develop environmental characteristic models that are straight forward to interpret. High elevation and high latitude were key to the distribution of wilderness quality, conifers, and cycads. The most important determinants of species richness, however, were found to be low latitude and “good” climate (high precipitation and constant warm temperature). Understanding factors that influence presence of wilderness today will help plan for its protection on a large scale. Appreciating how the same factors affect the distribution of species richness will aid in conservation of biodiversity, particularly that in protected wilderness requiring pristine habitat.

Investigating spatial relationships between biodiversity & wilderness: a global scale study (summary) DOWNLOAD
This research suggests that species richness: area and wilderness:area relationships exist at the global scale. It is proposed that a number of environmental factors are responsible for the global distribution of both biodiversity and wilderness. Statistical analysis, whilst clarifying some relationships, has highlighted the complexity of the problem. Some scale or geographical problems have also served to mask these relationships.  For example, countries with a high latitudinal range have made it hard to confirm the hypothesis that wilderness proportion increases with latitude.  It is anticipated that re-analysis at the temperate and tropical scales will produce more conclusive evidence for these relationships.

The nature of climate change: it is time to reunite international climate change mitigation efforts with biodiversity conservation and wilderness protection DOWNLOAD
Large-scale nature conservation is a first order climate change strategy for both mitigation and adaptation. Keeping green carbon stored in large intact natural landscapes is a mitigation strategy. Connectivity conservation is an adaptation strategy. Both are needed. Such action is also necessary to address the biodiversity extinction crisis and preserve the ecosystem services such as freshwater on which all humans rely.