Balmford, Andrew, Ball, Thomas S., Balmford, Ben et al. (19 more authors) (2025) Time to fix the biodiversity leak:The risk that locally successful nature conservation may be shifting problems elsewhere can no longer be ignored. Science. pp. 720-722. ISSN 0036-8075
Abstract
As momentum builds behind hugely ambitious initiatives like the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) 30 x 30 target and the European Union’s (EU’s) Biodiversity and Forestry Strategies, there is a danger that hard-won local conservation gains will be dissipated through leakage, the displacement of human activities that harm biodiversity away from the site of an intervention to other places (1). These off-site damages may be less than on-site gains—in which case the action is still beneficial but less so than it superficially seems. However, if activities are displaced to more biodiverse (or less productive) places, leakage impacts may exceed local benefits, so that well-intentioned efforts cause net harm. There is a pressing need for leakage effects like this to be acknowledged and as far as possible avoided or mitigated—through demand reduction, careful selection of conservation or restoration sites, or compensatory increases in production in lower-impact areas.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University’s Research Publications and Open Access policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Stockholm Environment Institute at York (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 28 Feb 2025 14:00 |
Last Modified: | 03 Apr 2025 23:14 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adv8264 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1126/science.adv8264 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:223903 |