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Comprehensive meta-analysis looks at success of wide range of conservation interventions globally and over time
A new study published online today, April 25, in the scientific journal Science provides the strongest evidence to date that not only is nature conservation successful, but that scaling conservation interventions up would be transformational for halting and reversing biodiversity loss—a crisis that can lead to ecosystem collapses and a planet less able to support life—and reducing the effects of climate change.
The findings of this first-ever comprehensive meta-analysis of the impact of conservation action are crucial as more than 44,000 species are documented as being at risk of extinction, with tremendous consequences for the ecosystems that stabilize the climate and that provide billions of people around the world with clean water, livelihoods, homes, and cultural preservation, among other ecosystem services. Governments recently adopted new global targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, making it even more critical to understand whether conservation interventions are working.
“If you look only at the trend of species declines, it would be easy to think that we’re failing to protect biodiversity, but you would not be looking at the full picture,” said Penny Langhammer, lead author of the study and executive vice president of Re:wild. “What we show with this paper is that conservation is, in fact, working to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. It is clear that conservation must be prioritized and receive significant additional resources and political support globally, while we simultaneously address the systemic drivers of biodiversity loss, such as unsustainable consumption and production.”
Although many studies look at individual conservation projects and interventions and their impact compared with no action taken, these papers have never been pulled into a single analysis to see how and whether conservation action is working overall. The co-authors conducted the first-ever meta-analysis of 186 studies, including 665 trials, that looked at the impact of a wide range of conservation interventions globally, and over time, compared to what would have happened without those interventions. The studies covered over a century of conservation action and evaluated actions targeting different levels of biodiversity—species, ecosystems and genetic diversity.
The meta-analysis found that conservation actions—including the establishment and management of protected areas, the eradication and control of invasive species, the sustainable management of ecosystems, habitat loss reduction and restoration—improved the state of biodiversity or slowed its decline in the majority of cases (66%) compared with no action taken at all. And when conservation interventions work, the paper’s co-authors found that they are highly effective.
Some of the biggest and most exciting changes for a generation are being made to RHS Flower Shows, which will celebrate the best of UK horticulture, design and talent, take the world-class Shows to stunning new locations around the country, and work with more communities and schools.
In the future, well-loved RHS Shows will tour to new locations to promote gardening to as many people as possible. The changes will be a catalyst for new content for an exciting visitor experience.
Whilst RHS Chelsea Flower Show as the world’s greatest and most famous gardening event will stay as it is, RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival will become a biennial event in two years with a new Show taking place in 2026 in the historic grounds of Badminton Estate, in Gloucestershire, returning to Hampton Court Palace in 2027. The RHS Shows will remain at Hampton Court Palace for 2024 and 2025.
After 2024, its 25th anniversary, RHS Flower Show Tatton Park will return to the site every three years, with a 2025 RHS Show happening at Wentworth Woodhouse, one of the grandest stately homes in the country in Sheffield, and 2026 RHS Show taking place on the Sandringham Estate, the private country retreat of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
The first RHS Urban Show took place in Manchester earlier this month and there will be another Urban Show announced for a new location next year shortly. The RHS Urban Show diversifies from the traditional RHS Shows model with more focus on gardening for small spaces and community involvement. RHS Malvern Spring Festival will remain the same.
The changes will enable the RHS to deliver world class horticulture to the doorsteps of members who may not have an RHS Garden near them and creating Shows in fixed venue sites means better sustainability opportunities too.
Fewer ducks, geese, swans and wader species are travelling to the UK as milder conditions continue to define northern European winters.
The UK is host to internationally important numbers of wintering waterbirds, and the long-standing Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) and Goose and Swan Monitoring Programme (GSMP) provide essential data that inform decision makers when considering conservation measures for these birds.
With data provided by over 3,800 dedicated volunteers across the UK, the surveys deliver an annual assessment of ducks, geese, swans, waders and other waterbirds residing on, or passing through, our coasts, estuaries, lakes, reservoirs and rivers.
Published today (26/4/24), the 2022/23 WeBS report reveals yet more changes in the fortunes of many of our wildfowl and waders. As winters continue to become milder and damper across much of northern Europe, many species are altering their behaviours in response.
Historically, harsh conditions in northern and eastern Europe would see huge numbers of birds migrating to the relatively mild conditions of a British winter but now, as previously frozen landscapes become increasingly accessible, significant numbers of birds are staying closer to their breeding grounds, in a phenomenon known as short-stopping.
Those that do still make the journey across the North Sea to spend the winter in the UK are often arriving later and leaving earlier, therefore staying with us for much shorter periods. This has become increasingly noticeable in such species as Bewick’s Swan, which has declined by 96% in the last 25 years, while Goldeneye numbers have halved and Dunlin have dropped by a third.
Not only are we seeing a reduction in birds arriving for the winter, but the survey also reveals that some birds which would have left the UK in autumn are now staying, rather than heading to warmer climes. We have seen an increase in the numbers of such species as Black-tailed Godwit, a striking wading bird of freshwater marshes and estuaries, remaining on our shores as opposed to migrating to southern Europe, as they did in the past.
Read the full the 2022/23 WeBS report.
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