Originally protected areas were started to conserve iconic landscapes and wildlife, now they are expected to achieve an increasingly diverse set of conservation, social and economic objectives. In 2010 a global commitment was made by the 193 national signatories of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) to increase the world's land protected area from 13 to 17 percent by the year 2020 (Venter et al. 2014). Countries are working toward what could become the biggest expansion of protected areas in history (Venter et al. 2014) motivated by perceived societal benefit. However, the world's protected areas are not caring for most of the world's imperiled biodiversity, and clear changes need to be made on how nations undertake future land protection if wildlife is going to be saved. The authors of the study, Targeting Global Protected Area Expansion for Imperiled Biodiversity, found that 85 percent of the world's 4,118 threatened mammals, birds, and amphibian species are not adequately protected in existing national parks and 17 percent are not safeguarded at all (Venter et al. 2014). Therefore they are vulnerable to …show more content…
2014). This is because countries do not want to pay a lot of money to protect and establish land as parks. Therefore, they choose the cheapest land, which may not be important for wildlife (Venter et al. 2014). Even though this may be easier for the governments, it is not going to help conserve imperiled species. Protected area expansion should be focused on the coverage of the world’s most threatened plants and animals (Venter et al. 2014). By linking threatened species coverage to protected area expansion two of the commitments made by government parties to the CBD, known collectively as the Aichi Targets, will be fulfilled (Venter et al.