TY - JOUR

T1 - Identifying Mozambique's most critical areas for plant conservation

T2 - An evaluation of protected areas and Important Plant Areas

AU - Richards, Sophie L.

AU - Farooq, Harith

AU - Matimele, Hermenegildo

AU - Alves, Tereza

AU - Datizua, Castigo

AU - Langa, Clayton

AU - Massingue, Alice

AU - Osborne, Jo

AU - Rokni, Saba

AU - de Sousa, Camila

AU - Darbyshire, Iain

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Biotropica published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Successful protected area networks must represent biodiversity across taxonomic groups. However, too often plant species are overlooked in conservation planning, and the resulting protected areas may, as a result, fail to encompass the most important sites for plant diversity. The Mozambique Tropical Important Plant Areas project sought to promote the conservation of Mozambique's flora through the identification of Important Plant Areas (IPAs). Here, we use the Weighted Endemism including Global Endangerment (WEGE) index to identify the richest areas for rare and endemic plants in Mozambique and subsequently evaluate how well represented these hotspots are within the current protected area and IPA networks. We also examine the congruence between IPA and protected areas to identify opportunities for strengthening the conservation of plants in Mozambique. We found that high WEGE scores, representing areas rich in endemic/near-endemic and threatened species, predict the presence of IPAs in Mozambique, but do not predict the presence of protected areas. We also find that there is limited overlap between IPAs and protected areas in Mozambique. We demonstrate how IPAs could be an important tool for ensuring priority sites for plant diversity are included within protected area network expansions, particularly following the adoption of the “30 by 30” target agreed within the post-2020 Convention on Biological Diversity framework, with great potential for this method to be replicated elsewhere in the global tropics.

AB - Successful protected area networks must represent biodiversity across taxonomic groups. However, too often plant species are overlooked in conservation planning, and the resulting protected areas may, as a result, fail to encompass the most important sites for plant diversity. The Mozambique Tropical Important Plant Areas project sought to promote the conservation of Mozambique's flora through the identification of Important Plant Areas (IPAs). Here, we use the Weighted Endemism including Global Endangerment (WEGE) index to identify the richest areas for rare and endemic plants in Mozambique and subsequently evaluate how well represented these hotspots are within the current protected area and IPA networks. We also examine the congruence between IPA and protected areas to identify opportunities for strengthening the conservation of plants in Mozambique. We found that high WEGE scores, representing areas rich in endemic/near-endemic and threatened species, predict the presence of IPAs in Mozambique, but do not predict the presence of protected areas. We also find that there is limited overlap between IPAs and protected areas in Mozambique. We demonstrate how IPAs could be an important tool for ensuring priority sites for plant diversity are included within protected area network expansions, particularly following the adoption of the “30 by 30” target agreed within the post-2020 Convention on Biological Diversity framework, with great potential for this method to be replicated elsewhere in the global tropics.

KW - biodiversity

KW - botanical richness

KW - conservation planning

KW - convention on biological diversity

KW - IPAs

KW - IUCN red list

KW - protected areas

KW - WEGE

U2 - 10.1111/btp.13265

DO - 10.1111/btp.13265

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85171784101

VL - 55

SP - 1183

EP - 1194

JO - Biotropica

JF - Biotropica

SN - 0006-3606

IS - 6

ER -