Elevated fires during COVID-19 lockdown and the vulnerability of protected areas
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Standard
Elevated fires during COVID-19 lockdown and the vulnerability of protected areas. / Eklund, Johanna; Jones, Julia P. G.; Räsänen, Matti; Geldmann, Jonas; Jokinen, Ari Pekka; Pellegrini, Adam; Rakotobe, Domoina; Rakotonarivo, O. Sarobidy; Toivonen, Tuuli; Balmford, Andrew.
In: Nature Sustainability, Vol. 5, No. 7, 2022, p. 603-609.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Elevated fires during COVID-19 lockdown and the vulnerability of protected areas
AU - Eklund, Johanna
AU - Jones, Julia P. G.
AU - Räsänen, Matti
AU - Geldmann, Jonas
AU - Jokinen, Ari Pekka
AU - Pellegrini, Adam
AU - Rakotobe, Domoina
AU - Rakotonarivo, O. Sarobidy
AU - Toivonen, Tuuli
AU - Balmford, Andrew
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - There is little robust, quantitative information on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the extinction crisis. Focusing on Madagascar, one of the world’s most threatened biodiversity hotspots, we explore whether the cessation of on-site protected-area management activities due to the pandemic were associated with increased burning inside protected areas. We identify monthly excess fire anomalies by comparing observed fires with those predicted on the basis of historical and contemporary fire and weather data for all of Madagascar’s protected areas for every month 2012–2020. Through to 2019, excess fire anomalies in protected areas were few, short in duration and, in some years, coincident with social disruption linked to national elections. By contrast, in 2020, COVID-19 meant on-site management of Madagascar’s protected areas was suspended from March to July. This period was associated with 76–248% more fires than predicted, after which burning returned to normal. At a time when international biodiversity conservation faces unprecedented challenges, our results highlight the importance of on-site management for maintaining protected-area integrity.
AB - There is little robust, quantitative information on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the extinction crisis. Focusing on Madagascar, one of the world’s most threatened biodiversity hotspots, we explore whether the cessation of on-site protected-area management activities due to the pandemic were associated with increased burning inside protected areas. We identify monthly excess fire anomalies by comparing observed fires with those predicted on the basis of historical and contemporary fire and weather data for all of Madagascar’s protected areas for every month 2012–2020. Through to 2019, excess fire anomalies in protected areas were few, short in duration and, in some years, coincident with social disruption linked to national elections. By contrast, in 2020, COVID-19 meant on-site management of Madagascar’s protected areas was suspended from March to July. This period was associated with 76–248% more fires than predicted, after which burning returned to normal. At a time when international biodiversity conservation faces unprecedented challenges, our results highlight the importance of on-site management for maintaining protected-area integrity.
U2 - 10.1038/s41893-022-00884-x
DO - 10.1038/s41893-022-00884-x
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85129380103
VL - 5
SP - 603
EP - 609
JO - Nature Sustainability
JF - Nature Sustainability
SN - 2398-9629
IS - 7
ER -
ID: 307293894