The world’s system of protected areas includes many outstanding areas within the global mountainous landscape and ecosystem. Outside Antarctica, about 17% of Mountain Areas are protected globally; nevertheless significant mountain areas are not adequately protected. The WCPA Mountains Specialist Group has been developing a decision support framework to determine where the most important mountain areas are that are not adequately protected. Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA’s) are an initial indicator of high environmental values. Analysis has shown that of about 4000 KBA sites in mountains, 50% of KBAs are only partially protected and 30% of KBAs are entirely unprotected.
This session will present and seek feedback on a decision support tool developed to determine how we prioritize and rank the values and importance of inadequately protected mountain areas. This will identify global priorities for establishing new mountain protected areas and targets to advocate for protection.
