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Editorial essay - COVID‐19 and protected and conserved areas

This special editorial provides a snapshot of how protected and conserved areas around the world are being impacted by COVID-19.

The essay brings a commentary on how effectively and equitably managed systems of protected and conserved areas can be part of a response to the pandemic that both lessens the chance of a recurrence of similar events and builds a more sustainable future for people and nature.

Editorial is concluded with a Call for Action made up of three elements:

• core principles (Principle 1: COVID-19 is a symptom of the wider environmental crisis; Principle 2: We must commit to and act to achieve a healthy, sustainable planet; Principle 3: Protected and conserved areas provide broad benefits to society, but these are now under severe stress due to our societal response to COVID-19)
• actions (1. Rescue: an immediate emergency response to cushion the shock from COVID-19; 2. Recover: a plan to overcome the damaging effects of COVID-19; 3. Rebuild Stronger, starting now: a strategy to put protected and conserved areas on a more secure and effective trajectory), and
• commitment from the IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Area (establish a Task Force to collect and analyze information on the impacts of COVID-19 on protected and conserved areas; develop, refine and promote the Call for Action; develop principles and good practice for protected and conserved areas across the three phases of the response to the pandemic - rescue, recovery and rebuilding.)

Full editorial can be found at this LINK  

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