Photo: Olaf Zerbock
An international group of scientists, including Ph.D. student at the University of Malta Simone Cutajar, has just published the results of its ground-breaking research in the prestigious journal Science in an article entitled, “The positive impact of conservation action.” The results from the study were able to confirm that conservation action works across a range of scenarios.
In this first-of-a-kind ‘meta analysis’, the team looked at the impact of 186 individual studies (that included 665 trials) covering over 100 years of conservation projects globally. The activities studied included conservation interventions designed to target species biodiversity, ecosystems and genetic diversity. The results showed that conservation interventions (including establishing protected areas, control of invasive species and habitat loss reduction) improved biodiversity, or slowed its decline, in two thirds of cases. Importantly, the results also demonstrated that when conservation works, it generally works well.
The researchers also found that conservation actions are becoming increasingly effective over time and called for more investment, particularly in the management of protected areas that provide the foundation for other actions. Commenting on the publication of this study, Simone Cutajar said, “It was a privilege to represent Malta in this multi-national team of researchers and gratifying to find the results so positive in support of conservation action.”
The research paper quickly gave rise to international acclaim in broadcast and print media being featured as a news item 85 times by 68 news outlets within four days of publication. Dr Grethel Aguilar, Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said, “This paper has analysed conservation outcomes at a level as rigorous as in applied disciplines like medicine and engineering—showing genuine impact and thus guiding the transformative change needed to safeguard nature at scale around the world. It shows that nature conservation truly works, from the species to the ecosystem levels across all continents.”
This work was conceived and funded through the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) by the Global Environment Facility. Simone Cutajar contributed to conceptualisation, formal analysis, investigation, validation, and writing - review and editing. She is currently engaged in PhD research at the University of Malta under the supervision of Prof. David Mifsud, is an adviser to the UN on Invasive Species and Biodiversity and is Malta’s Ambassador for Citizen Science to the EU.
