Area-based conservation in Iceland: Status and the way forward to the 30x30 area cover goal

Abstract

The Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM GBF) Target 3 (“30x30”) commits countries to achieve 30% protection of their territories by the year 2030 and that target is now in the new National Iceland Biodiversity Policy, recently published. This report evaluates Iceland’s status and progress towards the KM-GBF Target 3 on terrestrial and inland water areas, and provides strategic recommendations to expand and improve area based conservation following the National Iceland Biodiversity Policy. Importantly, this target is not only about the 30% as quantity, but more about its quality, hence issues of governance and management and ensuring it covers representative nature. To achieve Target 3 countries can employ two key strategies of area-based conservation, formally protected areas (PAs) and a more recent strategy called other effective conservation measures (OECMs).