The Aichi Biodiversity Target 12 at regional level: an achievable goal?

Abstract

The Aichi Biodiversity Target 12 aims to prevent the extinction risk of known threatened species and to improve their conservation status by 2020. We present the integrated strategy implemented in the last 10 years for the keystone plant species of Sardinia (Italy, W. Mediterranean Basin), which includes the following activities: conservation status assessment (following the IUCN protocol), ex situ conservation, in situ monitoring and active protection measures. To date, an average of 51.8% of keystone plant species have been subjected to the latter first three activities while, due to the higher costs, only few active conservation measures have been carried out. Considering the activities realised since 2004, we have also predicted the conservation effectiveness towards 2020 and have elaborated an index to evaluate it. Halfway through the strategic plan, we argue that more efforts are needed to guarantee the effective conservation of all threatened plants in Sardinia.

Keywords:

• Aichi Biodiversity Targets
• conservation planning
• plant conservation
• policy species
• regional responsibility criterion
• Sardinia
• threatened species

Acknowledgements

This research has been supported by the Ministero dell’Ambiente e della tutela del Territorio e del Mare (MATTM), Regione Autonoma della Sardegna and Provincia di Cagliari. We would also like to thank all the volunteers involved in conservation activities. Finally, we are grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their critical comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.