Protected areas desperately need climate connectivity

Over the past two decades, numerous efforts have been made to conserve biodiversity. However, official assessments from the Convention on Biological Diversity indicate that none of the proposed biodiversity conservation targets have been fully achieved. These efforts have often prioritized expanding protected areas, while overlooking the critical importance of climate connectivity, which is essential for species adaptation to climate change. Despite the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework stressing the importance of enhancing ecosystem connectivity to mitigate climate impacts, it remains frequently overlooked in early protected area planning. This oversight is a widespread issue across many countries.To reverse this alarming situation, we call for the establishment of a network of terrestrial protected areas with broad climate connectivity to enhance the resilience of species to climate change. The terrestrial network should include wildlife corridors, rich refuges for rare and endangered species, a variety of ecosystems and areas from low to high elevations. A more effective network of climate-resilient terrestrial protected areas will contribute greatly to the achievement of biodiversity conservation targets from local to global scales in the future.