Summary
Decisions to be made at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will shape biodiversity conservation approaches for the next 30 years, a critical time for the future of nature and people. Reflecting from our African perspective, we applaud the necessary increase in ambition to conserve nature (1), but we share alarm about the limited equity and justice in establishment of protected areas and impacts on people (2–6). Further, raising the burden of protection in the Global South while failing to address global economic drivers of biodiversity decline will only repeat and amplify historical cycles, and effort invested in conservation will be wasted. We see hope in new and diversified approaches to conserved areas (7) and the development of other, less formal conservation mechanisms. Here we offer a framework that can help to integrate these with improved conventional conservation approaches.