Final answer:
Achieving the post-2020 goals of conserving 30% of the Earth's land is feasible and necessary due to the alarming rates of global biodiversity loss and the uneven protection of biomes and species. Increasing the percentage and quality of preserves is essential, which requires international cooperation and resources.
Step-by-step explanation:
Regarding the post-2020 goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity to have 30% of the land surface under conservation management, it is both feasible and necessary. This is supported by the significant biodiversity loss reported by the World Wildlife Federation, with populations of animals falling by 58 percent between 1970 and 2012, and the current extinction rate being as high as three species per hour. Despite the protection of 11.5 percent of the Earth's land surface being a progress, it covers only a portion of the major biomes and lacks inclusion of all threatened species, with 50 percent of threatened amphibian species not accounted for in high quality preserves.
To ensure effective biodiversity conservation, it is critical to both increase the percentage of high quality preserves and target preserves more effectively. However, this endeavor faces challenges such as capacity gaps in developing economies, conflicting mandates of conservation versus poverty alleviation, and the iterative process of adapting conservation efforts to changing knowledge and threats. International cooperation through initiatives like the Alliance for Zero Extinction and guided analysis under the Convention on Biological Diversity's Programme of Work on Protected Areas are essential steps toward this goal.
Ultimately, prioritizing conservation is vital for the health of the planet and for future generations, meaning that significant areas must be preserved, and conservation must be an ongoing and adaptive process that receives global support and resources.