Protected land and ocean jumped 42 per cent in the last decade Stephen Leahy Saturday, May 22nd 2021, 6:30 am - Roughly 21 million square kilometres on Earth have been protected or conserved since 2010, but scientists say that's not enough to curb loss of biodiversity. Land and ocean under protection or conservation increased 42 per cent in the past decade according to a new report. In total, some 21 million square kilometres of protected and conserved areas might seem like a lot, but that has not curbed the continuing loss of biodiversity. The 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity found that more than one million of the estimated 8.7 million species on the planet were at risk of extinction due to human activities. The main drivers of species loss include land conversion, deforestation, overfishing, bushmeat hunting and poaching, pollution, invasive alien species, and climate change.