It is important to protect natural areas due to the following reasons:

• Natural areas provide protection and safe haven for many animal and plant species that are threatened with extinction due to habitat loss, poaching, natural disasters etc,

• Natural areas help in improving climate change resilience
  

• Natural areas are crucial in minimising the impacts of a wide range of natural disasters in different habitat types.

• Natural areas guard critical habitat for species so that they can thrive in nature, unimpacted by human disturbance.

For more relevant articles refer to the links given below:

• UPSC Environment and Ecology Questions
• Environment & Ecology Trend Analysis: UPSC Strategy
• UPSC Environment and Ecology