Transforming Protected Area Management in China

Xu, Weihua; Pimm, Stuart L.; Du, Ao; Sung-Bum, Yang; Fan, Xinyue; An, Li; Liu, Jianguo; Ouyang, Zhiyun

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2019.05.009

Cited by 133 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Our study will contribute to achieving effective protection of natural landscapes in the face of the new protected areas system [35]. In terms of the landscape construction requirements of the new protected area system, national parks mainly protect nationally representative natural landscapes, nature reserves mainly protect natural landscape areas of special significance, and nature parks mainly protect important natural landscapes with aesthetic value [1].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Prioritized Natural Landscape Conservation Areas for National Park Planning in China

Xiao

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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Protecting representative natural ecosystems, rich biodiversity, and unique natural landscapes are the main considerations in China's national park planning. Here, we mapped the distribution of China's natural landscapes and evaluated their protection values for national park planning and construction. Grading evaluation methods combining standard comparison, inventory method, and expert consultation were used, and four levels of natural landscapes were identified. Furthermore, priority areas for national parks establishment were also proposed. Of all the landscapes evaluated, 76 were extremely important, 481 were important, 2070 were moderately important, and 1213 were slightly important. A total number of 67 priority areas for natural landscapes were identified with a total area of 1,218,000 km 2 . They comprised land and sea areas of 1,148,000 and 69,000 km 2 , respectively. We suggest strengthening natural landscape protection by establishing natural parks in priority areas. Our study will contribute to the effective protection of natural landscapes in China.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Prioritized Natural Landscape Conservation Areas for National Park Planning in China

Xiao

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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“…China should be cautious about reassigning strictly protected areas to less strict ones. Subsequently, this plan may provide a foundation for the delineation of boundaries of all types of protected areas [36]. Management departments should guide and support the aborigines in key areas of giant panda protection to voluntarily and orderly migrate to nearby towns where they can concentrate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Landscape Patterns of the Giant Panda Protection Area in Sichuan Province and Their Impact on Giant Pandas

et al. 2019

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As the flagship species of biodiversity conservation in China, the giant panda has significant ecological protection value and plays an important demonstrative role for conservation. Sichuan Province has the largest area of giant panda habitat, making its protected areas the most important for the conservation of this species. However, the habitats of the giant panda are shrinking due to human disturbance through land encroachment for agriculture and other forms of resource exploitation. Reducing these pressures requires assessing current land use and the causes of fragmenting giant panda habitats. This paper reports on changes in land-use patterns and socio-economic development in typical counties with giant panda habitats in Sichuan in 2003 and 2015, with a focus on giant panda protection areas and human pressures in the surrounding lands. We found that road construction, industrial infrastructure, and other forms of economic development have led to increases in human populations and fragmentation of the giant panda habitats, such that that the population of this species has been significantly reduced in some counties. Improving the protection of giant panda requires designing regional economic development activities based on scientific principles to provide benefits to both the local people and the giant pandas. For example, when making land use plans, the local government should consider the impact of the development of the communities surrounding the giant panda areas on the giant pandas’ habitat.

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“…This indicates that sampling locations possibly biased the estimated conservation effects in forest structural traits and diversity traits, and our data also confirmed that dominant species abundance was not affected by the sampling distance from the reserve (Table S3). At the moment, different scientists sample at different distances when evaluating conservation effects, and this distance ranges from 2 to 70 km [18][19][20]. Our data strongly suggested that standardized sampling protocol including distance to the reserve should be developed in the future.…”

Section: Conservation-induced Dominant Species Changes With Increasinmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…The plot locations outside the reserve were within about 30 km from the edge of the reserve in our study (Figure 1a). This sampling distance in studying the conservation effects ranged from 2 to 70 km in previous references [18][19][20].…”

Section: Experimental Design Field Investigation and Data Dollectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dominant Species Abundance, Vertical Structure and Plant Diversity Response to Nature Forest Protection in Northeastern China: Conservation Effects and Implications

Wang

et al. 2020

Forests

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The conservation of species diversity and improvement of forest structure are essential roles of the Natural Reserve Policy and the Natural Forest Protection Program (NFPP) in China. However, the long-term effects of NFPP are still not well-defined, and a natural reserve (Liangshui) and surrounding region were surveyed as a proxy of NFPP for approaching the protection effects. Our results showed that long-term conservation significantly altered the dominant species in the herb layer (80% of species), followed by shrub (58%) and tree layers (50%); there was a 1.6-8.0-fold increase in abundance in Corylus shrubs, Acer trees and Carex grass, but a 1.3-10.0-fold abundance decrease in larch trees, Athyrium herbs and Lonicera shrubs. In contrast, tree species diversity and distribution evenness increased by 31% and 23.4% in the reserve, respectively. Forest protection in the reserve also led to the forest structural alteration with the observation of larger-sized trees and shorter herbs, but relatively sparse forests (smaller tree density). Structural equation modeling manifested that the reserve directly altered forest structure, at a coefficient of 0.854, nearly two-fold higher than its impact on diversity (0.459) and dominant species (−0.445). The most affected parameters were plant size (trees and herbs) and tree density related to forest structure, tree diversity, herb richness and evenness for diversity traits, and Oxalidaceae and Rosaceae for dominant species. This study provides basic data that can be used to evaluate the impact of the nature reserve in NE China, and these findings can be used to guide the implementation of NFPP in the long-term in the future.

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Transforming Protected Area Management in China

Cited by 133 publications

References 9 publications

Evaluation of Prioritized Natural Landscape Conservation Areas for National Park Planning in China

Evaluation of Prioritized Natural Landscape Conservation Areas for National Park Planning in China

The Landscape Patterns of the Giant Panda Protection Area in Sichuan Province and Their Impact on Giant Pandas

Dominant Species Abundance, Vertical Structure and Plant Diversity Response to Nature Forest Protection in Northeastern China: Conservation Effects and Implications

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