TY - JOUR

T1 - Effectiveness of protected areas in preventing forest loss in a tropical mountain region

AU - Liu, Yang

AU - Ziegler, Alan D.

AU - Wu, Jie

AU - Liang, Shijing

AU - Wang, Dashan

AU - Xu, Rongrong

AU - Duangnamon, Decha

AU - Li, Hailong

AU - Zeng, Zhenzhong

N1 - Funding Information: This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants no. 42071022) and the start-up fund provided by Southern University of Science and Technology (no. 29/Y01296122). We thank Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA for providing the high-resolution forest change data; the Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), Thai for providing the information of protected areas in northern Thailand. We are grateful to Drew Gower for preparing data, insightful comments, and valuable discussions throughout the manuscript. Funding Information: This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants no. 42071022 ) and the start-up fund provided by Southern University of Science and Technology (no. 29/Y01296122 ). We thank Hansen/UMD/Google /USGS/NASA for providing the high-resolution forest change data; the Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), Thai for providing the information of protected areas in northern Thailand. We are grateful to Drew Gower for preparing data, insightful comments, and valuable discussions throughout the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)

PY - 2022/3

Y1 - 2022/3

N2 - As forest loss is accelerating in tropical mountains globally, protected areas (PAs) are seen as bastions to protect sensitive ecosystems, preserve biodiversity, and safeguard headwater catchments from degradation. However, the effectiveness of PAs in preventing forest conversion has rarely been determined. Complicating the issue is that many PAs are inhabited to some extent by long-standing residents, causing illegal logging that is commonly reported. To assess the effectiveness of PAs in preserving forests, as well as investigate the drivers of forest loss in/near PAs, we compare forest loss rates inside and outside PAs before and after their establishment in a tropical mountain region (northern Thailand, the epicenter of mainland Southeast Asia, including 84 PAs). Over the 17-year period from 2000 to 2016, we found that the percentage of forest loss was lower within the PAs than outside (1.69% versus 4.94%). Mean annual forest loss in the PAs was 20% of that in unprotected area. Total forest loss inside PAs included 888.12 km2 (1.93%) in national parks, 325.18 km2 (1.34%) in wildlife sanctuaries/conservation areas and 16.37 km2 (0.65%) in no hunting areas. Forest loss also tended to be highest along boundaries within a 300-m buffer both inside and outside the PAs. Using gradient boosting decision trees, we determined that accessibility variables (elevation, and distance to road) and population were key drivers associated with forest loss in PAs. Further, we found a two-year lagged correlation between forest loss in PAs and international maize price (R2 = 0.73, p < 0.001), indicating the sensitivity of forest loss in some locations to commodity agriculture trends. Finally, we acknowledge the difficulty of managing forest loss in PAs because of the large populations of people living within the boundaries who rely on forest products to support their livelihoods, as well as difficulties in enforcing illegal logging laws.

AB - As forest loss is accelerating in tropical mountains globally, protected areas (PAs) are seen as bastions to protect sensitive ecosystems, preserve biodiversity, and safeguard headwater catchments from degradation. However, the effectiveness of PAs in preventing forest conversion has rarely been determined. Complicating the issue is that many PAs are inhabited to some extent by long-standing residents, causing illegal logging that is commonly reported. To assess the effectiveness of PAs in preserving forests, as well as investigate the drivers of forest loss in/near PAs, we compare forest loss rates inside and outside PAs before and after their establishment in a tropical mountain region (northern Thailand, the epicenter of mainland Southeast Asia, including 84 PAs). Over the 17-year period from 2000 to 2016, we found that the percentage of forest loss was lower within the PAs than outside (1.69% versus 4.94%). Mean annual forest loss in the PAs was 20% of that in unprotected area. Total forest loss inside PAs included 888.12 km2 (1.93%) in national parks, 325.18 km2 (1.34%) in wildlife sanctuaries/conservation areas and 16.37 km2 (0.65%) in no hunting areas. Forest loss also tended to be highest along boundaries within a 300-m buffer both inside and outside the PAs. Using gradient boosting decision trees, we determined that accessibility variables (elevation, and distance to road) and population were key drivers associated with forest loss in PAs. Further, we found a two-year lagged correlation between forest loss in PAs and international maize price (R2 = 0.73, p < 0.001), indicating the sensitivity of forest loss in some locations to commodity agriculture trends. Finally, we acknowledge the difficulty of managing forest loss in PAs because of the large populations of people living within the boundaries who rely on forest products to support their livelihoods, as well as difficulties in enforcing illegal logging laws.

KW - Conservation

KW - Deforestation

KW - Forest management

KW - Machine learning model

KW - Remote sensing

U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108697

DO - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108697

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85124878574

VL - 136

JO - Ecological Indicators

JF - Ecological Indicators

SN - 1470-160X

M1 - 108697

ER -