A global overview of the conservation status of tropical dry forests

Aim To analyse the conservation status of tropical dry forests at the global scale, by combining a newly developed global distribution map with spatial data describing different threats, and to identify the relative exposure of different forest areas to such threats. Location Global assessment. Methods We present a new global distribution map of tropical dry forest derived from the recently developed MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF) product, which depicts percentage tree cover at a resolution of 500 m, combined with previously defined maps of biomes. This distribution map was overlaid with spatial data to estimate the exposure of tropical dry forests to a number of different threats: climate change, habitat fragmentation, fire, human population density and conversion to cropland. The extent of tropical dry forest currently protected was estimated by overlaying the forest map with a global data set of the distribution of protected areas. Results It is estimated that 1,048,700 km² of tropical dry forest remains, distributed throughout the three tropical regions. More than half of the forest area (54.2%) is located within South America, the remaining area being almost equally divided between North and Central America, Africa and Eurasia, with a relatively small proportion (3.8%) occurring within Australasia and Southeast Asia. Overall, c. 97% of the remaining area of tropical dry forest is at risk from one or more of the threats considered, with highest percentages recorded for Eurasia. The relative exposure to different threats differed between regions: while climate change is relatively significant in the Americas, habitat fragmentation and fire affect a higher proportion of African forests, whereas agricultural conversion and human population density are most influential in Eurasia. Evidence suggests that c. 300,000 km² of tropical dry forest now coincide with some form of protected area, with 71.8% of this total being located within South America. Main conclusions Virtually all of the tropical dry forests that remain are currently exposed to a variety of different threats, largely resulting from human activity. Taking their high biodiversity value into consideration, this indicates that tropical dry forests should be accorded high conservation priority. The results presented here could be used to identify which forest areas should be accorded highest priority for conservation action. In particular, the expansion of the global protected area network, particularly in Mesoamerica, should be given urgent consideration.     

Does Tenure Matter? A Comparative Analysis of Agricultural Expansion in the Mosquitia Forest Corridor

This article compares how public protection of forests and common-property forest institutions serve to control outside encroachment into frontier forests in Honduras and Nicaragua. The article combines institutional analysis with ethnographically based fieldwork and analysis of land-cover images to evaluate how property-rights arrangements influence monitoring, enforcement, and compliance with rules to restrict agricultural expansion in two biosphere reserves in the Mosquitia Corridor. Findings show that territorial demarcation and common-property rights are important components for frontier forest conservation. In areas with weak enforcement mechanisms and heavy reliance on social norms over official regulatory measures, the findings suggest that the perceived legitimacy of tenure arrangements and their respective land-use rules are fundamental to controlling the agricultural frontier.

Global protected area impacts

Protected areas (PAs) dominate conservation efforts. They will probably play a role in future climate policies too, as global payments may reward local reductions of loss of natural land cover. We estimate the impact of PAs on natural land cover within each of 147 countries by comparing outcomes inside PAs with outcomes outside. We use 'matching' (or 'apples to apples') for land characteristics to control for the fact that PAs very often are non-randomly distributed across their national landscapes. Protection tends towards land that, if unprotected, is less likely than average to be cleared. For 75 per cent of countries, we find protection does reduce conversion of natural land cover. However, for approximately 80 per cent of countries, our global results also confirm (following smaller-scale studies) that controlling for land characteristics reduces estimated impact by half or more. This shows the importance of controlling for at least a few key land characteristics. Further, we show that impacts vary considerably within a country (i.e. across a landscape): protection achieves less on lands far from roads, far from cities and on steeper slopes. Thus, while planners are, of course, constrained by other conservation priorities and costs, they could target higher impacts to earn more global payments for reduced deforestation.     

The use of forest inventory data for a National Protected Area Strategy in Guyana

Forest inventories are largely neglected in the debate of national parks selection in Guyana (and probably elsewhere). Because taxonomic data are often scant and biased towards are as of high collecting effort, large scale forest inventory data can be a useful tool adding to a knowledge database for forests. In this paper the use of forest inventories to select national parks in Guyana is assessed. With the data of a large scale inventory five forest regions could be distinguished and two were added on the base of existing other information. Forest composition in Guyana is largely determined by geology at a national level and soil type at regional level. Species diversity is higher in the south of Guyana, possibly due to higher disturbance and is also higher on the better soils. It is concluded that a selection of national parks in Guyana should include a sample of all seven regions, including as much soil variation as possible. Because of land use conflicts in central Guyana, this area is in need of quick attention of Guyana's policy makers.     

中国自然保护区网络现状分析与优化设想

我国的自然保护区已覆盖了近15%的国土面积。利用生物多样性保护的地理学方法（Geographic approach to protection of biological diverstiy,GAP）分析了自然保护区的布局和现状。结果表明：我国自然保护区已基本上形成了较完整的体系,但现有保护区网络布局有待进一步合理化：许多重要的、我国特有的或分布狭域的自然生态系统类型、一些珍稀濒危动植物的栖息地、许多稀有或具有重要战略价值的自然资源的产地等尚未被全部纳入保护体系内。作者建议未来自然保护区建设要从以保护物种为中心转向以保护生态系统为中心。应立足现有保护区网络,以扩建原有保护区为主;将具有重要意义的地方保护区升级为国家级保护区;加强与周边国家的合作,建立跨国自然保护区等。保护区规划要因地制宜、形式多样,如在西部应以建立大型自然保护区为主;中、东部人口稠密地区以建立中小型保护区和保护点为主;在候鸟越冬、繁殖与停歇地,可建立季节性保护区等。     

论保护地分类与以国家公园为主体的中国保护地建设

中国正在开展一场以国家公园为龙头的保护地建设, 面临着一个跨领域、跨行业、全空间的保护地分类管理难题。世界各国建立了各种各样的保护地, 这些保护地存在着“同物异名、同名异物、一物多名”现象。IUCN提出了一个保护地分类系统, 以期将所有的保护地纳入一个体系。人们试图按照IUCN的保护地分类系统对现有保护地分类, 但是IUCN保护地分类系统的定义模糊, 无量化标准, 而保护地的属性常常存在非唯一属性等问题。保护地分类是一个学术问题, 可以自由探讨, 百家争鸣; 而保护地的管理是行政问题, 必须有章可依, 有法可循。中国现有10多种不同的保护地类型, 本身就是一种分类体系, 有的保护地, 如自然保护区、风景名胜区、地质公园等已经有相应的行政法规和管理经验。中国国家公园应整合优化而不是取代现有的其他类型保护地。以国家公园为龙头的中国保护地体系需要顶层设计和专门立法。保护地应当推动当地社区人与自然协调发展。     

Prioritizing conservation investments for mammal species globally

We need to set priorities for conservation because we cannot do everything, everywhere, at the same time. We determined priority areas for investment in threat abatement actions, in both a cost-effective and spatially and temporally explicit way, for the threatened mammals of the world. Our analysis presents the first fine-resolution prioritization analysis for mammals at a global scale that accounts for the risk of habitat loss, the actions required to abate this risk, the costs of these actions and the likelihood of investment success. We evaluated the likelihood of success of investments using information on the past frequency and duration of legislative effectiveness at a country scale. The establishment of new protected areas was the action receiving the greatest investment, while restoration was never chosen. The resolution of the analysis and the incorporation of likelihood of success made little difference to this result, but affected the spatial location of these investments.