Conservation in Sustainable-Use Tropical Forest Reserves

Coastal ecosystems store approximately 80% of carbon in sediments, which could be emitted due to degradation and deforestation. Therefore, protecting and managing these ecosystems are crucial for climate change mitigation. This study aims to determine sediment bulk density (SBD), sediment organic carbon (SOC) concentration, and sediment carbon stocks (SCS) in mangroves and seagrasses, and to elucidate how the protection scheme impacts them. We collected four sediment cores of 100 cm each from protected and unprotected mangrove areas and three sediment cores of 80 cm each from unprotected and protected seagrass areas. The average SBD in mangroves was 0.48 g cm −3 in protected areas and 0.55 g cm −3 in unprotected areas, while the average SBD in seagrass was 0.79 g cm −3 in protected areas and 0.85 g cm −3 in unprotected areas. The average SOC in mangroves was 8.65% in protected areas and 8.63% in unprotected areas, while the average SOC in seagrass was 5.89% and 6.25% in protected and unprotected areas, respectively. The average SCS in the protected area was 381 and 363 Mg C ha −1 in the mangrove and seagrass ecosystems, respectively. On the other hand, the average SCS in the unprotected areas was 449 and 422 Mg C ha −1 in mangroves and seagrass ecosystems, respectively. Although we did not find any significant differences in SCS between protected and unprotected ecosystems regardless of ecosystem types, the conservation management of blue carbon ecosystems is still needed to avoid future carbon emissions.

Protected areas are a key conservation tool, yet their effectiveness at maintaining biodiversity through time is rarely quantified. Here, we assess protected area effectiveness across sampled portions of Great Britain (primarily England) using regionalized (protected vs unprotected areas) Bayesian occupancy-detection models for 1238 invertebrate species at 1 km resolution, based on ~1 million occurrence records between 1990 and 2018. We quantified species richness, species trends, and compositional change (temporal beta diversity; decomposed into losses and gains). We report results overall, for two functional groups (pollinators and predators), and for rare and common species. Whilst we found that protected areas have 15 % more species on average than unprotected ones, declines in occupancy are of similar magnitude and species composition has changed 27 % across protected and unprotected areas, with losses dominating gains. Pollinators have suffered particularly severe declines. Still, protected areas are colonized by more locally-novel pollinator species than unprotected areas, suggesting that they might act as ‘landing pads’ for range-shifting pollinators. We find almost double the number of rare species in protected areas (although rare species trends are similar in protected and unprotected areas); whereas we uncover disproportionately steep declines for common species within protected areas. Our results highlight strong invertebrate reorganization and loss across both protected and unprotected areas. We therefore call for more effective protected areas, in combination with wider action, to bend the curve of biodiversity loss – where we provide a toolkit to quantify effectiveness. We must grasp the opportunity to effectively conserve biodiversity through time.

In the man-made coastal forest, the vegetation dynamics of protected and unprotected coastal forests have been identified. This study examined and quantified the impacts of grazing on coastal vegetation. The investigation was conducted between January 2013 and December 2020. In a transect line, fifty-two distinct tree, herb, and shrub species were found in unprotected coastal areas, and 36 were found in protected areas. After eight years, the number of saplings (p=0.031), poles (p=0.030), and total (p=0.026) (seedling, sapling, and pole) regeneration were substantially different between protected and unprotected areas. The current study found no significant differences in regeneration and tree density after one and five years of establishing the protected zones. The greatest number of natural poles were found in protected and unprotected areas from 2017 to 2020. The changes in tree density were considerable (p=0.03) after eight years. From 2014 to 2017, the highest rate of seedling recruitment was 36622 to 43439 individuals observed in protected and unprotected areas. In protected areas, Excoecaria agallocha L. and Avicinnia officinalis L. had the most extensive regeneration coverage, and nine species of seedlings, saplings, and poles were seen in 2013 protected areas. After 8 years, E. agallocha had a 47.01% while Phoenix paludosa Roxb. had a 30.81% success rate. In 2020, seedlings of Pongamia pinnata L. (6.6%), Herietiera fomes Buch.-Ham. (5.5%), A. officnalis (5.30%) and the remaining six species were also seen. The species E. agallocha comprised 69.11% of the trees at Soner Char tree density, followed by Sonneratia apetala Buch.-Ham. (23.30%), P. paludosa (8.82%), H. fomes (3.43%), and the remaining two species in 2020. After eight years, the species S. apetala declined by 43.64% and 23.90% in protected and unprotected areas, respectively. The species Phoenix paludosa, H. fomes, A. officinalis, and Dolichandrone spathacea (L.F) Baill. Ex K. Schum. was found to replace S. apetala in protected areas. Grazing affects the natural recruitment stage of saplings and poles and tree stem density in unprotected areas. The observations assume that S. apetala will diminish due to climatic conditions, and E. agallocha will become the main dominating species in coastal areas. J. Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh, Sci. 49(2): 203-224, December 2023

Protected areas (PAs) cover a quarter of the tropical forest estate. Yet there is debate over the effectiveness of PAs in reducing deforestation, especially when local people have rights to use the forest. A key analytic problem is the likely placement of PAs on marginal lands with low pressure for deforestation, biasing comparisons between protected and unprotected areas. Using matching techniques to control for this bias, this paper analyzes the global tropical forest biome using forest fires as a high resolution proxy for deforestation; disaggregates impacts by remoteness, a proxy for deforestation pressure; and compares strictly protected vs. multiple use PAs vs indigenous areas. Fire activity was overlaid on a 1 km map of tropical forest extent in 2000; land use change was inferred for any point experiencing one or more fires. Sampled points in pre-2000 PAs were matched with randomly selected never-protected points in the same country. Matching criteria included distance to road network, distance to major cities, elevation and slope, and rainfall. In Latin America and Asia, strict PAs substantially reduced fire incidence, but multi-use PAs were even more effective. In Latin America, where there is data on indigenous areas, these areas reduce forest fire incidence by 16 percentage points, over two and a half times as much as naïve (unmatched) comparison with unprotected areas would suggest. In Africa, more recently established strict PAs appear to be effective, but multi-use tropical forest protected areas yield few sample points, and their impacts are not robustly estimated. These results suggest that forest protection can contribute both to biodiversity conservation and CO2 mitigation goals, with particular relevance to the REDD agenda. Encouragingly, indigenous areas and multi-use protected areas can help to accomplish these goals, suggesting some compatibility between global environmental goals and support for local livelihoods.

Protected areas (PAs) in the Brazilian Amazon have proven to be critical in preserving the rainforest but face increasing threats. Since 2019, illegal activities and land conflicts involving PAs have escalated due to the weakening of environmental institutions. Therefore, up-to-date research is needed to evaluate agricultural pressures on PAs—including Sustainable Use Areas, Indigenous Territories, and Strictly Protected Areas—given its importance in driving deforestation in the Amazon, and to identify hotspots of concern. We analyzed property registration, deforestation, pasture expansion, and cattle transaction records within 158 PAs in the Brazilian state of Pará, which holds most of the remaining forest and the highest rates of deforestation. Our findings show that nearly a quarter of Pará’s 2019–2022 deforestation occurred within PAs, undermining their effectiveness as conservation tools. Despite prohibitions, we found illegally registered private properties in most PA categories including indigenous territories and over a 100% increase in deforestation within PAs from 2015–2018. Over 90% of PAs contained pasturelands in 2022, but only half of them had registered cattle transactions within their borders, which suggests the presence of clandestine cattle activities in these areas as well. Indirect sales to slaughterhouses coming from PAs increased during the study period, potentially due to efforts by ranchers to obscure such cattle origins from companies that are increasingly monitoring their direct suppliers. Finally, we identified 17 high-risk PAs concentrating most threats. Focusing monitoring efforts on property registries and cattle transactions in these areas could significantly reduce illegal deforestation and illegal cattle ranching. While PAs are considered to be cornerstones of forest conservation efforts, our findings show that current policies fail to prevent cycles of land grabbing, illegal ranching, and deforestation that can eventually lead to the downgrading, downsizing, and degazetting of PAs. Given this context, validating property claims, tracing cattle sales, and penalizing deforestation are urgently needed to halt these cycles that threaten PAs.

Conflicts between forest conservation and socio-economic development in the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) have persisted for years but the effects of Indigenous territory (ITs) and protected area (PAs) status on deforestation there remain unclear. To address this issue, we analysed time-series satellite images and qualified annual forest area in the BLA under different governance and management regimes. Between 2000 and 2021, areas classified as ITs or PAs increased to cover 52% of forested areas in the BLA while accounting for only 5% of net forest loss and 12% of gross forest loss. In the years (2003–2021) after establishment, gross forest loss fell 48% in PAs subject to ‘strict protection’ and 11% in PAs subject to ‘sustainable use’. However, from 2018 to 2021 the percentage rate of annual gross forest loss in ITs/PAs was twice that of non-designated areas. Our findings reveal the vital role of, and substantial progress achieved by, ITs and PAs in Amazonian forest conservation as well as the dangers of recent weakening of Brazil’s forest policies. The Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) has Earth’s largest tropical rainforest and a history of tension around its fate. Between 2001 and 2018, this study finds that Indigenous territories and protected areas in the BLA have expanded and reduced deforestation markedly, with some gains eroded in recent areas.

Bats have the second highest mammalian species richness globally, and account for about half of the mammal species diversity in tropical forests. In the Neotropical region, Brazil is the second most bat species-rich country, and the Brazilian Amazonia harbours most of the Brazilian bat diversity. However, many areas of the Amazon have sampling gaps in biodiversity inventories, and this is the situation of most Protected Areas (PAs) of the Central Amazon Ecological Corridor (CAEC) of Brazil. In the CAEC, there are PAs that are relatively intact, globally relevant for biodiversity, having high priority for conservation at the regional scale, but are greatly deficient in faunal inventories. In this sense, species inventories are the first step to consolidate management plans for PAs, as well as the conservation of the species occurring there. Thus, in this study we survey the bat assemblages in three PAs in the CAEC of Brazil: Jutai River Extractive Reserve (JRER), Jutai-Solimoes Ecological Station (JSES) and Auati-Parana Extractive Reserve (APER). In addition, we compared the bat diversity of these three areas with a compilation of data from 44 localities in the Amazon biome in two different biogeographic contexts. The first involves three geographic regions separated by large Amazonian rivers (Eastern Amazonia, Western Amazonia and the Guiana Shield) and the second based on three biogeographic dominions (Boreal Brazilian, Southeastern Amazonia and South Brazilian). We recorded 36 species at JRER in ten nights of sampling, 33 species at JSES in nine nights, and 55 species at APER in 17 nights. Of the total number of species, 20 were captured exclusively at APER, seven at JSES and only four at JRER, with 21 species being common to the three PAs. One species (Artibeus bogotensis) was recorded for the first time in Brazil. In a biogeographic context, species composition differed among biogeographic regions. This suggests that when designing strategies of conservation to protect the rich diversity of the large-scale bat fauna of the Amazon, considering the location of PAs, as well as the biogeographic regions is key. Although there have been major efforts in Brazil to identify priority conservation areas, for most priority areas of Amazon, bat surveys have not been performed, highlighting the urgent need for further studies.

Serengeti is the largest ecosystem in Tanzania endowed with high level of biodiversity in protected and unprotected areas. Serengeti National Park is the only protected area in a matrix of unprotected areas characterized with a wide range of human activities which threaten biodiversity conservation. It was assessed plant species composition, diversity, distribution and vegetation structure in both the protected and unprotected areas of the ecosystem. Two transects with twenty plots each were established in each vegetation type in which data was collected. A significantly higher species composition (262) and diversity (2.39 ± 0.03) was observed in unprotected areas than in the protected area (163 and 2.06 ± 0.04 respectively). The DCA ordination of the species data from the two management regimes formed four clusters based on similarity in plant species composition, where three clusters were from unprotected areas and one from protected area. The variations in plant species composition ranged from 35.69% to 65.92% for the first four DCA axes. There was no significant difference in stem density between protected and unprotected areas of the ecosystem. Although high density of trees at 10 - 14 cm DBH sizes was observed in both sides of the conservation management regimes, individuals with DBH above 65 cm existed in the protected area but were absent in unprotected areas. It can be concluded that the decrease of plant species diversity and density in unprotected area is because of habitat degradation associated with exploitation pressure, livestock grazing and other forms of disturbance related with anthropogenic activities. Because of high demand for plant resources, the local community needs to establish woodlots to cater for wood resource needs outside the protected areas of Serengeti. Also, pastoralists need to diversify livestock keeping systems compatible with limited grazing land in unprotected area of the Serengeti ecosystem.

Do protected areas hamper economic development of the Amazon region? An analysis of the relationship between protected areas and the economic growth of Brazilian Amazon municipalities

Protected areas are a cornerstone for biodiversity conservation, and typically support more natural and undisturbed habitats compared to unprotected lands. The effect of protected areas on intra-specific ecological niche has been rarely investigated. Here, we explore potential differences in ecological niche properties of birds and mammals across protected and unprotected areas, and relate such differences to species traits. We combine two decades of survey data of birds and mammals from protected and unprotected areas, and apply robust matching to obtain a set of environmentally comparable protected and unprotected sites. Next, we calculate intra-specific niche volume change and habitat shift between protected and unprotected areas, and use generalized linear mixed models to explain these responses with species traits (habitat specialization, body mass, diet, and red list status). The majority of bird and mammal species (83% and 90%, respectively) show different habitat use when occurring within and outside protected areas, with the magnitude of this shift highly varying across species. A minority of species (16% of birds and 10% of mammals) do not change their niche volume nor shift their habitat between protected and unprotected areas. Variation in niche properties is largely unrelated to species traits. Overall, the varying ecological niche responses of birds and mammals to protected areas underscore that there is no universal niche-based response, and that niche responses to land protection are species-specific.

The role of protected areas is for the long-term conservation of biodiversity. This study investigated the effectiveness of the Hadejia-Nguru Ramsar Wetlands Protected Areas in maintaining bird community. We assessed and compared species’ richness, relative abundance and conservation status of birds between Protected Areas (PAs) and Unprotected Areas (UPAs) of the wetland. The study was conducted from October to December, 2015. Point-count method was employed during the study. Forty-eight points of 100 m radius and 400 m intervals were surveyed in PAs and 51 points in the UPAs. A total of 42, 255 individual birds of 148 species’ belonging to 23 orders and 50 families were recorded. Uprotected Areas had 133 species and PAs 121 species (p = 0.4514), however, PAs had higher birds abundance than unprotected areas. The two areas shared a greater percentage of species composition by 85%. Two globally threatened species were also recorded, the European Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur (Vulnerable) and Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus (Near Threatened). White-faced Whistling Duck Dendrocygna viduata, and Garganey Spatula querquedula were the dominant species in both areas. Results further revealed that PAs had slightly higher bird population with stable trend than UPAs, in contrast, though those with increasing population were more in UPAs. Overall, the population trend of birds in both habitats was found to be stable. Majority of resident species’ population trend were found to be on the increase, or stable, while intra- African and Palearctic migrants were found to be declining. This study highlights that not only PAs of the HNWs are important for bird conservation, but UPAs, too, are of great significance for the long-term conservation of the wetland bird community. Legal protection of certain wetland areas especially in the UPAs may help preserve larger bird species.Keywords: Bird conservation; Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands; protected and unprotected areas; threats.

Evaluating the effectiveness of protected areas for sustaining biodiversity is crucial to achieving conservation outcomes. While studies of effectiveness have improved our understanding of protected‐area design and management, few investigations (< 5%) have quantified the ecological performance of reserves for conserving species. Here, we present an empirical evaluation of protected‐area effectiveness using long‐term measures of a vulnerable assemblage of species. We compare forest and woodland bird diversity in the Australian Capital Territory over 11 yr on protected and unprotected areas located in temperate eucalypt woodland and matched by key habitat attributes. We examine separately the response of birds to protected areas established prior to 1995 and after 1995 when fundamental changes were made to regional conservation policy. Bird diversity was measured in richness, occurrence of vulnerable species, individual species trajectories and functional trait groups. We found that protected areas were effective in maintaining woody vegetation cover in the study region, but were less effective in the protection of the target bird species assemblage. Protected areas were less species rich than unprotected areas, with significant declines in richness across sites protected prior to 1995. Small, specialised and vulnerable species showed stronger associations with unprotected areas than protected areas. Our findings indicate that recently established reserves (post‐1995) are performing similarly to unprotected woodland areas in terms of maintaining woodland bird diversity, and that both of these areas are more effective in the conservation of woodland bird populations than reserves established prior to 1995. We demonstrate that the conservation value of protected areas is strongly influenced by the physical characteristics, as well as the landscape context, of a given reserve and can diminish with changes in surrounding land use over time. Both protected areas and off‐reserve conservation schemes have important roles to play in securing species populations.

Official protection plays a major role in the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable management of endangered species habitat. Bozin and Marakhil Forest is a protected area in the Kermanshah province of Iran, and covers 23,724 ha of semi-arid Zagros forests. It was designated a protected area in 1999 to protect habitat for roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). However, debate has surrounded the efficiency and effectiveness of protected areas for species\' habitat conservation in the region due to the ongoing socioeconomic problems in the area. Using remote sensing data from 2001 and 2009, we evaluated the effects of this protected designation on forest area and structure at two spatial scales. We processed and classified Landsat images of the two dates covering the protected area and the adjacent unprotected areas for the broad scale analysis. We classified IKONOS and GeoEye images of the two dates covering a part of protected and unprotected areas for fine scale analysis. The fine scale analysis showed a higher forest loss in unprotected area. The difference between spatial pattern metrics at the fine scale at the beginning and the end of the study period showed that no structural change occurred as result of protection. Broad scale analysis showed no change in forest area in either the protected or unprotected areas during the study period. Spatial pattern analysis at broad scales showed that the protected area had a higher forest patch contiguity and patch extent, and lower patch isolation, at the end of study period (p-values: 0.002, 0.014, and 0.002). A temporal analysis demonstrated that these differences were not due to the improvement of habitat in the protected area, since no change in structure occurred in that area through time. Instead, changes occurred due to fragmentation in the unprotected area through time. At the fine scale, protection improved the area of forests while at broad scale its effect was observed on forest structure. These results demonstrate that eliminating or reducing human activity in an area through official protection may prevent further degradation within the area, but may have substantial impact on habitat at multiple scales in the surrounding area. This presents a risk of isolating populations within the park, further placing them at risk of stochastic extinction. The practice calls into question the efficiency of protected areas from both the ecological and socioeconomic viewpoints.

By 2014 approximately 2.2 million km2 (~43%) of Brazil’s Legal Amazonia region had been incorporated into an extensive network of 718 protected areas, which are comprised by 372 indigenous lands, 313 federal, state and municipal (county) conservation units, and 33 Maroon territories (Quilombos). Although protected areas occupy vast expanses in Amazonia, their importance as carbon reserves needs to be better understood. In this study, we estimate the total carbon in 2014 held in protected areas in Brazil’s “Legal Amazonia” and “Amazonia biome” regions, and the carbon loss in the portions of these protected areas that were cleared by 2014. In 2014, a total of 33.4 Pg C or 57.0% of all carbon stored in Legal Amazonia was held in protected areas and 32.7 Pg C or 58.5% of all the carbon stored in the Amazonia biome was held in protected areas. By 2014, carbon lost due to clearing in protected areas in Legal Amazonia and the Amazonia biome totaled, respectively, 0.787 (or 2.3%) and 0.702 (or 2.1%) Pg C if one assumes that previously each protected area was entirely covered by native vegetation. If the protection of these areas is effective, about half of the carbon in Brazilian Amazonia will be maintained. Carbon in protected areas has strategic value for environmental conservation and for mitigation of climate change because these areas are under lower risk of being emitted to the atmosphere than carbon stored in vegetation located outside of protected areas, although the effectiveness of protected areas varies.

Protected areas are fundamental for maintaining ecosystem functions and have generally been considered to affect land use change. Here, we explored how protected areas affected land cover volatility in China from 2011 to 2020 with LandTrendr using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform by comparing the difference in volatility of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in protected and unprotected areas. The results show that the regions with frequent land cover volatility are mainly located in eastern, central, and southwestern China, indicating that land cover volatility with high NDVI loss values is spatially aggregated in most cases. Considering the impact of protected areas, land cover volatility is relatively consistent inside and outside the protected area throughout the study period, showing a trend of first fluctuating and then rising. Approximately 22% of detected land cover volatility occurred in protected areas, though the average NDVI loss value (0.56) for protected areas was greater than unprotected areas (0.51). Combined with the outliers, land cover volatility accompanied by larger NDVI loss values is still primarily distributed in unprotected areas in most years. The detection of NDVI gain values in protected areas shows that protected areas (average value is 0.48) are larger than unprotected areas (average value is 0.47) almost every year, even combined with the outliers, and land cover volatility accompanied by larger NDVI gain values is also primarily distributed in protected areas in most years. Elucidating land cover volatility is helpful in understanding land cover changes and how to formulate an effective land use policy.