Conservation Priorities in Terrestrial Protected Areas for Latin America and the Caribbean Based on an Ecoregional Analysis of Woody Vegetation Change, 2001–2010

Matthew L Clark,David López-Carr,Jorge Ruiz,Maria C Fandino

doi:10.3390/land10101067

Matthew L Clark, David López-Carr + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/land10101067

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Abstract

We determined protected area coverage and woody vegetation change in Latin America and the Caribbean at biome and ecoregion scales, for the years 2001 to 2010. For each ecoregion’s terrestrial protected area (TPA) and unprotected area, a linear regression of woody vegetation area against time (10 years) was used to estimate 2001 and 2010 woody vegetation, respectively. We calculated a conversion-to-protection index, termed the Woody Conservation Risk Index, and identified trends in relation to existing conservation priorities. As a whole, the region lost 2.2% of its woody cover. High woody cover loss was observed for the Moist Forests (3.4% decrease) and the Flooded Grasslands/Savannas (11.2% decrease) biomes, while Mediterranean Forests exhibited a 5.8% increase. The Dry Forest Biome, the most threatened biome worldwide, experienced a 2% regional gain, which was surprising as we expected the opposite given a net regional loss for all biomes. Woody cover was more stable in TPAs in comparison to areas with no protection. Deforestation inside and surrounding TPAs remains high in humid ecoregions. High overall ecoregion deforestation, with stable TPAs, characterized some Amazonian ecoregions, the Dry Chaco, and moist forests on the eastern Andean foothills of Ecuador and Peru. Woody regrowth inside and outside of TPAs was observed in the Sonoran-Sinaloan transition subtropical dry forests and the Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests in Mexico.

Highlights

Ecoregions represent essential geographic units for conservation planning at continental and global scales [1]
The results of our study suggest the importance of biome and ecoregion scales in measuring forest/shrubland change, levels of protection, and potential impacts on habitat loss and biodiversity
Ecoregions may present trends in land change and protection that deviate from those observed in their biomes, as patterns respond to more localized environmental factors, such as regional climate change, and national and transnational socioeconomic factors, such as policy goals, levels of enforcement, economic development, and population growth

Summary

Introduction

Ecoregions represent essential geographic units for conservation planning at continental and global scales [1]. Population pressures and climate change are increasing pressures on global biodiversity priority areas [2] and habitat loss due to land use change is probably the single most important factor threatening biodiversity conservation in terrestrial ecoregions [3,4]. In an analysis of the world’s terrestrial ecoregions at greatest extinction risk, Hoekstra et al [5] found that habitat conversion exceeded habitat protection by a ratio of 10:1 in more than 140 ecoregions globally. The LAC region contains about half of the world’s remaining tropical forests, but tension between conservation and natural resource extraction is a common denominator across LAC’s forest landscapes [7,8,9,10,11]. LAC’s forests and its associated biodiversity and ecosystem services are in peril due to agriculture, poverty, population, and economic growth, lack of political will, inequality, among other factors [12,13,14]

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