Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Kathryn A. Powlen, Michael C. Gavin, Kelly W. Jones
Summary: The study found that protected areas with higher management effectiveness have a greater impact on reducing forest destruction, and they experience less forest loss compared to areas with low management effectiveness. Administration and finance scores have the greatest impact on forest loss outcomes.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Alena Velichevskaya, Anastasia Dudko, Luca Fabbio, Claudia Notarnicola
Summary: Russian protected forests are facing significant threats from logging and fires, resulting in substantial tree loss. Despite logging and other human activities being prohibited in protected areas, the main driver of tree loss is non-fire causes. Therefore, improved management and policies are needed to reduce forest loss.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Yang Liu, Alan D. Ziegler, Jie Wu, Shijing Liang, Dashan Wang, Rongrong Xu, Decha Duangnamon, Hailong Li, Zhenzhong Zeng
Summary: Protected areas have shown some effectiveness in preserving tropical mountain forests, although they still face challenges of illegal logging and population pressure. Forest loss rates are lower inside protected areas compared to outside, and are influenced by factors such as elevation, accessibility, and population. Additionally, there is a correlation between forest loss in protected areas and international maize prices.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Joao Campos-Silva, Carlos A. Peres, Joseph E. Hawes, Torbjorn Haugaasen, Carolina T. Freitas, Richard J. Ladle, Priscila F. M. Lopes
Summary: The research found that communities living inside sustainable-use protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon have better access to healthcare, education, and infrastructure compared to those outside. The community co-management of fisheries and wildlife recovery within PAs have led to significant social welfare improvements.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Shawan Chowdhury, Shofiul Alam, Mahzabin Muzahid Labi, Nahla Khan, Md Rokonuzzaman, Dipto Biswas, Tasmia Tahea, Sharif A. Mukul, Richard A. Fuller
Summary: The biodiversity in South Asian Protected Areas (PAs) is facing a wide range of anthropogenic threats, with research biased towards India and focusing mainly on species distribution. Most PAs are very small and have not yet reached international biodiversity targets.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
L. Duncanson, M. Liang, V. Leitold, J. Armston, S. M. Krishna Moorthy, R. Dubayah, S. Costedoat, B. J. Enquist, L. Fatoyinbo, S. J. Goetz, M. Gonzalez-Roglich, C. Merow, P. R. Roehrdanz, K. Tabor, A. Zvoleff
Summary: Forests are crucial in stabilizing Earth's climate, and protected areas (PAs) are one approach to conserving forests. However, the global impact of PAs on the carbon cycle has not been quantified due to a lack of accurate global-scale carbon stock maps. Using lidar samples from NASA's GEDI mission, this study estimated a total PA aboveground carbon stock of 61.43 Gt, with 26% attributed to PAs. These higher carbon stocks are mainly from avoided emissions in PAs compared to unprotected forests, equivalent to one year of global fossil fuel emissions.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Saulo Folharini, Antonio Vieira, Antonio Bento-Goncalves, Sara Silva, Tiago Marques, Jorge Novais
Summary: Wildfires are becoming more frequent due to climate change, particularly in areas experiencing prolonged drought. Protected areas play a crucial role in conserving ecosystems and biodiversity, but there is limited research on the occurrence of wildfires in these areas. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis to understand the spatial and temporal relation between wildfires and protected areas, as well as the characteristics and trends in research on this topic.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ana S. L. Rodrigues, Marie-Morgane Rouyer
Summary: A global analysis provides evidence that protected areas are slowing down global biodiversity declines, although the effects vary across different groups of species, and what happens outside protected areas also matters.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Kathryn A. Powlen, Jonathan Salerno, Kelly W. Jones, Michael C. Gavin
Summary: Protected areas (PAs) are effective in confronting forest conversion and biodiversity loss. However, conventional modeling assumptions limit the understanding of the drivers of deforestation. This study used random forest regression to identify the strongest predictors of deforestation in PAs in Mexico, considering nonlinear relationships and higher order interactions. Socioeconomic drivers and biophysical conditions were found to be stronger predictors of forest loss than PA characteristics. The results can guide the allocation of PA resources and help protect vulnerable biodiversity areas.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Beatriz Zachello Nunes, Eliete Zanardi-Lamardo, Rodrigo Brasil Choueri, Italo Braga Castro
Summary: The study identified the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in marine protected areas (MPAs) in Latin America and the Caribbean, with potential occasional toxicity to organisms. Sediment and biota samples indicated varying impacts on MPAs of different management classes, with petrogenic and pyrolytic processes identified as the main sources of PAH, mainly attributed to proximity to ports, industries, and urban areas.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Sebastian Brackhane, Albert Reif, Ewa Zin, Christine B. Schmitt
Summary: Natural disturbances are suppressed in Central European landscapes due to economic and human safety concerns. The European and German wilderness goals have the potential to support the restoration of threatened habitats associated with natural disturbances, but conflicts with the surrounding cultural landscape and infrastructure need to be addressed.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Britaldo Silveira Soares-Filho, Ubirajara Oliveira, Mariana Napolitano Ferreira, Fernanda Figueiredo Constant Marques, Amanda Ribeiro de Oliveira, Fabio Ribeiro Silva, Jan Boerner
Summary: The Amazon Protected Areas Program (ARPA), established in 2002, has supported 120 Conservation Units (CUs) in the Brazilian Amazon, covering a total area of 62 million hectares. This study quantified the impact of ARPA support on reducing deforestation and CO2 emissions in the region. The findings show that ARPA support resulted in additional deforestation reductions of 9% in Strictly Protected (SP) CUs and 39% in Sustainable Use (SU) CUs compared to non-supported CUs. The total reduction in deforestation by ARPA CUs accounted for 2.64 million hectares and 104 million tons of CO2 emissions.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Victoria Graham, Jonas Geldmann, Vanessa M. Adams, Pablo Jose Negret, Pablo Sinovas, Hsing-Chung Chang
Summary: Protected areas in Southeast Asia showed three times less forest cover loss compared to similar landscapes without protection. Areas that completed management reporting using METT conserved more forest cover and forest carbon stocks. Management scores were positively correlated with carbon emissions avoided, highlighting the importance of scaling up management effectiveness reporting programs for better forest conservation and carbon storage.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Fernanda Moura Fonseca Lucas, Emmanoella Costa Guarana Araujo, Nilton Cesar Fiedler, Jose Augusto da Silva Santana, Alexandre Franca Tetto
Summary: Brazil attracts attention in the international news due to the occurrence of large forest fires in its ecosystems. This study aimed to analyze the patterns of publications and identify gaps in forest fire research in Brazilian Protected Areas (PAs) to guide future research directions. The results showed a growing interest in the topic and a wide network of collaboration between Brazilian and international institutions.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Development Studies
Daniela A. Miteva, Subhrendu K. Pattanayak
Summary: This study evaluates how decentralization in Indonesia influenced the effectiveness of protected areas, finding that direct elections can reduce deforestation in protected villages, while district splitting may lead to forest fragmentation, and bupati change has no significant impact on deforestation, fragmentation, or fires.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Rupert Seidl, Katharina Albrich, Dominik Thom, Werner Rammer
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2018)
Article
Ecology
Katharina Albrich, Werner Rammer, Dominik Thom, Rupert Seidl
ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2018)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Katharina Albrich, Werner Rammer, Rupert Seidl
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2020)
Review
Ecology
Katharina Albrich, Werner Rammer, Monica G. Turner, Zak Ratajczak, Kristin H. Braziunas, Winslow D. Hansen, Rupert Seidl
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2020)
Article
Forestry
Katharina Albrich, Rupert Seidl, Werner Rammer, Dominik Thom
Summary: Forests play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle and their protection is essential for climate change mitigation. However, changing climate and disturbance regimes pose a risk to the carbon storage function of forests. A study in the German Alps revealed that a protected landscape may transition from a carbon sink to a carbon source, particularly under a high emissions scenario. Productive areas in lower elevations, which currently have the highest carbon density, contribute the most to the reduction of the carbon sink strength. Therefore, future forest dynamics should be explicitly considered when discussing the potential role of forests in climate change mitigation.