Spatial priority conservation areas for vegetation habitat across the Upper Reaches of Min River located in Sichuan Province, China

Assessment of the Ecological Protection Effectiveness of Protected Areas Using Propensity Score Matching: A Case Study in Sichuan, China

Protected areas constitute a global strategic resource for enhancing the effectiveness of ecological protection, which can alleviate the impact of unsustainable human production and living activities on the ecological environment. However, the spatiotemporal evolution of ecological protection effectiveness needs to be quantitatively revealed. The net primary productivity (NPP) of plants is an important measure of the effectiveness of ecological protection efforts. The main purpose of this study is to use the relative change in the annual average NPP to evaluate the ecological protection effectiveness of protected areas. We compared the historical changes in the annual average NPP of protected areas in Sichuan Province from 2000 to 2019. We added the spatial coordinates to the impact factor system and adopted propensity score matching (PSM) in a quasi-natural experimental method to determine the experimental group and the control group. The ecological protection effectiveness of the protected areas in the study area in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2019 was measured and classified into three types of changes in protection effectiveness, namely effective, ineffective, or fluctuating. According to the administrative level, type, and spatial distribution, we determined the number and type of changes in the protection effectiveness of different protected areas. The results show that the annual average NPP of the protected areas in Sichuan Province generally fluctuated. The annual average NPP increased in 95.47% of the total protected area and decreased in 4.53%. The overall protection effectiveness of protected areas was positive and significant and gradually improved. Effective protected areas at the national, provincial, and county levels accounted for 40.27% of the total number of protected areas, and the other 14.77% of effective protected area was managed at other administrative levels. Among the different types of protected areas, the proportion of effective protected areas was highest in wild animal protected areas, followed by forest ecology protected areas, wild plant protected areas, and wetland ecology protected areas. The results of this study can provide an important reference for the verification and improvement of the ecological protection effectiveness of various protected areas.

Identification of Priority Conservation Areas for Protected Rivers Based on Ecosystem Integrity and Authenticity: A Case Study of the Qingzhu River, Southwest China

The establishment of protected areas for a river (PARs) is an efficient approach for the conservation of its ecosystem and biodiversity. This study selected the free-flowing Qingzhu River, located in the mountains of southwest China and one of 34 global biodiversity hotspots, as a case study. This study applied the ecosystem approach to develop a model for identifying priority conservation areas for a river (PCARs) based on integrity and authenticity. Three model elements were selected, namely streams, forest and human activity, characterized by three indicators: irreplaceability, tree cover and human activity, respectively. The spatial distributions of these indicators were overlaid according to different weights to generate a map (SCPV) of comprehensive protected value (CPV), which was used to indicate ecosystem integrity and authenticity in the study catchment. Lastly, PCARs were identified by comparing existing protected areas with the calculated SCPV. The application of the model to the Qingzhu River indicated the area of PCARs to be ~71.88 km2, accounting for 15.13% of the total PAR area. Priority reaches for protection were then identified, with many falling within the mainstem of the river in the middle and lower reaches. The total length of priority protected reaches was ~75.97 km, accounting for 49.33% of the total length of the river mainstem within Qingchuan County. This study validated the model at both the theoretical and practical level, confirming that the model is useful for facilitating the precise protection and smart management of rivers.