Bowker J N, De Vos A, Ament J M, Cumming G S
Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, Cape Town, South Africa.
Rhodes University, P.O. Box 94, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa.
Conserv Biol. 2017 Jun;31(3):559-569. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12851. Epub 2017 Jan 18.
The effectiveness of parks for forest conservation is widely debated in Africa, where increasing human pressure, insufficient funding, and lack of management capacity frequently place significant demands on forests. Tropical forests house a substantial portion of the world's remaining biodiversity and are heavily affected by anthropogenic activity. We analyzed park effectiveness at the individual (224 parks) and national (23 countries) level across Africa by comparing the extent of forest loss (as a proxy for deforestation) inside parks to matched unprotected control sites. Although significant geographical variation existed among parks, the majority of African parks had significantly less forest loss within their boundaries (e.g., Mahale Park had 34 times less forest loss within its boundary) than control sites. Accessibility was a significant driver of forest loss. Relatively inaccessible areas had a higher probability (odds ratio >1, p < 0.001) of forest loss but only in ineffective parks, and relatively accessible areas had a higher probability of forest loss but only in effective parks. Smaller parks less effectively prevented forest loss inside park boundaries than larger parks (T = -2.32, p < 0.05), and older parks less effectively prevented forest loss inside park boundaries than younger parks (F = -4.11, p < 0.001). Our analyses, the first individual and national assessment of park effectiveness across Africa, demonstrated the complexity of factors (such as geographical variation, accessibility, and park size and age) influencing the ability of a park to curb forest loss within its boundaries.
在非洲，公园对森林保护的有效性备受争议，在那里，不断增加的人类压力、资金不足以及管理能力缺乏常常给森林带来巨大压力。热带森林承载着世界上很大一部分剩余生物多样性，并且受到人为活动的严重影响。我们通过比较公园内森林损失（作为森林砍伐的代理指标）程度与匹配的未受保护对照地点，在非洲个体（224个公园）和国家（23个国家）层面分析了公园的有效性。尽管公园之间存在显著的地理差异，但大多数非洲公园边界内的森林损失明显少于对照地点（例如，马哈尔公园边界内的森林损失比对照地点少34倍）。可达性是森林损失的一个重要驱动因素。相对难以到达的地区森林损失的可能性更高（优势比>1，p<0.001），但仅在无效的公园中如此，而相对容易到达的地区森林损失的可能性更高，但仅在有效的公园中如此。较小的公园在防止公园边界内森林损失方面不如较大的公园有效（T=-2.32，p<0.05），并且较老的公园在防止公园边界内森林损失方面不如较年轻的公园有效（F=-4.11，p<0.001）。我们的分析是对非洲公园有效性的首次个体和国家层面评估，证明了影响公园遏制其边界内森林损失能力的因素（如地理差异、可达性以及公园大小和年龄）的复杂性。
