Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Integrated Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys), Berlin, Germany.
Glob Chang Biol. 2023 Sep;29(17):4880-4897. doi: 10.1111/gcb.16832. Epub 2023 Jun 26.
Tropical and subtropical dry woodlands are rich in biodiversity and carbon. Yet, many of these woodlands are under high deforestation pressure and remain weakly protected. Here, we assessed how deforestation dynamics relate to areas of woodland protection and to conservation priorities across the world's tropical dry woodlands. Specifically, we characterized different types of deforestation frontier from 2000 to 2020 and compared them to protected areas (PAs), Indigenous Peoples' lands and conservation areas for biodiversity, carbon and water. We found that global conservation priorities were always overrepresented in tropical dry woodlands compared to the rest of the globe (between 4% and 96% more than expected, depending on the type of conservation priority). Moreover, about 41% of all dry woodlands were characterized as deforestation frontiers, and these frontiers have been falling disproportionately in areas with important regional (i.e. tropical dry woodland) conservation assets. While deforestation frontiers were identified within all tropical dry woodland classes of woodland protection, they were lower than the average within protected areas coinciding with Indigenous Peoples' lands (23%), and within other PAs (28%). However, within PAs, deforestation frontiers have also been disproportionately affecting regional conservation assets. Many emerging deforestation frontiers were identified outside but close to PAs, highlighting a growing threat that the conserved areas of dry woodland will become isolated. Understanding how deforestation frontiers coincide with major types of current woodland protection can help target context-specific conservation policies and interventions to tropical dry woodland conservation assets (e.g. PAs in which deforestation is rampant require stronger enforcement, inactive deforestation frontiers could benefit from restoration). Our analyses also identify recurring patterns that can be used to test the transferability of governance approaches and promote learning across social-ecological contexts.
热带和亚热带旱地森林生物多样性和碳储量丰富。然而，这些旱地森林中有许多面临着高强度的毁林压力，保护力度仍然较弱。在这里，我们评估了毁林动态与林地保护区域以及与全球热带旱地森林保护重点之间的关系。具体而言，我们从 2000 年到 2020 年对不同类型的毁林前沿进行了特征描述，并将其与保护区、原住民土地和保护生物多样性、碳和水的保护区进行了比较。我们发现，与全球其他地区相比，全球保护重点在热带旱地森林中总是被过度代表（取决于保护重点的类型，多 4%至 96%）。此外，大约 41%的旱地森林被认为是毁林前沿，而这些前沿在具有重要区域（即热带旱地森林）保护资产的地区不成比例地减少。虽然在所有旱地森林保护类别中都发现了毁林前沿，但它们低于保护区内的平均水平（与原住民土地重合的比例为 23%，与其他保护区重合的比例为 28%）。然而，在保护区内，毁林前沿也不成比例地影响着区域保护资产。许多新兴的毁林前沿被发现在保护区之外但靠近保护区，这突显了一个日益严重的威胁，即旱地森林的保护区将变得孤立。了解毁林前沿与当前主要类型的林地保护如何重合，可以帮助针对特定背景的保护政策和干预措施，以保护热带旱地森林的资产（例如，滥伐森林猖獗的保护区需要更强有力的执法，不活跃的毁林前沿可以从恢复中受益）。我们的分析还确定了可重复出现的模式，可用于测试治理方法的可转移性，并促进跨社会生态背景的学习。
