Strengthening protected areas for biodiversity and ecosystem services in China Weihua Xua, Yi Xiaoa, Jingjing Zhanga, Wu Yangb, Lu Zhanga, Vanessa Hullc,1, Zhi Wangd, Hua Zhenga, Jianguo Liuc, Stephen Polaskye, Ling Jianga, Yang Xiaoa, Xuewei Shia, Enming Raoa, Fei Lua, Xiaoke Wanga, Gretchen C. Dailyf,2, and Zhiyun Ouyanga,2 aState Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; bCollege of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; cCenter for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823-5243; dNanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Nanjing 210042, China; eDepartment of Applied Economics and Natural Capital Project, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108; and fDepartment of Biology, Center for Conservation Biology, Natural Capital Project, and Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 Contributed by Gretchen C. Daily, December 15, 2016 (sent for review October 28, 2016; reviewed by Nick M. Haddad and Guangchun Lei) Recent expansion of the scale of human activities poses severe Although the definition of PAs by the International Union for threats to Earth’s life-support systems. Increasingly, protected areas Conservation of Nature (IUCN) includes explicit reference to (PAs) are expected to serve dual goals: protect biodiversity and conserving “nature with associated ecosystem services” (6), bio- secure ecosystem services. We report a nationwide assessment for diversity has historically been the dominant goal for PA design, China, quantifying the provision of threatened species habitat and implementation, and management (7).Thereisnowamajorshift four key regulating services—water retention, soil retention, sand- underway toward broadening the goals of PAs from a dominant storm prevention, and carbon sequestration—in nature reserves focus on biodiversity to one that also encompasses the provision of ’ (the primary category of PAs in China). We find that China s nature ecosystem services for human well-being (8, 9). Well-designed PAs reserves serve moderately well for mammals and birds, but not for can harmonize people and nature and yield improvements in the other major taxa, nor for these key regulating ecosystem services. well-being of both (10). Evidence shows that PAs not only secure ’ ’ China s nature reserves encompass 15.1% of the country s land sur- biodiversity (11), but also provide ecosystem services such as miti- face. They capture 17.9% and 16.4% of the entire habitat area for gating climate change (12), and enhance ecosystem resilience (13). threatened mammals and birds, but only 13.1% for plants, 10.0% The need for research on how to achieve both biodiversity and for amphibians, and 8.5% for reptiles. Nature reserves encompass ecosystem services is of utmost urgency in China. Many globally only 10.2–12.5% of the source areas for the four key regulating important ecosystems occur in China, including boreal and services. They are concentrated in western China, whereas much threatened species’ habitat and regulating service source areas occur tropical forests, wetlands, grasslands, riparian zones, and marine in eastern provinces. Our analysis illuminates a strategy for greatly ecosystems (14). From the 1950s into the 1980s, forest cover was strengthening PAs, through creating the first comprehensive national reduced by half in the Yangtze River basin, causing severe soil park system of China. This would encompass both nature reserves, in erosion in 40% of the region (15), which later contributed to which human activities are highly restricted, and a new category of massive flooding in 1998 that destroyed nearly 5 million homes PAs for ecosystem services, in which human activities not impacting key services are permitted. This could close the gap in a politically Significance feasible way. We also propose a new category of PAs globally, for sustaining the provision of ecosystems services and achieving sustain- Following severe environmental degradation from rapid eco- able development goals. nomic development, China is now advancing policies to secure biodiversity and ecosystem services. We report the first nation- conservation strategy | threatened species representation | wide assessment, showing that protected areas (PAs) are not ecosystem services | protected areas | sustainable development well delineated to protect either biodiversity or key ecosystem services. This serious deficiency exists in many countries. We he increase in human population and escalating per-capita propose creating a national park system in China to help guide Timpacts over the last century have greatly intensified the threats development along a path of green growth, improving the well- to Earth’s life-support systems (1, 2). People have altered ecosys- being of both people and nature. This involves establishing new, tems in profound ways, including land-cover and land-use change, strictly protected PAs for biodiversity and ecosystem services spread of invasive species, climate disruption, and pollution, that are highly sensitive to human impacts, as well as a new PA causing reductions in biodiversity and key ecosystem services (1). category—in China and ideally worldwide—for integrating bio- A central approach to curbing such threats is establishing pro- diversity, ecosystem services, and human activities to achieve tected areas (PAs) (e.g., nature reserves, national parks)— sustainable development goals. geographical spaces where regulations are put in place to limit human impacts and conserve nature (3). The global coverage of Author contributions: W.X., G.C.D., and Z.O. designed research; W.X., Yi Xiao, J.Z., L.Z., Z.W., L.J., Yang Xiao, X.S., E.R., X.W., and Z.O. performed research; W.X., Yi Xiao, J.Z., PAs has increased from 13.4 million square kilometers in 1990 to W.Y., L.Z., H.Z., and F.L. analyzed data; and W.X., W.Y., V.H., J.L., S.P., G.C.D., and Z.O. SCIENCE 32 million square kilometers in 2014, with a total of 209,000 PAs wrote the paper. SUSTAINABILITY that cover 15.4% of the world’s terrestrial surface and 3.4% of the Reviewers: N.M.H., North Carolina State University; and G.L., Beijing Forest University. ocean area (3). The Aichi Biodiversity Targets proposed in 2010 The authors declare no conflict of interest. established goals of 17% coverage of terrestrial areas and 10% Freely available online through the PNAS open access option. coverage of coastal and marine areas by 2020, respectively (3, 4). 1Present address: Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, The specific motivations for establishing PAs range from pro- Gainesville, FL 32611-0430. tecting places for hunting and recreation to securing exceptional 2To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: [email protected] or zyouyang@ sites of geologic wonder, natural resources, or biodiversity. Even in rcees.ac.cn. ECOLOGY the case of biodiversity conservation as a goal, conflicting values This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10. can make PA design challenging (5). 1073/pnas.1620503114/-/DCSupplemental. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1620503114 PNAS | February 14, 2017 | vol. 114 | no. 7 | 1601–1606 Downloaded by guest on September 26, 2021 (16). Although ecosystem service policies have restored some regions of China. Important conservation areas for all threatened forests and their services, biodiversity continues to decline (17). species are shown in Fig. 1. These varied significantly among dif- The principal PAs in China are nature reserves (the most strictly ferent taxonomic groups. The diversity of plants, mammals, and protected PAs, primarily for biodiversity conservation), spanning birds spans most of China, but amphibians and reptiles are con- over 80% of protected areas. By the end of 2014, 2,729 nature re- centrated mainly in the south. Our analysis reveals the important serves had been established, spanning approximately 15% of China’s conservation areas for each taxon (Fig. 1 A–E). land surface (18). Of them, 428 are national nature reserves (encompassing 9.9% of China’s land surface), and the remaining are Ecosystem Service Distribution in China. The important source areas for local reserves. Most nature reserves in China have been established water retention, soil retention, and carbon sequestration are dis- opportunistically, without a clear planning framework to maximize tributed mainly in places with forests, shrubs, and wetlands in the efficiency and representation of conservation targets (19). Previous north, south, and Qinghai–Tibet regions in China (Fig. 2 and Fig. nationwide assessments of the effectiveness of China’snaturere- S1). They are the Khingan, Changbai Mountains, and Loess Plateau serves have focused on ecological diversity (19), represented in in the north region, the Qinling-Ba Mountains, Nanling Mountains, ecoregions. They showed that about half of China’s ecoregions have and Jiangnan Hills in the south region, the eastern Tibetan plateau, >10% of their land area protected through the reserve system, and and Hengduan Mountains in the Qinghai–Tibet region. However, most natural vegetation communities are represented in at least one sandstorm prevention is concentrated mainly in the northwestern nature reserve. To date,