The synergy between protected area effectiveness and economic growth

Area of Science:

• Conservation Science
• Environmental Economics
• Spatial Ecology

Background:

• Protected areas are crucial for biodiversity and ecosystem services.
• Potential conflicts exist between conservation goals and local economic development.
• Global biodiversity targets, like the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, necessitate understanding these interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate global patterns of protected area effectiveness concerning local economic growth.
• To identify predictors of different relationships between protected areas and neighboring communities.
• To inform conservation strategies for enhanced co-benefits.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 10,143 protected areas using matched sampling to account for non-random placement.
• Assessment of land cover changes and nightlight intensity (as a proxy for economic activity).
• Classification of relationships into synergy, retreat, and tradeoff categories.

Main Results:

• Protected areas effectively resist human-induced land cover change.
• Protected areas do not limit economic growth in adjacent settlements (nightlight increases).
• Synergy (conserving natural land cover with economic growth) is the most common relationship globally (47.5%), but less frequent in biodiversity hotspots like the Amazon and Southeast Asia.

Conclusions:

• Protected areas can coexist with and even support local economic development.
• Smaller protected areas, with good accessibility and moderate infrastructure, are more likely to achieve synergy.
• Integrated approaches addressing both conservation and local development are vital for future success.