A cost-effective approach to identify conservation priority for 30 × 30 biodiversity target on the premise of food security.

There is a growing consensus on expanding protected and conserved areas for biodiversity conservation. Nevertheless, it remains uncertain where to expand conserved areas as well as what appropriate management modalities to choose. Moreover, conserved areas expansion should be balanced with crop-related food security challenges. We developed a framework to identify cost-effective areas for expanding protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs), and applied it to China. By combining templates for biodiversity conservation priorities at global scale and the priority conservation areas based on 2413 vertebrates' extinction risk in China, we identified areas with high biodiversity conservation value. We then categorized the priority areas according to human impact, indicating the potential cost of management. As a result of combining the two aspects above, we identified the most cost-effective areas for expanding protected areas and OECMs while excluding both the current and predicted croplands that can be used for food security. The results show that China could expand its protected areas to 22.81 % of the country's land area and establish OECMs in areas accounting for 9.82 % and 17.37 % of the country's land area in a cost-effective approach in two scenarios. In the ambitious scenario, protected and conserved areas would account for a maximum of 40.18 % of terrestrial area, with an average 62.67 % coverage of the 2413 species' suitable habitat. To achieve the goals of protected and conserved areas in Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, countries could apply this framework to identify their protected areas and OECM expansion priorities.

Over 1/4 of China's terrestrial area significantly contributed both to biodiversity conservation and carbon neutrality, requiring protection.

Protected areas (PAs) play a crucial role in halting biodiversity loss and mitigating climate change. However, research on the advantages of integrating biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation within PAs remains limited, and there is a deficiency in holistic, scientifically supported management strategies. To address these gaps, we conducted a case study in China, comparing the conservation effectiveness of designating conservation priorities considering either single or multiple objectives, including biodiversity conservation and carbon neutrality. The results showed that integrating multiple values could truly increase the effectiveness of PAs compared to a single value considered. Over 1/4 of China's terrestrial area had a significant contribution for both biodiversity conservation and carbon neutrality, yet remained unprotected. Expanding PAs in these areas holds tremendous win-win biodiversity conservation and carbon neutrality opportunity. We delineated different conservation priorities for comprehensive management and outlined strategies for different types of areas. The framework presented in this study can serve as a reference for other places with comparable scales or management objectives.

Identifying ecosystem service value and potential loss of wilderness areas in China to support post-2020 global biodiversity conservation.

Preserving wilderness areas is one of the key goals in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework(GBF). However, far too little attention has been paid to identifying wilderness conservation priorities on the national scale. In this study, we developed a methodological framework to evaluate the ecosystem service values, potential loss and conservation priorities of wilderness areas in China, providing guidance for wilderness conservation. First, we assessed the conservation value of wilderness areas and found that wilderness areas provided more ecosystem services than non-wilderness areas per unit area in most ecoregions. Then we identified threatened wilderness areas under multiple scenarios due to land use and land cover change. We found that 5.82 % of the existing wilderness areas were projected to be lost by 2100. Finally, wilderness conservation priorities were identified considering both conservation values and potential loss, and 11.24 % of existing wilderness areas were highlighted as conservation priorities. This methodological framework could be applied to other countries to support post-2020 global biodiversity conservation.

One-third of lands face high conflict risk between biodiversity conservation and human activities in China.

Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, and conservation is needed in many places including human-dominated landscapes. Evaluation of conflict risk between biodiversity conservation and human activities is a prerequisite for countries to develop strategies to achieve better conservation outcomes. However, quantitative methods to measure the conflict risk in large-scale areas are still lacking. Here we put forward a quantitative model in large-scale areas and produce the first continuum map of conflict risk in China. Our results show that conflict risk hotspots take up 32.86 % of China's terrestrial area, which may affect 42.98 % of China's population and more than 98 % of threaten vertebrates. Although species richness is high in these hotspot regions, only 10.69 % of them are covered by protected areas. Therefore, alternative conservation measures and proactive spatial planning are needed, especially in regions along the coastlines and around the Sichuan Basin. Especially, extraordinary attentions should be paid to urban agglomerations such as the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta. Compared to previous studies, our study quantifies the conflict risk of every gird cell, enabling the comparison among any locations. The analysis of 500 times generations shows a low sensitivity of the model as the maximum standard deviation is only 0.017. Furthermore, our model can be applied in other countries or at global scale to provide strategies for conflict governance and biodiversity conservation.

Cost-effective priorities for the expansion of global terrestrial protected areas: Setting post-2020 global and national targets.

Biodiversity loss is a social and ecological emergency, and calls have been made for the global expansion of protected areas (PAs) to tackle this crisis. It is unclear, however, where best to locate new PAs to protect biodiversity cost-effectively. To answer this question, we conducted a spatial meta-analysis by overlaying seven global biodiversity templates to identify conservation priority zones. These are then combined with low human impact areas to identify cost-effective zones (CEZs) for PA designation. CEZs cover around 38% of global terrestrial area, of which only 24% is currently covered by existing PAs. To protect more CEZs, we propose three scenarios with conservative, moderate, and ambitious targets, which aim to protect 19, 26, and 43% of global terrestrial area, respectively. These three targets are set for each Convention on Biological Diversity party with spatially explicit CEZs identified, providing valuable decision support for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.