TY - JOUR
T1 - Post-2020 biodiversity framework challenged by cropland expansion in protected areas
AU - Meng, Ziqi
AU - Dong, Jinwei
AU - Ellis, Erle C.
AU - Metternicht, Graciela
AU - Qin, Yuanwei
AU - Song, Xiao-Peng
AU - Löfqvist, Sara
AU - Garrett, Rachael D.
AU - Jia, Xiaopeng
AU - Xiao, Xiangming
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2023/7
Y1 - 2023/7
N2 - Protected areas (PAs) are essential for biodiversity conservation but are threatened by cropland expansion. Recent studies have only reported global cropland expansion in large PAs between 1990 and 2005. However, the amount of cropland expansion in global PAs (including relatively small PAs) since the 2000s is unclear. Using 30-m cropland maps, we find that the cropland expansion in PAs accelerated dramatically from 2000 to 2019, compared with that of global croplands. The areal expansion was mainly in large PAs, less-strict PAs and Afrotropical PAs, which also matches the higher species extinction risks. Such PAs appear to be less effective due to greater threats, such as higher background cropland expansion rate. Notably, some PAs with the highest conservation levels failed to prevent cropland expansion. This new picture of cropland dynamics in PAs illustrates that cropland expansion is an ongoing intractable global conservation challenge that will impinge on the aspirations of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
AB - Protected areas (PAs) are essential for biodiversity conservation but are threatened by cropland expansion. Recent studies have only reported global cropland expansion in large PAs between 1990 and 2005. However, the amount of cropland expansion in global PAs (including relatively small PAs) since the 2000s is unclear. Using 30-m cropland maps, we find that the cropland expansion in PAs accelerated dramatically from 2000 to 2019, compared with that of global croplands. The areal expansion was mainly in large PAs, less-strict PAs and Afrotropical PAs, which also matches the higher species extinction risks. Such PAs appear to be less effective due to greater threats, such as higher background cropland expansion rate. Notably, some PAs with the highest conservation levels failed to prevent cropland expansion. This new picture of cropland dynamics in PAs illustrates that cropland expansion is an ongoing intractable global conservation challenge that will impinge on the aspirations of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
UR - https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:72102
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85150644751&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41893-023-01093-w
DO - 10.1038/s41893-023-01093-w
M3 - Article
SN - 2398-9629
VL - 6
SP - 758
EP - 768
JO - Nature Sustainability
JF - Nature Sustainability
IS - 7
ER -