Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Impact of nature reserve establishment on deforestation: a test

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Establishing protected areas is one of the most widely used tools for biodiversity conservation, but the effectiveness of this is disputed. We used satellite-based maps of land cover to compare forest cover and rate of forest loss before and after 28 Mexican protected areas were decreed. Forest cover declined over time, both inside and outside reserves, but the loss was lowest in designated core areas. No significant difference was found in the mean rate of change in forest cover between external buffer, decreed areas and areas not yet decreed. There was also no significant difference in forest loss among protected areas before and after being decreed. The centre of protected areas (whether or not it corresponds to core areas) had a lower rate of forest cover loss. Population and road density was significantly lower within than outside protected areas and in regulated core areas than in the rest of the area. Isolation from the boundary appears to reduce deforestation as much as the presence of regulated core areas, illustrating the importance of size and design and the importance of protecting large areas with adequate core areas for a more effective conservation management.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

MSS:

Multi spectral scanning

ETM:

Enhanced thematic mapper

INE:

Institito Nacional de Ecología (National Institute of Ecology)

GIS:

Geographic information system

INEGI:

Institututo Nacional de Estadística e Informática (National Institute of Statistics and Informatic)

References

  • Asner GP (2001) Cloud cover in Landsat observations of the Brazilian Amazon. Int J Remote Sens 22:3855–3862

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhagwat S, Brown N, Evans T, Jennings S, Savill P (2001) Parks and factors in their success. Science 293:1045

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brook BW, Sodhi NS, Ng PKL (2003) Catastrophic extinctions follow deforestation in Singapore. Nature 424:420–423

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks TM, Pimm SL, Kapos V, Ravilious C (1999) Threat from deforestation to montane and lowland birds and mammals in insular South-east Asia. J Anim Ecol 68:1061–1078

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner AG, Gullison RE, Rice RE, da Fonseca GAB (2001) Effectiveness of parks in protecting tropical biodiversity. Science 291:125–128

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cairns MA, Haggerty PK, Alvarez R, De Jong BHJ, Olmsted I (2000) Tropical Mexico’s recent land-use change: a region’s contribution to the global carbon cycle. Ecol Appl 10:1426–1441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castillo A, Toledo VM (2000) Applying ecology in the Third World: The case of Mexico. Bioscience 50:66–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chape S, Spalding M, Jenkins M (2008) The world’s protected areas. Status, values and prospects in the twenty-first century. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen WB, Fiorella M, Gray J, Helmer E, Anderson K (1998) An efficient and accurate method for mapping forest clearcuts in the Pacific Northwest using Landsat imagery. Photogramm Eng Remote Sens 64:293–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Conabio (2009) Capital Natural de México, Volumen II

  • Curran LM, Trigg SN, McDonald AK, Astiani D, Hardiono YM, Siregar P, Caniago I, Kasischke E (2004) Lowland forest loss in protected areas of Indonesian Borneo. Science 303:1000–1003

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • DeFries R, Hansen A, Newton AC, Hansen MC (2005) Increasing isolation of protected areas in tropical forests over the past twenty years. Ecol Appl 15:19–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dirzo R, Garcia CM (1992) Rates of Deforestation in Los Tuxtlas, a neotropical area in Southeast Mexico. Conserv Biol 6:84–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enriquez-Andrade R, Anaya-Reyna G, Barrera-Guevara JC, Carvajal-Moreno MD, Martinez-Delgado ME, Vaca-Rodriguez J, Valdes-Casillas C (2005) An analysis of critical areas for biodiversity conservation in the Gulf of California Region. Ocean Coast Manag 48:31–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geoghegan J, Villar SC, Klepeis P, Mendoza PM, Ogneva-Himmelberger Y, Chowdhury RR, Turner BL, Vance C (2001) Modeling tropical deforestation in the southern Yucatan peninsular region: comparing survey and satellite data. Agric Ecosyst Environ 85:25–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes DJ, Sader SA, Schwartz NB (2002) Analyzing a forest conversion history database to explore the spatial and temporal characteristics of land cover change in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve. Landsc Ecol 17:299–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • INEGI (2000) Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática, Red de Carreteras 1:250, 0000, México

  • INEGI (2002) Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática, “Localidades de la República Mexicana, 2000”. Obtenido de Principales Resultados por Localidad. XII Censo de Población y Vivienda 2000. Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO), editor

  • Ite UE, Adams WM (1998) Forest conversion, conservation and forestry in Cross River State, Nigeria. Appl Geogr 18:301–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen JR (1995) Introductory digital image processing: a remote sensing perspective. Prentice Hall, Saddle River

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen JR (2000) Remote sensing of the environment: an earth resource perspective. Prentice Hall, Saddle River

    Google Scholar 

  • Joppa LN, Loarie SR, Pimm SL (2008) On the protection of ‘protected areas’. PNAS 105:6673–6678

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kintz DB, Young KR, Crews-Meyer KA (2006) Implications o land use/land cover change in the buffer zone of a National Park in the Tropical Andes. Environ Manag 38:238–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleinn C, Corrales L, Morales D (2002) Forest area in Costa Rica: a comparative study of tropical forest cover estimates over time. Environ Monit Assess 73:17–40

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu JG, Linderman M, Ouyang ZY, An L, Yang J, Zhang HM (2001) Ecological degradation in protected areas: the case of Wolong Nature Reserve for giant pandas. Science 292:98–101

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Margules CR, Pressey RL (2000) Systematic conservation planning. Nature 405:243–253

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mendoza E, Dirzo R (1999) Deforestation in Lacandonia (southeast Mexico): evidence for the declaration of the northernmost tropical hot-spot. Biodivers Conserv 8:1621–1641

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers N (1992) The primary source: Tropical Forests and our future. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Naughton-Treves L, Buck Holland M, Brandon K (2005) The role of protected areas in conserving biodiversity and sustaining local livelihoods. Annu Rev Environ Resour 30:219–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nepstad D, Schwartzman S, Bamberger B, Santilli M, Ray D, Schlesinger P, Lefebvre P, Alencar A, Prinz E, Fiske G, Rolla A (2006) Inhibition of Amazon deforestation and fire by parks and indigenous lands. Conserv Biol 20:65–73

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Peres CA (2005) Why we need megareserves in Amazonia. Conserv Biol 19:728–733

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigues ASL, Andelman SJ, Bakarr MI, Boitani L, Brooks TM, Cowling RM, Fishpool LDC, da Fonseca GAB, Gaston KJ, Hoffmann M, Long JS, Marquet PA, Pilgrim JD, Pressey RL, Schipper J, Sechrest W, Stuart SN, Underhill LG, Waller RW, Watts MEJ, Yan X (2004) Effectiveness of the global protected area network in representing species diversity. Nature 428:640–643

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez JP, Rodriguez-Clark KM (2001) Even ‘paper parks’ are important. Trends Ecol Evol 16:17–18

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sader SA, Joyce AT (1988) Deforestation rates and trends in Costa Rica, 1940 to 1983. Biotropica 20(1):11–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Sader SA, Hayes DJ, Hepinstal JA, Coan M, Soza C (2001) Forest change monitoring of a remote biosphere reserve. Int J Remote Sens 22:1937–1950

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez-Azofeifa GA, Rivard B, Calvo J, Moorthy I (2002) Dynamics of tropical deforestation around national parks: Remote sensing of forest change on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. Mountain Res Dev 22:352–358

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez-Azofeifa GA, Daily GC, Pfaff ASP, Busch C (2003) Integrity and isolation of Costa Rica’s national parks and biological reserves: examining the dynamics of land-cover change. Biol Conserv 109:123–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schulze CH, Waltert M, Kessler PJA, Pitopang R, Shahabuddin, Veddeler D, Muhlenberg M, Gradstein SR, Leuschner C, Steffan-Dewenter I, Tscharntke T (2004) Biodiversity indicator groups of tropical land-use systems: comparing plants, birds, and insects. Ecol Appl 14:1321–1333

  • Sodhi NS, Liow LH, Bazzaz FA (2004) Avian extinctions from tropical and subtropical forests. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 35:323–345

    Google Scholar 

  • Southworth J, Nagendra H, Carlson LA, Tucker C (2004) Assessing the impact of Celaque National Park on forest fragmentation in western Honduras. Appl Geogr 24:303–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steininger MK (2000) Satellite estimation of tropical secondary forest above-ground biomass: data from Brazil and Bolivia. Int J Remote Sens 21:1139–1157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steininger MK, Tucker CJ, Ersts P, Killeen TJ, Villegas Z, Hecht SB (2001) Clearance and fragmentation of tropical deciduous forest in the Tierras Bajas, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Conserv Biol 15:856–866

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stibig HJ, Malingreau JP (2003) Forest cover of insular southeast Asia mapped from recent satellite images of coarse spatial resolution. Ambio 32:469–475

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stibig HJ, Beuchle R, Achard F (2003) Mapping of the tropical forest cover of insular Southeast Asia from SPOT4-Vegetation images. Int J Remote Sens 24:3651–3662

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland WJ, Pullin AS, Dolman PM, Knight TM (2004) The need for evidence-based conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 19:305–308

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Terborgh J, van Schaik C, Davenport L, Rao M (eds) (2002) Making parks work. Strategies for preserving tropical nature. Island Press, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Triantakonstantis DP, Kollias VJ, Kalivas DP (2006) Forest re-growth since 1945 in the Dadia forest nature reserve in northern Greece. New Forests 32:51–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner IM (1996) Species loss in fragments of tropical rain forest: a review of the evidence. J Appl Ecol 33:200–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uphoff N, Langholz J (1998) Incentives for avoiding the tragedy of the commons. Environ Conserv 25:251–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells MP, McShane TO (2004) Integrating protected area management with local needs and aspirations. AMBIO: J Hum Environ 33:513–519

    Google Scholar 

  • Young JE, Sanchez-Azofeifa GA, Hannon SJ, Chapman R (2006) Trends in land cover change and isolation of protected areas at the interface of the southern boreal mixewood and aspen parkland in Alberta, Canada. Forest Ecol Manag 230:151–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología for funding and the following for providing access to information: Instituto Nacional de Ecología, Instituto de Geografía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and the Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática. Also to Toby Gardiner for useful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Dení Rayn

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK

    William J. Sutherland

Authors
  1. Dení Rayn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. William J. Sutherland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dení Rayn.

Additional information

Dení Rayn presently works as independent consultant.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rayn, D., Sutherland, W.J. Impact of nature reserve establishment on deforestation: a test. Biodivers Conserv 20, 1625–1633 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0051-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0051-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation