Global Ecology and Conservation (Oct 2022)
A novel approach for the identification of conservation priority areas in mountainous regions based on balancing multiple ecosystem services – A case study in the Hengduan Mountain region
Abstract
The identification of conservation priority areas (CPAs) based on multiple ecosystem services (ESs) is a prerequisite and important basis for decision-makers in implementing regional ecological restoration. However, the trade-offs between different services pose great challenges to determining the locations of priority areas. Based on the identification and assessment of key ESs in the Hengduan Mountain region from 2000 to 2020, a multicriteria ordered weighted average (OWA) method was used to balance the conflicts among different services and determine the location of CPAs. The results indicated that the optimal CPAs in the Hengduan Mountain region totaled 89,699 km2, accounting for 20.30% of the study area, and were located mainly in the southwestern and eastern regions. Moreover, the OWA method balanced the trade-offs among multiple services. In the four CPA scenarios that protected each service exclusively, the protection efficiency (PE) of each respective service was greater, but the PE of the remaining three services was always smaller than the corresponding PEs in the optimal scenario. The comprehensive PE of the optimal CPA scenario was 1.27, and the PE values of net primary productivity, water yield, soil conservation, and cultural service were 1.45, 1.20, 1.08, and 1.39, respectively. The CPA determination method in this study can provide a scientific blueprint for regional ecological restoration and the determination of the CPAs in other regions.
