Using spatial prioritization to identify potential protected areas for protecting the most valuable remaining forests in China

Abstract

Forest integrity plays a crucial role in reducing the risk of species extinction. However, as one of the biodiversity-rich countries, China lacks a comprehensive understanding of the current state of forest integrity, particularly regarding the representation of high-integrity forests within the habitats of forest-dwelling species. This knowledge gap hinders our ability to simulate conservation priorities for the effective expansion of protected areas (PAs), safeguarding the most valuable remaining forests. Here, we integrate a recently released forest integrity dataset with habitat data for 2,022 forest-dwelling species to assess the current status of forest integrity in China and the representativeness of high-integrity forests within their habitats. Building on this, we apply spatial prioritization software to identify potential PAs (i.e., priority ranked 100-70 %) for forest conservation. Our results reveal that forest integrity in China exhibits a distinct spatial pattern–higher in the north than in the south, and higher in the west than in the east. High-integrity forests are poorly represented within the habitats of forest-dwelling species (Jacob's Index <0), particularly for threatened species (Jacob's Index close to −1). Potential PAs are primarily located in Yun Nan (12.9 Mha), Si Chuan (6.3 Mha), Guang Xi (5.9 Mha), and Tebit (5.7 Mha). If all of these potential PAs were incorporated into the PA network, China's PA coverage would increase by 6 %, from the current 14 % to approximately 20 %. Our findings provide a critical empirical foundation for forest conservation planning in China to achieve the targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework.