Developing a composite index of conservation value to determine the conservation status of protected areas: The case of the Krau Wildlife Reserve and Tasek Bera Ramsar Site, Peninsular Malaysia

In Peninsular Malaysia, the various forms and contexts of assessing the conservation status of a protected area has led to inconsistent results, causing misunderstanding and uncertainty among protected area managers. Furthermore, these assessments rely heavily on the conservation value inside the protected area, despite the fact that its value is also influenced by the external environment. In this regard, using a composite index of conservation value (CICV) provides the opportunity for a more practical assessment of conservation status. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a CICV to determine the conservation status of two protected areas in Peninsular Malaysia, i.e., the Krau Wildlife Reserve and Tasek Bera Ramsar Site. Land use/land cover maps inside and outside the protected areas, developed using Landsat images from 2014, were the basis for the conservation value assessment, which employed three landscape scale indicators, i.e., naturalness, fragmentation, and connectivity. Through an analytical hierarchical process, the indicators were combined to develop a CICV inside and outside each protected area. Acceptable robustness values obtained through sensitivity analysis enabled the calculation of the CICV scores. For each protected area, the internal and external sites were then merged to calculate a net CICV. The inside, outside, and net CICV scores were used to determine the area’s conservation status on a critical value scale with the markers ‘very critical’, ‘critical’, ‘moderate’, ‘good’, and ‘excellent’. Inside the Krau Wildlife Reserve, the CICV was 88.4 %, indicating an ‘excellent’ conservation status, while its outside status is ‘critical’ with a CICV of 35 %. The net CICV of this area was 64.29 %, yielding a ‘good’ net conservation status. The CICV inside and outside Tasek Bera Ramsar Site were 35 % and 21.34 % respectively, both of which represent a ‘critical’ conservation status. The net CICV was found to be 22.52 %, suggesting that the net conservation status is ‘critical’. The results show that the external landscape of protected areas is a threat that influences the areas’ net conservation status. Therefore, a comprehensive conservation status assessment requires a composite index that integrates conservation values from the outside to help protected area managers easily understand and interpret findings, and thus, effectively coordinate conservation planning.