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There is profound interest in knowing the degree to which China's institutions are capable of protecting its natural forests and biodiversity in the face of economic and political change. China's 2 most important forest‐protection policies are its National Forest Protection Program (NFPP) and its national‐level nature reserves (NNRs). The NFPP was implemented in 2000 in response to deforestation‐caused flooding. We undertook the first national, quantitative assessment of the NFPP and NNRs to examine whether the NFPP achieved its deforestation‐reduction target and whether the NNRs deter deforestation altogether. We used MODIS data to estimate forest cover and loss across mainland China (2000–2010). We also assembled the first‐ever polygon dataset for China's forested NNRs (n = 237, 74,030 km² in 2000) and used both conventional and covariate‐matching approaches to compare deforestation rates inside and outside NNRs (2000–2010). In 2000, 1.765 million km² or 18.7% of mainland China was forested (12.3% with canopy cover of ≥70%)) or woodland (6.4% with canopy cover <70% and tree plus shrub cover ≥40%). By 2010, 480,203 km² of forest and woodland had been lost, an annual deforestation rate of 2.7%. Forest‐only loss was 127,473 km² (1.05% annually). In the NFPP provinces, the forest‐only loss rate was 0.62%, which was 3.3 times lower than in the non‐NFPP provinces. Moreover, the Landsat data suggest that these loss rates are overestimates due to large MODIS pixel size. Thus, China appears to have achieved, and even exceeded, its target of reducing deforestation to 1.1% annually in the NFPP provinces. About two‐thirds of China's NNRs were effective in protecting forest cover (prevented loss 4073 km² unmatched approach; 3148 km² matched approach), and within‐NNR deforestation rates were higher in provinces with higher overall deforestation. Our results indicate that China's existing institutions can protect domestic forest cover.

Protected areas (PAs) are key elements for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. Brazil has the largest PA system in the world, covering approximately 220 million ha. This system expanded rapidly in the mid‐1990s to the mid‐2000s. Recent events in Brazil, however, have led to an increase in PA downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD). Does this reflect a shift in the country's PA policy? We analyzed the occurrence, frequency, magnitude, type, spatial distribution, and causes of changes in PA boundaries and categories in Brazil. We identified 93 PADDD events from 1981 to 2012. Such events increased in frequency since 2008 and were ascribed primarily to generation and transmission of electricity in Amazonia. In Brazilian parks and reserves, 7.3 million ha were affected by PADDD events, and of these, 5.2 million ha were affected by downsizing or degazetting. Moreover, projects being considered by the Federal Congress may degazette 2.1 million ha of PA in Amazonia alone. Relaxing the protection status of existing PAs is proving to be politically easy in Brazil, and the recent increase in frequency and extension of PADDD reflects a change in governmental policy. By taking advantage of chronic deficiencies in financial and personnel resources and surveillance, disputes over land tenure, and the slowness of the Brazilian justice, government agencies have been implementing PADDD without consultation of civil society. If parks and reserves are to maintain their integrity, there will need to be investments in Brazilian PAs and a better understanding of the benefits PAs provide. Degradación, Reajuste, Eliminacióm de las Listas y Reclasificación de Áreas Protegidas en Brasil

The use of total area protected as the predominant indicator of progress in building protected area (PA) networks is receiving growing criticism. Documenting the full dynamics of PA networks, both in terms of the gains and losses in protection, provides a much more informative approach to tracking progress. To this end, documentation of PA downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD) has increased. Studies of PADDD events generally fail to place these losses in the context of gains in protection; therefore, they omit important elements of PA network dynamics. To address this limitation, we used a spatially explicit approach to identify every parcel of land added to and excised from the Australian terrestrial PA network and PAs that had their level of protection changed over 17 years (1997-2014). By quantifying changes in the spatial configuration of the PA network with time-series data (spatial layers for nine separate time steps), ours is the first assessment of the dynamics (increases and decreases in area and level of protection) of a PA network and the first comprehensive assessment of PADDD in a developed country. We found that the Australian network was highly dynamic; there were 5233 changes in area or level of protection over 17 years. Against a background of enormous increases in area protected, we identified over 1500 PADDD events, which affected over one-third of the network, which were largely the result of widespread downgrading of protection. We believe our approach provides a mechanism for robust tracking of trends in the world's PAs through the use of data from the World Database on Protected Areas. However, this will require greater transparency and improved data standards in reporting changes to PAs. El uso del área total protegida como indicador predominante del progreso en la construcción de redes de áreas protegidas (AP) cada vez recibe más críticas. La documentación de las dinámicas completas de las redes de AP, tanto en términos de ganancia y pérdida de protección, proporciona una estrategia mucho más informativa al seguimiento del progreso. Para este fin, la documentación de la degradación, reducción y pérdida de protección legal (PADDD, en inglés) de las áreas protegidas ha incrementado. Los estudios de eventos de PADDD generalmente fallan en ubicar estas pérdidas en el contexto de la ganancia de protección, por lo que omiten elementos importantes de dinámicas de redes de AP. Para enfocarnos en esta limitación utilizamos una estrategia espacialmente explícita para identificar cada lote de suelo añadido y extirpado de la red australiana de AP terrestres y las AP que sufrieron un cambio en su nivel de protección durante 17 años (1997 - 2014). Con la cuantificación de los cambios en la configuración espacial de la red de AP con datos de series de tiempo (capas espaciales para nueve pasos temporales separados), realizamos la primera valoración de las dinámicas (incrementos y decrementos en el área y en el nivel de protección) de una red de AP y la primera valoración comprensiva del PADDD en un país desarrollado. Encontramos que la red australiana era altamente dinámica: hubo 5, 233 cambios en el área o en el nivel de protección durante 17 años. Frente a un fondo de incrementos enormes en el área protegida, identificamos más de 1, 500 eventos de PADDD, los cuales afectaron más de un tercio de la red y que eran en general el resultado de una degradación extensiva de la protección. Creemos que nuestra estrategia proporciona un mecanismo para el seguimiento convincente de las tendencias de las AP mundiales con el uso de datos de la Base de Datos Mundial de Áreas Protegidas. Sin embargo, esto requerirá de mayor transparencia y estándares de datos mejorados en el reporte de los cambios en las AP.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a popular conservation strategy, but their impacts on human welfare are poorly understood. To inform future research and policy decisions, we reviewed the scientific literature to assess MPA impacts on five indicators of human welfare: food security, resource rights, employment, community organization, and income. Following MPA establishment, food security generally remained stable or increased in older and smaller MPAs. The ability of most fishing groups to govern MPA resources changed. Increased resource rights were positively correlated with MPA zoning and compliance with MPA regulations. Small sample sizes precluded statistical tests of the impacts of MPAs on employment, community organization, and income. Our results demonstrate that MPAs shape the social well-being and political power of fishing communities; impacts (positive and negative) vary within and among social groups; and social impacts are correlated with some--but not all--commonly hypothesized explanatory factors. Accordingly, MPAs may represent a viable strategy for enhancing food security and empowering local communities, but current practices negatively affect at least a minority of fishers. To inform policy making, further research must better document and explain variation in the positive and negative social impacts of MPAs.

Este artículo tiene por objetivo analizar y caracterizar el proceso histórico de creación de los parques nacionales en Argentina, desde sus inicios hasta la actualidad, por parte de la autoridad de aplicación, la Administración de Parques Nacionales, tomando como marco conceptual las principales corrientes teóricas en conservación que se fueron sucediendo a lo largo del tiempo. Junto a las fechas de creación de los parques nacionales, su posición geográfica y las ecorregiones donde se localizan, permitieron establecer tres períodos que estuvieron signados por la implementación de políticas públicas en la materia, enmarcadas dentro de los lineamientos generales de dichas corrientes teóricas. Asimismo, se esboza un breve estado de la situación de la preservación en las ecorregiones de nuestro país y, finalmente, se exponen las conclusiones.

It has been said that national parks are \"America's Best Idea,\" they are among the most famous and instantly recognizable places in the country, and they attract visitors from all over the world. Yet visitors to these sites are overwhelmingly white. A number of theoretical perspectives have been proposed for the absence of minority visitors, including socioeconomic marginality, differing cultural norms, and the lingering legacy of discrimination, but geography is not one of the usual explanations. Given the strong associations between particular regions of the country and the locations of parks, as well as the uneven spatial distribution of population, the absence of geography as an explanation is striking. We examine this issue with the expectation that geography is an important part of the explanation for low minority visitation rates. Put simply, do potential minority visitors live anywhere near national park units? Are they more likely to visit the ones to which they live nearest? This study uses the geographic concept of accessibility to examine the spatial relationships between national parks and potential minority visitors. Accessibility was measured using driving times between each of 285 parks and county populations, with the results compared to a visitation database compiled for fifty-one park units. There is clearly a relationship between park visitation and the location of minority populations, in the sense that racial or ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented at closer and smaller national parks.

International case studies of protected area performance increasingly report that conservation and socio-economic outcomes are interdependent. Effective conservation requires support and cooperation from local governments and communities, which in turn requires that protected areas contribute to the economic well-being of the communities in which they are sited. Despite increasing recognition of their importance, robust studies that document the socio-economic impacts of protected areas are rare, especially in the developed world context. We proposed 3 potential pathways through which protected areas might benefit local communities in the developed world: the improved local housing value, local business stimulus, and increased local funding pathways. We examined these pathways by undertaking a statistical longitudinal analysis of 110 regional and rural communities covering an area of approximately 600,000 km² in southeastern Australia. We compared trends in 10 socio-economic indicators describing employment, income, housing, business development and local government revenue from 2000 to 2010. New protected areas acquisitions led to an increased number of new dwelling approvals and associated developer contributions, increased local business numbers, and increased local government revenue from user-pays services and grants. Longer-term effects of established protected areas included increased local council revenue from a variety of sources. Our findings provide support for each of our 3 proposed benefit pathways and contribute new insights into the cycling of benefits from protected areas through the economy over time. The business and legislative models in our study are typical of those operating in many other developed countries; thus, the benefit pathways reported in our study are likely to be generalizable. By identifying and communicating socio-economic benefits from terrestrial protected areas in a developed world context, our findings represent an important step in securing local support and ongoing high-level protection for key components of the world's biodiversity. Los estudios internacionales de caso del desempeño de las áreas protegidas cada vez más reportan que los resultados socio-económicos y de conservación son interdependientes. La conservación efectiva requiere apoyo y cooperación por parte de los gobiernos y comunidades locales, lo que a cambio requiere que las áreas protegidas contribuyan al bienestar económico de las comunidades en las que se ubican. A pesar del creciente reconocimiento de su importancia, los estudios generales que documentan los impactos socio-económicos de las áreas protegidas son raros, especialmente en el contexto de los países desarrollados. Proponemos tres vías potenciales mediante las cuales las áreas protegidas podrían beneficiar a las comunidades locales en los países desarrollados: el aumento del valor de las viviendas, el estímulo a los negocios locales y el financiamiento local incrementado. Examinamos estas tres vías al emprender un análisis estadístico longitudinal de 110 comunidades regionales y rurales en aproximadamente 600, 000 km² en el sureste de Australia. Comparamos las tendencias de 10 indicadores que describen los ingresos públicos del gobierno local, el empleo, el ingreso, las viviendas y el desarrollo de negocios desde el 2000 hasta el 2010. La adquisición de nuevas áreas protegidas derivó en un incremento en la aprobación de nuevas residencias y en las contribuciones de los desarrolladores asociados, en el número de negocios locales y en los ingresos públicos del gobierno local a partir de los servicios y permisos pagados por los usuarios. Los efectos a más largo plazo de las áreas protegidas establecidas incluyen el incremento de los ingresos públicos de los consejos locales a partir de una variedad de fuentes. Nuestros hallazgos proporcionan un apoyo para las tres vías de beneficio propuestas y nuevo conocimiento acerca del ciclo de beneficios de las áreas protegidas por medio de la economía a través del tiempo. Los modelos legislativo y de negocios en nuestro estudio son típicos de aquellos que operan en otros países desarrollados; así que las vías de beneficio reportadas en nuestro estudio probablemente sean generalizables. Al identificar y comunicar los beneficios socio-económicos de las áreas protegidas terrestres en el contexto de los países desarrollados, nuestros descubrimientos representan un paso importante hacia la garantía del apoyo local y el continuo alto nivel de protección para los componentes clave de la biodiversidad mundial.

Objetivo/contexto: este artículo estudia la creación del Parque Nacional Desierto de los Leones en la Ciudad de México. El principal aporte es señalar que su fundación no respondió únicamente a una iniciativa estatal de conservación, sino que fue resultado de dos décadas previas de prácticas excursionistas de las élites urbanas, las cuales, en interacción con estructuras coloniales persistentes, consolidaron un régimen de exclusión hacia las comunidades locales. El objetivo es mostrar cómo este caso ilumina la relación entre colonialidad y conservación y aporta a la historia ambiental urbana al situar al parque en el marco de la expansión de la capital. Metodología: la investigación combina el análisis de fuentes hemerográficas y documentales con entrevistas semiestructuradas y trabajo etnográfico realizado entre 2018 y 2023 con comuneros-guardabosques. Esta estrategia metodológica mixta permitió triangular los discursos oficiales con las memorias locales y revelar las tensiones históricas entre el Estado y las comunidades en torno al uso del bosque. Originalidad: el aporte teórico consiste en proponer la noción de colonialidad de la conservación, que permite analizar cómo las prácticas y discursos de protección ambiental reprodujeron jerarquías coloniales de clase y raza. En el plano historiográfico, el artículo invierte la causalidad tradicional: no fue el decreto presidencial de 1917 el que inauguró el carácter recreativo del Desierto, sino que las excursiones de las élites antecedieron y propiciaron su formalización como parque nacional. Conclusiones: el estudio muestra que la conservación en México no fue un proceso neutro ni exclusivamente técnico, sino un dispositivo colonial moderno que reforzó desigualdades al privilegiar usos urbanos sobre prácticas comunales. El caso del Desierto de los Leones permite repensar la relación entre urbanización, conservación y colonialidad en América Latina, ofreciendo claves comparativas para otros procesos regionales.  

National parks are one of the most important and successful institutions in global environmentalism. Since their first designation in the United States in the 1860s and 1870s they have become a global phenomenon. The development of these ecological and political systems cannot be understood as a simple reaction to mounting environmental problems, nor can it be explained by the spread of environmental sensibilities. Shifting the focus from the usual emphasis on national parks in the United States, this volume adopts an historical and transnational perspective on the global geography of protected areas and its changes over time. It focuses especially on the actors, networks, mechanisms, arenas, and institutions responsible for the global spread of the national park and the associated utilization and mobilization of asymmetrical relationships of power and knowledge, contributing to scholarly discussions of globalization and the emergence of global environmental institutions and governance.

The physical, economic, and sociocultural displacement of local peoples from protected areas generates intense discussion among scholars and policy makers. To foster greater precision and clarity in these discussions, we used a conceptual framework from the political economy literature to examine different forms of human displacement from protected areas. Using marine protected areas (MPAs) to ground our analysis, we characterized the 5 types of property rights that are reallocated (lost, secured, and gained) through the establishment of protected areas. All forms of MPA \"displacement\" involve reallocation of property rights, but the specific types and bundles of rights lost, secured, and gained dramatically shape the magnitude, extent, and equity of MPA impacts--positive and negative--on governance, economic well-being, health, education, social capital, and culture. The impacts of reallocating rights to MPA resources vary within and among social groups, inducing changes in society, in patterns of resource use, and in the environment. To create more environmentally sustainable and socially just conservation practice, a critical next step in conservation social science research is to document and explain variation in the social impacts of protected areas.