Effectiveness of protection areas in safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services in Tibet Autonomous Region

Abstract

The Tibet Autonomous Region of China constitutes a unique and fragile ecosystem that is increasingly influenced by development and global climate change. To protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in Tibet, the Chinese government established a system of nature reserves at a significant cost; however, the effectiveness of nature reserves at protecting both—biodiversity and ecosystem service functions in Tibet is not clear. To determine the success of existing nature reserves, we determined importance areas for the conservation of mammal, plant, bird, amphibian, and reptile species, and for the protection of ecosystem service functions. The results indicated that important conservation areas for endangered plants were mainly distributed in the southern part of Nyingchi City, and for endangered animals, in the southern part of Nyingchi and Shannan Cities. Extremely important conservation areas for ecosystem service functions of carbon sequestration, water and soil protection, and flood regulation were mainly distributed in the southern part of Nyingchi and Shannan Cities, northern and southeastern parts of Nagqu City, and southern part of Ngari area. Based on an analysis of spatial overlap in protection areas, we conclude that existing natural reserves need to be expanded, and new ones need to be established to better protect biodiversity in Tibet Autonomous Region.

Environmental taxation: Contribution to sustainable development and AI prospects

“…Unlike Barbanti et al (2022), Barik et al (2022), Giuliani et al (2020), Xu et al (2022), it has been proved that environmental taxation plays an important role in ensuring the sustainable development of the ecological economy. The advantage of environmental taxation is that it is a widely accessible tool for environmental protection and biodiversity conservation, while the limitation of industrial development is available only to lagging countries and has a contradictory interpretation from the standpoint of socioeconomic development.…”

“…But the contribution of environmental taxation to the sustainable development of the ecological economy has not been sufficiently studied and defined, which is a gap in the literature. In the works of Barbanti et al (2022), Barik et al (2022), Giuliani et al (2020), Xu et al (2022), it is noted that lagging countries (for example, in Africa) have a much higher level of development of the ecological economy and, in particular, more pronounced success in preserving biodiversity than in developed countries due to a lower level of industrial development and greater dependence of the society on the environment in terms of livelihood. This is presented as an argument in favour of the insignificant role of environmental taxation in the sustainable development of the ecological economy, which is mainly determined by industrial development.…”

Sustainable Development and Transformative Change of Tibet in China from 1951 to 2021

“…The forest and grassland coverage rates are 12.31% and 47% in 2021, respectively, and the natural environment is gradually improving. With these environmental restoration policies and projects, the number of endangered species has greatly increased [29,30]. Especially for the animals like Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsoni), Tibetan wild ass (Equus kiang), Tibetan gazelle (Procapra picticaudata), blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), wild yak (Bos mutus), and brown bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus) [31][32][33].…”

Sustainable Development and Transformative Change in Tibet, China, from 1951 to 2021

“…The forest and grassland coverage rates are 12.31% and 47% in 2021, respectively, and the natural environment is gradually improving. With these environmental restoration and projects, the number of endangered species has greatly increased [26,27], especially animals like the Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsoni); Tibetan wild ass (Equus kiang); Tibetan gazelle (Procapra picticaudata); blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur); wild yak (Bos mutus); and brown bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus) [28][29][30]. The number of Tibetan antelope has recovered from less than 70,000 in the 1980s and 1990s to around 200,000 by 2015 and has since surged to around 300,000 in 2021 [30,31].…”