Abstract ID: 3.13232 | Accepted as Poster | Talk/Oral | TBA | TBA

In order to satisfy the needs of increasing human population, the world’s forested areas are declining in a rapid rate. And the scientists all over the world are introducing new strategies and methods to protect the existing forest. So it’s a crucial timely concern to evaluate whether these efforts are successful in the conservation agenda. Xishuangbanna is 0.2 % of total land of China but harbouring > 25% of China’s biodiversity, is now threatened with monoculture rubber plantations and other land use conversions replacing lowland rainforest and shifting cultivation practices. This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness Protected Areas (PAs) which are specifically designed for species and forest conservation. We measured the success of PAs in preventing expansion of rubber and other non-conservation land uses within their boundaries. We used matching methods to minimize the bias of PAs location and other factors influencing PAs establishment and to compare land use conversion rates within PAs zones and with outside PAs. By 2010, Xishuangbanna had designated an area of 3455.52 km2 (~ 18%) as PAs while rubber (22%) showed an expansion rate of 153.4 km2 y-1 and approximately 16% of PAs were deforested by 2010 with an annual rate of 6.8 km2yr-1 and if this rate continues assuming that the rate is constant, within next 40 years another 10% of PAs land will be deforested but because drivers of deforestation continuously change and accelerate rather than decelerate Xishuangbanna’s PAs might lose more forest than we predicted in this analysis. Therefore it should be a timely concern to review or to strengthen current land sparing policies, rules and regulations.