Effectiveness of protected areas in the Caucasus Mountains in preventing rangeland degradation

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dc.authoridGhoddousi, Arash/0000-0001-9605-3091;
dc.contributor.authorGhoddousi, Arash
dc.contributor.authorPratzer, Marie
dc.contributor.authorLewinska, Katarzyna E.
dc.contributor.authorEggers, Juliana
dc.contributor.authorBleyhl, Benjamin
dc.contributor.authorAmbarli, Huseyin
dc.contributor.authorArakelyan, Marine
dc.date.accessioned2025-10-11T20:48:14Z
dc.date.available2025-10-11T20:48:14Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.departmentDüzce Üniversitesien_US
dc.description.abstractAs land use intensifies globally, it increasingly exerts pressure on protected areas. Despite open, nonforested landscapes comprising up to 40% of protected areas globally, assessments have predominately focused on forests, overlooking the major pressures on rangelands from livestock overgrazing and land conversion. Across the southern Caucasus, a biodiversity hotspot extending over 5 countries, we conducted a broadscale assessment of the extent to which protected areas mitigate land-use pressure on rangelands in them. Using satellite-based indicators of rangeland vegetation greenness from 1988 to 2019, we assessed the effectiveness of 52 protected areas. This period encompassed the collapse of the Soviet Union, economic crises, armed conflicts, and a major expansion of the protected area network. We applied matching statistics combined with fixed-effects panel regressions to quantify the effectiveness of protected areas in curbing degradation as indicated by green vegetation loss. Protected areas were, overall, largely ineffective. Green vegetation loss was higher inside than outside protected areas in most countries, except for Georgia and Turkey. Multiple-use protected areas (IUCN categories IV-VI) were even more ineffective in reducing vegetation loss than strictly protected areas (I & II), highlighting the need for better aligning conservation and development targets in these areas. Mapping >10,000 livestock corrals from satellite images showed that protected areas with a relatively high density of livestock corrals had markedly high green vegetation loss. Ineffectiveness appeared driven by livestock overgrazing. Our key finding was that protected areas did not curb rangeland degradation in the Caucasus. This situation is likely emblematic of many regions worldwide, which highlights the need to incorporate degradation and nonforest ecosystems into effectiveness assessments.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [PArCS GH 149/1-1]en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipGerman Research Foundation (DFG) [SoMo 01DK21003]en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipGerman Federal Ministry of Education and Science (BMBF)en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipWe gratefully acknowledge funding by the German Research Foundation (DFG; PArCS GH 149/1-1) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Science (BMBF; SoMo 01DK21003). We thank K. Gackstetter for her help with the digitization of livestock corral data. We truly appreciate the support and acknowledge the contributions of A. Heidelberg, K. Manvelyan, and the late N. Zazanashvili in the early stages of this study.en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/cobi.14415
dc.identifier.issn0888-8892
dc.identifier.issn1523-1739
dc.identifier.issue3en_US
dc.identifier.pmid39530486en_US
dc.identifier.scopus2-s2.0-85208791243en_US
dc.identifier.scopusqualityQ1en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14415
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12684/21817
dc.identifier.volume39en_US
dc.identifier.wosWOS:001354985400001en_US
dc.identifier.wosqualityQ1en_US
dc.indekslendigikaynakWeb of Scienceen_US
dc.indekslendigikaynakScopusen_US
dc.indekslendigikaynakPubMeden_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherWileyen_US
dc.relation.ispartofConservation Biologyen_US
dc.relation.publicationcategoryMakale - Uluslararası Hakemli Dergi - Kurum Öğretim Elemanıen_US
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessen_US
dc.snmzKA_WOS_20250911
dc.subjectbiodiversity hotspotsen_US
dc.subjectgrasslandsen_US
dc.subjectgrazing pressureen_US
dc.subjectimpact evaluationen_US
dc.subjectland degradationen_US
dc.subjectlivestock grazingen_US
dc.subjectmatching statisticsen_US
dc.subjectsteppesen_US
dc.titleEffectiveness of protected areas in the Caucasus Mountains in preventing rangeland degradationen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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