Disproportioned Performances of Protected Areas in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

Designing and managing protected areas (PAs) has always been value-based. While all PAs provide unique values in a region, it has not been documented if their functional contributions are proportional to their land area. A challenge also arises from the governance of PAs due to differences in supporting resources, legislations, conservation goals, and guidance. Using the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region as our testbed, we designed a study to test the hypothesis that the functional contributions of 84 PAs, measured by various ecosystem service values, vulnerability and human footprint (Hf), are not proportional to land areas relative to the regional total. Disproportionate performances are partially due to the governance (i.e., national, provincial and local) and the dominant ecosystem type of each PA. We confirm our hypothesis that the functional contributions of PAs in the BTH region far exceed their total land area, with forested PAs performing better. The functional measures of PAs are highly correlated but not equally provided among PA types and under different governances. Both governance and PA type play significant roles in determining functional values and human influences, but no significant interactive influences were detected. Results from this study are updated shreds of evidence for promoting PAs as well as for establishing new PAs through the ongoing Ecological Red Lines program.