Rationality and effectiveness of protected areas decrease with the declining development levels of the Belt and Road Initiative Countries

Protected areas (PAs) have been considered as an effective measure of ecological conservation. Existing studies have shown that developing countries are faced with more ecological pressure than developed countries, and suggested the priority for strengthening ecological conservation in developing countries, but the rationality of designation and conservation effectiveness of PAs still remain unclear. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), covering Asia, Europe and Africa, mainly consisting of developing countries, is highly overlapped with ecological conservation priorities with high biodiversity values or facing the risk of ecological degradation. Here we assessed the rationality of PA designation by comparing them with the internationally recognized Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), and then analyzed the conservation effectiveness from the perspective of human pressure using the data of land cover and population density. The results showed that both the rationality of designation and conservation effectiveness of PAs have a decrease with the declining Human Development Index (HDI) of countries, reflecting that the PA construction level largely depends on the national comprehensive strength. This study calls for more conservation efforts in PA construction in developing countries of the BRI, including improving the coverage rate with KBAs and reducing human pressure within the PAs, so as to make full use of PAs to avoid ecological degradation and enlarging ecological gap with developed countries.