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Effectiveness of the network of protected areas of the South Caucasus at representing terrestrial ecosystems after the dissolution of the Soviet Union

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2016

CRISTIAN S. MONTALVO MANCHENO ,
NUGZAR ZAZANASHVILI  and
GIORGI BERUCHASHVILI
CRISTIAN S. MONTALVO MANCHENO*
Affiliation:
Institute of Ecology, Ilia State University, 3/5 K. Cholokashvili Ave., 0162 Tbilisi, Georgia WWF Caucasus Programme Office, 11 M. Aleksidze Street, 0193 Tbilisi, Georgia
NUGZAR ZAZANASHVILI
Affiliation:
Institute of Ecology, Ilia State University, 3/5 K. Cholokashvili Ave., 0162 Tbilisi, Georgia WWF Caucasus Programme Office, 11 M. Aleksidze Street, 0193 Tbilisi, Georgia
GIORGI BERUCHASHVILI
Affiliation:
WWF Caucasus Programme Office, 11 M. Aleksidze Street, 0193 Tbilisi, Georgia
*
*Correspondence: Cristian S. Montalvo Mancheno Tel: +593 2 450 2851; e-mail: kristian.montalvo.1@iliauni.edu.ge
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Summary

Protected areas (PAs) have long been the foundation of conservation strategies to halt biodiversity losses and ecosystem degradation. In the South Caucasus (SC), coverage of PAs increased after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, yet how well biodiversity is represented in them is unknown. We utilized the PA downgrading, downsizing and degazettement (PADDD) conceptual framework and the gap analysis approach to assess how changes in the PAs of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia between 1991 and 2014 have affected the representation of biodiversity. Throughout this period, vegetation formations associated with high mountain ecosystems changed (≥17% representation). Colchic lowland vegetation formations which are only present in Georgia, also changed from unrepresented (0%) to under-represented (from 0% to <17%). The effect of PADDD events on biodiversity representation varied among countries depending on the amount of area gazetted after 1991. There is an inherent bias in the expansion of PAs in the SC. Our findings could be a first step towards changing the status quo by helping conservationists to strategically allocate resources towards ecosystems that are below 17% representation. Yet this will require governments in the SC to shift their views about PAs from being only national efforts to being key pieces of a larger-scale conservation strategy.

Keywords

representativenessgap analysisprotected area downgradingdownsizing and degazettement (PADDD)conservation planningvegetation formationsCaucasus ecoregion
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , June 2017 , pp. 158 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2016 

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Footnotes

Supplementary material can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892916000424

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