IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v228y2025ics0921800924003380.html

The impact of downgrading protected areas (PAD) on biodiversity

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Yufei
  • Hou, Lingling
  • Liu, Pengfei

Abstract

We quantitatively assess the impacts of Downgrading Protected Areas (PAD) on biodiversity in the U.S. Results show that PAD events significantly reduce biodiversity. The proximity to PAD events decreases the biodiversity (abundance) by 26.0 % within 50 km compared with records of species further away from the PAD events. We observe an overall 32.3 % decrease in abundance after those nearest PAD events are enacted. Abundance declines more in organisms living in contact with water and non-mammals. Species abundance is more sensitive to the negative impacts in areas where the decisions of PAD events were later reversed, as well as in areas close to protected areas belonging to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) category. The enacted PAD events between the period 1903 to 2018 in the U.S. led to economic losses of approximately $689.95 million due to the decrease in abundance. Our results contribute to the understanding on the impact of environmental interventions such as PAD events on broadscale biodiversity change and provide important implications on biodiversity conservation policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Yufei & Hou, Lingling & Liu, Pengfei, 2025. "The impact of downgrading protected areas (PAD) on biodiversity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:228:y:2025:i:c:s0921800924003380
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108441
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800924003380
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108441?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bradley J. Cardinale & J. Emmett Duffy & Andrew Gonzalez & David U. Hooper & Charles Perrings & Patrick Venail & Anita Narwani & Georgina M. Mace & David Tilman & David A. Wardle & Ann P. Kinzig & Gre, 2012. "Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity," Nature, Nature, vol. 486(7401), pages 59-67, June.
    2. Matthew Richardson & Pengfei Liu & Michael Eggleton, 2022. "Valuation of Wetland Restoration: Evidence from the Housing Market in Arkansas," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 81(3), pages 649-683, March.
    3. Robin Naidoo & Taylor H Ricketts, 2006. "Mapping the Economic Costs and Benefits of Conservation," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(11), pages 1-12, October.
    4. Nick Hanley & Charles Perrings, 2019. "The Economic Value of Biodiversity," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 355-375, October.
    5. Sean L. Maxwell & Victor Cazalis & Nigel Dudley & Michael Hoffmann & Ana S. L. Rodrigues & Sue Stolton & Piero Visconti & Stephen Woodley & Naomi Kingston & Edward Lewis & Martine Maron & Bernardo B. , 2020. "Area-based conservation in the twenty-first century," Nature, Nature, vol. 586(7828), pages 217-227, October.
    6. Rebecca K. Runting & Erik Meijaard & Nicola K. Abram & Jessie A. Wells & David L.A. Gaveau & Marc Ancrenaz & Hugh P. Possingham & Serge A. Wich & Fitrian Ardiansyah & Melvin T. Gumal & Laurentius N. A, 2015. "Alternative futures for Borneo show the value of integrating economic and conservation targets across borders," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-11, November.
    7. Roger Fouquet, 2016. "Path dependence in energy systems and economic development," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(8), pages 1-5, August.
    8. Guangdong Li & Chuanglin Fang & Yingjie Li & Zhenbo Wang & Siao Sun & Sanwei He & Wei Qi & Chao Bao & Haitao Ma & Yupeng Fan & Yuxue Feng & Xiaoping Liu, 2022. "Global impacts of future urban expansion on terrestrial vertebrate diversity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Ureta, J. Carl & Motallebi, Marzieh & Vassalos, Michael & Seagle, Steven & Baldwin, Robert, 2022. "Estimating residents' WTP for ecosystem services improvement in a payments for ecosystem services (PES) program: A choice experiment approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    10. Juliana Siqueira-Gay & Jean Paul Metzger & Luis E. Sánchez & Laura J. Sonter, 2022. "Strategic planning to mitigate mining impacts on protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(10), pages 853-860, October.
    11. Laura J. Sonter & Marie C. Dade & James E. M. Watson & Rick K. Valenta, 2020. "Renewable energy production will exacerbate mining threats to biodiversity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-6, December.
    12. Claudia L. Gray & Samantha L. L. Hill & Tim Newbold & Lawrence N. Hudson & Luca Börger & Sara Contu & Andrew J. Hoskins & Simon Ferrier & Andy Purvis & Jörn P. W. Scharlemann, 2016. "Local biodiversity is higher inside than outside terrestrial protected areas worldwide," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, November.
    13. Pimentel, David & Zuniga, Rodolfo & Morrison, Doug, 2005. "Update on the environmental and economic costs associated with alien-invasive species in the United States," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 273-288, February.
    14. Kassar, Ilhem & Lasserre, Pierre, 2004. "Species preservation and biodiversity value: a real options approach," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 857-879, September.
    15. Kevin Haninger & Lala Ma & Christopher Timmins, 2017. "The Value of Brownfield Remediation," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(1), pages 197-241.
    16. Engist, Dennis & Finger, Robert & Knaus, Peter & Guélat, Jérôme & Wuepper, David, 2023. "Agricultural systems and biodiversity: evidence from European borders and bird populations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    17. Bartkowski, Bartosz, 2017. "Are diverse ecosystems more valuable? Economic value of biodiversity as result of uncertainty and spatial interactions in ecosystem service provision," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 50-57.
    18. Bradley J. Cardinale & J. Emmett Duffy & Andrew Gonzalez & David U. Hooper & Charles Perrings & Patrick Venail & Anita Narwani & Georgina M. Mace & David Tilman & David A.Wardle & Ann P. Kinzig & Gret, 2012. "Correction: Corrigendum: Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity," Nature, Nature, vol. 489(7415), pages 326-326, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. CHEN, Running & PENG, Yisong & REN, Qiang & WU, Jiayu, 2025. "Optimizing global protected areas to address future land use threats to biodiversity," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Guangdong Li & Chuanglin Fang & James E. M. Watson & Siao Sun & Wei Qi & Zhenbo Wang & Jianguo Liu, 2024. "Mixed effectiveness of global protected areas in resisting habitat loss," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Hämäläinen, Aino & Widenfalk, Lina & Undin, Malin & Öckinger, Erik & Felton, Adam & Seedre, Meelis & Filyushkina, Anna & Ranius, Thomas, 2026. "Adapting biodiversity conservation in agriculture and forestry to projected climate change in temperate and boreal regions: A synthesis," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    4. Alexia Stokes & Géraldine Bocquého & Pascal Carrère & Raphaël Conde Salazar & Marc Deconchat & Léo Garcia & Antoine Gardarin & Christian Gary & Cédric Gaucherel & Mamadou Gueye & Mickael Hedde & Franç, 2023. "Services provided by multifunctional agroecosystems : Questions, obstacles and solutions," Post-Print hal-04056486, HAL.
    5. Shanafelt, David W. & Serra-Diaz, Josep M. & Bocquého, Géraldine, 2023. "Measuring uncertainty in ecosystem service correlations as a function of sample size," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    6. Ratzke, Leonie, 2023. "Revealing preferences for urban biodiversity as an environmental good," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    7. Yang Liu & Jing Zhao & Xi Zheng & Xiaoyang Ou & Yaru Zhang & Jiaying Li, 2023. "Evaluation of Biodiversity Maintenance Capacity in Forest Landscapes: A Case Study in Beijing, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-23, June.
    8. Kedi Liu & Ranran Wang & Inge Schrijver & Rutger Hoekstra, 2024. "Can we project well-being? Towards integral well-being projections in climate models and beyond," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. repec:osf:osfxxx:svg7x_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Nina Tiel & Fabian Fopp & Philipp Brun & Johan Hoogen & Dirk Nikolaus Karger & Cecilia M. Casadei & Lisha Lyu & Devis Tuia & Niklaus E. Zimmermann & Thomas W. Crowther & Loïc Pellissier, 2024. "Regional uniqueness of tree species composition and response to forest loss and climate change," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Yutong Zhang & Wei Zhou & Danxue Luo, 2023. "The Relationship Research between Biodiversity Conservation and Economic Growth: From Multi-Level Attempts to Key Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, February.
    12. Azam Khosravi Mashizi & Mohsen Sharafatmandrad & Sahar Karami Robati & Maryam Khosravi Mashizi & Esfandiar Jahantab, 2025. "Investigating the impact of multidimensional management on the willingness of villagers to protect the ecosystems and avoiding rural–urban migration," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(11), pages 27063-27094, November.
    13. Sueur, Cédric & Fourneret, Eric & Espinosa, Romain, 2023. "Animal capital: a new way to define human-animal bond in view of global changes," OSF Preprints svg7x, Center for Open Science.
    14. Tan, Ruipeng & Hou, Ke & Wu, Huaqing, 2025. "The cost of biodiversity protection: National Key Ecological Functional Zone and labor demand in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    15. Daniels, Silvie & Bellmore, J. Ryan & Benjamin, Joseph R. & Witters, Nele & Vangronsveld, Jaco & Van Passel, Steven, 2018. "Quantification of the Indirect Use Value of Functional Group Diversity Based on the Ecological Role of Species in the Ecosystem," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 181-194.
    16. Yiwei Lian & Yang Bai & Zhongde Huang & Maroof Ali & Jie Wang & Haoran Chen, 2024. "Spatio-Temporal Changes and Habitats of Rare and Endangered Species in Yunnan Province Based on MaxEnt Model," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-19, February.
    17. Prem Chandra Pandey & Manish Pandey, 2023. "Highlighting the role of agriculture and geospatial technology in food security and sustainable development goals," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(5), pages 3175-3195, October.
    18. Gaeun Kim & Jiwon Kim & Youngjin Ko & Olebogeng Thelma G. Eyman & Sarwat Chowdhury & Julie Adiwal & Wookyun Lee & Yowhan Son, 2021. "How Do Nature-Based Solutions Improve Environmental and Socio-Economic Resilience to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals? Reforestation and Afforestation Cases from the Republic of Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, November.
    19. Xinli Chen & Peter B. Reich & Xin Chen & Masumi Hisano & Anthony R. Taylor & Daijiang Li & Scott X. Chang, 2025. "Environmental change shapes understory plant diversity and dominance in boreal forests," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
    20. Ziqi Meng & Jinwei Dong & Erle C. Ellis & Graciela Metternicht & Yuanwei Qin & Xiao-Peng Song & Sara Löfqvist & Rachael D. Garrett & Xiaopeng Jia & Xiangming Xiao, 2023. "Post-2020 biodiversity framework challenged by cropland expansion in protected areas," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 6(7), pages 758-768, July.
    21. Sarah R. Weiskopf & Forest Isbell & Maria Isabel Arce-Plata & Moreno Di Marco & Mike Harfoot & Justin Johnson & Susannah B. Lerman & Brian W. Miller & Toni Lyn Morelli & Akira S. Mori & Ensheng Weng &, 2024. "Biodiversity loss reduces global terrestrial carbon storage," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q57 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Ecological Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:228:y:2025:i:c:s0921800924003380. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.