Assessing the vulnerability of protected areas in the eastern Himalayas based on their biological, anthropogenic, and environmental aspects (VSI: Mountainous Regions)

Protected areas are the cornerstone for biodiversity conservation in present times. Considering this, the post-2020 global biodiversity framework aims to expand the network of protected areas to cover 30% of the earth's terrestrial surface by 2030. For effective biodiversity conservation, it is essential to bring in more areas under protection and systematically conserve the areas with greater biological diversity that are relatively more vulnerable to various environmental and anthropogenic stresses. In the present study, we assess the vulnerability of montane forest ecosystems in the protected areas of the eastern Himalayan region of India. Our study specifically classifies the protected areas by their relative vulnerabilities, using established methods based on the number of imperilled species, anthropogenic pressure, and the degree of climate change. The results show that a quarter of the protected areas contain a high species richness of imperilled species; 36% of the protected areas are highly affected by climate change, while only 10% are highly influenced by anthropogenic pressures. Outlining the specific vulnerabilities for protected areas would help determine the required management interventions and promote the judicious use of conservation resources. The analytical framework used in our study can be more widely applied to map the important sites for biodiversity conservation and identify the areas ideal for future expansion.