DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k0p2ngf9c
title: Dataset of spillover effects of protected areas on the QTP

description: Aim: Although protected areas (PAs) are assumed to reduce threats to
 nature within boundaries, their spillover effects remain equivocal. It is
 necessary to not only determine whether PAs truly achieve conservation
 targets but also whether they promote or inhibit natural habitat
 degradation in adjacent areas by blockage or leakage spillover. This study
 aims to choose 54 nature reserves (NRs) focusing on forest protection as a
 case study to assess PA conservation effectiveness and spillover
 prevalence. Location: PAs on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) Methods: We
 used matching methods to compare deforestation rates inside PAs and their
 20 km buffer zones with matched control areas based on the Global Forest
 Change data from 2001 to 2019. We contrasted the effects of NRs with
 different management levels, ages and areas. We designed 5 concentric
 buffer zones to assess spillover change with distance and estimated
 potential drivers of the spillover effect to explain its directions and
 magnitudes. Results: 75.9% of the NRs were effective in preventing
 deforestation within their boundaries. NRs with different properties
 showed similar performance on forest conservation. Positive spillover
 value decreased with distance from NR boundary to further landscape, but
 the trend of spillover change varied around individual NR. Blockages
 slightly outnumbered leakages at different distances while leakages
 happened more frequently when we treated buffer zones as a whole spillover
 area. The linear model indicated NR age and population density of buffer
 zones were the most relevant predictors to spillover value. Main
 conclusions: Most PAs performed well in forest conservation. Leakages
 could undermine or offset PA conservation efforts and were related to
 multiple natural or socioeconomic factors. We recommend considering the
 plurality of PAs as well as spillover effect and incorporating a
 social-ecological framework in further PA establishment and management.
description: The forest cover and loss data were collected from the Global
 Forest Change dataset (GFCD) 2000-2019 (version 1.7) (M. C. Hansen et al.,
 2013). This global dataset is divided into 10x10 degree tiles, consisting
 of seven files per tile. All files have a spatial resolution of 1
 arc-second per pixel or approximately 30 m per pixel. We only collected
 files that cover the Tibetan Plateau. The QTP boundary was a vector data
 with a spatial boundary of our study area. The NR information data
 included basic information of 54 nature reserves in this study and was
 collected from the 2017 official Natural Reserve List, published by the
 Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China (http://www.mee.gov.cn/).  We
 used the matching method to calculate the deforestation rate inside nature
 reserves, buffer zones, and matched control areas. Then the nature reserve
 effectiveness and spillover effect were calculated based on deforestation
 value. The NR effectiveness and Spillover value dataset contain all
 effectiveness and spillover value of 54 nature reserves.
description: There are three types of data included in this dataset. Raster
 data of forest cover and change, vector data of the QTP boundary, and
 tabular data of nature reserve information and statistical
 results.