Assessing the vulnerability trifecta: species, climate, and anthropogenic pressures on protected areas of the Central Indian Highlands

Abstract

AbstractEfficient management of protected areas (PAs) is important to ensure conservation and long‐term sustenance of threatened species. It is therefore essential to understand the vulnerability of PAs in a multi‐pronged approach by considering the cumulative effects of species, climatic, and anthropogenic attributes. We assessed the overall vulnerability of PAs in the Central Indian Highlands (CIH), which is a landscape of high biodiversity value. Over 81% of PAs experienced medium to high vulnerability due to anthropogenic pressures, and 68.75% of PAs faced medium to high vulnerability due to climate change and conservation status of species within the PA. Our categorization of PAs revealed that 50% of PAs were vulnerable to all 3 attributes. Further, there was a strong correlation between species and anthropogenic vulnerability indices in the PAs of the CIH landscape. Our results may help local policy makers in prioritizing the optimal and cost‐effective conservation management of existing PAs, which can be extended for cost‐effectiveness and efficient resource allocation of PAs, through this multipronged approach, beyond the CIH landscape.