Conservation for Restoration: Identifying priority areas for in situ and ex situ conservation and restoration of native trees

The C4R tool helps to identify priority areas for the conservation and restoration of native Asian tree species. The tool can be used to identify:

1. Areas where human threats to the target tree species remain limited, where large and relatively undisturbed populations are predicted to occur. These areas are suitable for expanding in situ conservation through protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs), and as high-quality seed sources for forest restoration.
2. Areas where most natural habitats have been converted to other land uses, but which are predicted to remain suitable for the target tree species under future climate conditions. These areas are suitable for forest and landscape restoration with the target tree species.
3. Areas predicted to become unsuitable for the target species in a changing climate. These areas should be prioritized for germplasm collections, to conserve the species’ genetic diversity ex situ.

The tool includes information on over 65 native Asian tree species across South, East, and Southeast Asia.

How it works

The tool is based on species distribution modelling under current and future climates, analysis of land cover changes within the areas of distribution, and species’ functional traits which influence their vulnerability to key categories of threat.

It takes into account five main threats to the species’ persistence:

1. Habitat conversion (based on cropland coverage and tree plantations)
2. Overexploitation (based on human population density, travel time to cities and designated protected areas)
3. Fire (based on fire frequency)
4. Overgrazing (based on livestock density)
5. Climate change (based on the predictions of general circulation models - GCMs)

In the first step, the tool identifies ecoregions within which the selected species are most or least vulnerable to the five threats. In the second step, the tool identifies, based on criteria selected by the user, those landscapes within the prioritized ecoregions that are most suitable for conservation or restoration. Possible criteria include the severity of threats to the species, the preference for large habitat patches, habitats near protected areas or habitats with a high diversity of tree species. The resulting maps with prioritized areas for conservation or restoration are available for downloaded. For details on the methodology, see Gaisberger et al., 2021.

Acknowledgements

This work was made possible by the following projects and funding partners:

• The project APFORGIS – Establishing an Information System for Conserving Native Tree Species and Their Genetic Resources in Asia-Pacific (2017-2019) , which aimed to enhance the conservation and management of native tree species through improved information systems.
• The project Seed to Tree: Value Chains and partnerships for resilient restored forests (2024-2027), funded by the UK Mission to ASEAN through the ASEAN-UK Green Transition Fund programme (GTF).
• The OneCGIAR Initiatives on Nature-Positive Solutions (2022-2024), which address climate resilience and biodiversity conservation, and Mixed Farming Systems (2022-2024), which explore sustainable land-use practices that integrate tree planting with agricultural productivity.

Credits

Concept and methodology: Riina Jalonen, Hannes Gaisberger, Tobias Fremout, Evert Thomas

Distribution modelling and vulnerability mapping: Hannes Gaisberger, Tobias Fremout

Tool development: Tobias Fremout, Camilo Rodríguez

Web development: Camilo Rodríguez