Data for: Transboundary conservation hotspots in China and potential impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative

Aim: Biodiversity hotspots often span international borders, thus
conservation efforts must as well. China is one of the most biodiverse
countries and the length of its international land borders is the longest
in the world; thus, there is a strong need for transboundary conservation.
We identify China’s transboundary conservation hotspots and analyze the
potential effects of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on them to provide
recommendations for conservation actions. Location: China, Asia Methods:
We compiled a species list of terrestrial vertebrates that span China’s
borders. Using their distribution, we extracted the top 30% of the area
with the highest richness value weighted by Red List category and
considered these transboundary hotspots for conservation priority. Then we
analyzed protected area (PA) coverage and connectivity to identify
conservation gaps. To measure the potential impact of the BRI, we counted
the species whose distribution range is traversed by the BRI and
calculated the aggregation index, proportion of natural land, and night
light index along its routes. Results: We identified 1,964 terrestrial
vertebrate species living in the border region. We identified four
transboundary hotspots and found insufficient PA coverage and low
connectivity in three of them. The BRI routes intersected all four
hotspots and traversed 82.4% (1,619/1,964) of the transboundary species,
half of which (918) are sensitive to the potential risks brought by the
BRI. Night light index increased generally along the BRI. However, the
proportion of natural land and the aggregation index near the BRI showed
different trends in hotspots. Main conclusions: There is an urgent need
for conservation action in China’s transboundary region. The BRI should
put biodiversity conservation at the core of its development strategy.
Furthermore, we suggest using the planned BRI as a platform for dialogue
and consultation, knowledge and data sharing, and joint planning to
promote transboundary conservation.