Connectivity Conservation Management: Linking Private Protected Areas

Fragmentation has become one of the most pressing threats to Brazil’s Atlantic Forest causing habitat loss and the erosion of species diversity, thus compromising ecosystem functioning and the provision of crucial ecosystem services. Beyond the legal obligations of forest owners to protect their forest properties, the creation of private protected areas (Reservas Particulares do Patrimônio Natural, RPPNs) is an important strategy to counteract fragmentation. Such RPPNs allow maintaining or reestablishing connectivity, by acting as stepping stones or as local corridors. However, only few efforts have been carried out to systematically link RPPNs at local implementation level. Therefore, this study aims to explore possible connectivity paths between established and probable future RPPNs in two municipalities. Connectivity routes among RPPNs were identified by using two methods: the “least cost path” method that allowed finding the “cheapest” paths by assigning different weights to land use features and a second method which ranks the different land use features from suitable to non-suitable area for linking RPPNs. Incorporating the willingness of landowners to establish RPPNs into the latter method permitted the identification of suitable linkages between RPPNs and priority areas for future RPPN establishment.