A fine-scale gap analysis of the existing protected area system in Hong Kong, China

Abstract

As well as being one of the most densely populated areas on Earth, Hong Kong also has the highest percentage of protected areas (38% of the 1098 km 2 land area) of any administrative region in the Asia Pacific. Overlay of field records from a biodiversity survey of eight taxa (amphibians, reptiles, mammals, breeding birds, ants, butterflies, dragonflies and rare vascular plants) in 1 km grid squares with protected areas indicated that over half of the 623 species of conservation concern (globally, regionally, or locally restricted species) were under-represented. Ants, butterflies and reptiles were most poorly represented. The hotspots of different taxa also received differing levels of protection. Hong Kong's protected areas are biased towards high-altitude habitats, so the under-represented species are mostly associated with the lowland habitats (freshwater wetlands, abandoned agriculture and feng shui woods). Since the restricted species are scattered and the hotspots of different taxa do not overlap, a large protected area network will be required to represent all species. This indicates the challenge that will be encountered in the conservation of many other parts of Asia that support burgeoning human populations, and where landscapes are increasingly human-dominated.