Inequality reduction of conservation responsibility: An unexpected outcome of achieving the 30×30 biodiversity target in China

Accelerating biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation threaten global ecological security, prompting the urgent need for achieving the 30×30 biodiversity target. In China, expanding protected areas (PAs) to meet this target may increase conservation burdens on governments and local communities, raising concerns about equity. Unequal delineation of PAs leads to inter-regional conflicts and resulting in inefficient conservation initiatives. However, few studies have investigated how conservation responsibility will distribute and change across regions and income groups after meeting the 30×30 target in China. Here, we expanded China’s PAs under four scenarios to meet the target based on selection principles. We evaluated the benefits of PA expansion using richness and representativeness indexes and assessed changes of inequality in conservation responsibilities after achieving the target. Our findings revealed that achieving the 30×30 target would increase PA’s effectiveness of species and ecosystems by 130.2% and 70.4%, respectively. Unexpectedly, it also reduced inequality in inter-provincial and inter-city conservation responsibilities by 22.3% and 10.5%, respectively, with economically developed eastern regions shouldering greater responsibilities than before. Moreover, inequality among income groups decreased by 3.7%. Our study highlights the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s potential to promote biodiversity conservation while reducing inequality in conservation responsibilities, informing future ecological compensation policies.