This research developed an approach to identify and prioritize ecologically important areas at local scales in Jeju Island, Jeju, Korea to extend protected areas. For this, we collected spatial data for ecosystem factors and classified the data accord...
This research developed an approach to identify and prioritize ecologically important areas at local scales in Jeju Island, Jeju, Korea to extend protected areas. For this, we collected spatial data for ecosystem factors and classified the data according to their conservation values and produced importance index of 0 to 3. Then, all data of importance indices were integrated and produced ecological importance index of 0 to 3 based on their conservation values. Finally, we estimated the effects of land-use changes on the Jeju ecosystem and estimated vulnerability index, prioritizing areas to be urgently designated as novel protected areas. The land-use changes in 2050 were predicted under the assumptions of Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSP) scenarios 1 & 3. The results showed that the ecologically important areas decreased under the assumptions of SSP 1 & 3. The priority areas, the vulnerability index of 3 (0.9 to 1.5% areas of Jeju Island), were mostly distributed in the eastern Jeju Island, areas with the index of 2(1.8 to 2.2%) in the western Jeju Island, and areas with index of 1(3.2 to 4.9%) showed an island-wide distribution pattern. Our results suggested the areas with vulnerable index of 3 should urgently be designated as protected areas. Our results could provide the fundamental information for the future conservation plan of Jeju Island. However, our estimations have limitations due to lack of fundamental information and data for the Jeju ecosystem. For better estimations, we need various long-term ecological research results, environmental and ecological monitoring data, and both current and future spatial environmental data.