A framework for identifying multiscenario priorities based on SCP theory to promote the implementation of municipal territorial ecological conservation planning policy in China

Currently, research on the methodological framework for identifying conservation priority areas in China's territorial ecological conservation planning pays limited attention to the plan's implementability. Therefore, in this study, we developed a new prioritization framework for planning implementation based on systematic conservation planning (SCP) theory, which not only incorporated multiple types of key indicators for conservation prioritization assessment but also provided managers with differentiated decision-making scenarios, including the use of the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model, the Marxan model, and the Zonation model. We applied the framework in Xi'an, a megacity in northwest China. To evaluate the effectiveness of the new framework, a comparison was made between two scenarios: the systematic conservation planning scenarios (SCPs) based on the new framework and the ecologically important scenarios (EIs) based on the previous main methodology (which integrates the level of ecosystem service provision and ecological vulnerability). Under SCPs and EIs, the areas of conservation priority are 2,118.35 km2 and 4,447.15 km2, respectively, and SCPs gained slightly fewer conservation benefits than EIs but caused less loss of economic benefits in terms of GDP (27.8884 million yuan and 494.3732 million yuan for SCPs and EIs, respectively). This shows that the new framework can help minimize conservation costs while satisfying each conservation benefit as much as possible compared to previous approaches, thus contributing to the implementability of the plan. In future works, the application scenarios of the multiscenario prioritization framework based on SCP theory can be further expanded, and flexible solutions can be provided for the implementation of landscape planning in similar areas facing urgent conservation needs.