Management Effectiveness of Protected Areas in Mitigating Human Disturbance: A Case Study of the Qilian Mountains for 2000–2022

Evaluating the management effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) is critical for refining conservation strategies. One of the key components in the management of PA is the regulation of human disturbance. We evaluated the management effectiveness of the Qilian Mountain National Nature Reserve (QMNNR) in mitigating human disturbance for 2000–2022. Human footprint was used as a key indicator of human disturbance. It integrates eight human disturbance factors: built environments, population density, night-time lights, cropland, pastureland, roads, railways, and navigable waterways. Evaluations are conducted across dual spatial dimensions: (1) constructing an equal-area external buffer zone to compare human footprint dynamics inside versus outside the reserve; and (2) testing the hypothesis that “stricter zonation correlates with improved control of human disturbance” by analyzing management gradients across four functional zones (core, buffer, experimental, and peripheral protection zones). Key findings include the following: (1) The increase in human footprint within the reserve was markedly lower than in surrounding areas, with the internal–external human footprint disparity expanding from 2000 to 2022. (2) Spatial analysis reveals concentrated disturbance hotspots in northern buffer zones, whereas only marginal increases occurred in Sunan County within the reserve. (3) Human footprint growth across functional zones followed a clear ascending order: core zone < buffer zone < experimental zone < peripheral protection zone, validating the efficacy of zoned management. Collectively, these results demonstrate that the QMNNR has effectively curbed human disturbance expansion—particularly in its core area—though vigilance is warranted against emerging “ecological island” risks in the northern peripheral zone. The proposed dual-dimensional human footprint assessment framework further offers a standardized evaluation methodology for large-scale PA in mitigating human disturbance.