Ancient practices enhance biodiversity conservation: Evidence from village fengshui forests

By acting as potential candidates for other effective area‐based conservation measures (OECMs), village fengshui forests demonstrate how community‐based management sustains regional biodiversity in China. Nevertheless, limited information on the nationwide distribution and biodiversity conservation effectiveness of these forests has hindered their integration as OECMs. We compiled a national database of 811 village fengshui forests, detailing their geographical coordinates, species composition, and areal extents. We found that these forests were widely distributed across southern China and were mostly independent from formal nature reserves. Although village fengshui forests exhibited higher human footprint indices and were smaller in area than formal nature reserves, they harbored diverse plant communities, primarily remnant patches of evergreen broadleaf forests. They also provided refugia for 60 rare and endangered tree species, including 24 relict species in subtropical humid habitats. Our findings highlight the potential role of village fengshui forests in biodiversity conservation outside of formal nature reserves, and how they contribute to the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework .