Global cropland expansion over the last century caused widespread habitat loss and degradation. Establishment of protected areas aims to counteract the loss of habitats and to slow species extinctions. However, many protected areas also include high levels of habitat disturbance and conversion for uses such as cropland. Understanding where and why this occurs may realign conservation priorities and inform protected area policy in light of competing priorities such as food security. Here, we use our global synthesis cropland dataset to quantify cropland in protected areas globally and assess their relationship to conservation aims and socio-environmental context. We estimate that cropland occupies 1.4 million km² or 6% of global protected area. Cropland occurs across all protected area management types, with 22% occurring in strictly protected areas. Cropland inside protected areas is more prevalent in countries with higher population density, lower income inequality, and with higher agricultural suitability of protected lands. While this phenomenon is dominant in midnorthern latitudes, areas of cropland in protected areas of the tropics and subtropics may present greater trade-offs due to higher levels of both biodiversity and food insecurity. Although area-based targets are prominent in biodiversity goal-setting, our results show that they can mask persistent anthropogenic land uses detrimental to native ecosystem conservation. To ensure the long-term efficacy of protected areas, post-2020 goal setting must link aims for biodiversity and human health and improve monitoring of conservation outcomes in cropland-impacted protected areas.

上个世纪全球农田扩张导致广泛的栖息地丧失和退化。保护区的建立旨在抵消栖息地的丧失和减缓物种灭绝的速度。然而，许多保护区还包括高水平的栖息地干扰和用于农田等用途的转换。了解发生这种情况的地点和原因可能会重新调整保护优先事项，并根据粮食安全等相互竞争的优先事项为保护区政策提供信息。在这里，我们使用我们的全球综合农田数据集来量化全球保护区内的农田，并评估它们与保护目标和社会环境背景的关系。我们估计农田占地 140 万平方公里²或全球保护区的 6%。农田发生在所有保护区管理类型中，其中 22% 发生在严格保护区内。保护区内的农田在人口密度较高、收入不平等程度较低、保护区农业适宜性较高的国家更为普遍。虽然这种现象在中北纬地区占主导地位，但由于生物多样性和粮食不安全程度较高，热带和亚热带保护区的农田面积可能会出现更大的权衡取舍。尽管基于区域的目标在生物多样性目标设定中很突出，但我们的结果表明，它们可以掩盖不利于本地生态系统保护的持续人为土地利用。为确保保护区的长期效力，