Forest protection and restoration strategies on typical rocky desertification areas in Lechang city

Rocky desertification seriously threatens China's ecological environment, leading to forest destruction, habitat quality degradation, and weakened landscape connectivity. To address this challenge, this study targeted Lechang city, Guangdong province, a typical rocky desertification area, divided forest land types based on rocky desertification and forest cover status, and quantified landscape connectivity using the patch relative importance index (dPC), to identified priority areas for forest protection and restoration and developed targeted strategies. The results show that the study area is divided into six forest protection zones and eight forest restoration zones, and the proposed forest protection and restoration measures aim to enhance ecosystem stability and biodiversity. This study provides a scientific basis for regional ecological protection planning and a practical reference for ecological restoration in rocky desertification areas.