Land Cover Stability and Anthropogenic Pressure in Protected Areas of the Republic of Moldova: A CORINE Land Cover Assessment (2000–2024)

Land cover change is a key indicator for evaluating the effectiveness of protected areas and identifying anthropogenic pressures that may affect ecosystem integrity. This study presents the first national-scale assessment of land cover stability and anthropogenic pressure within the protected area network of the Republic of Moldova using harmonized CORINE Land Cover (CLC) datasets for 2000, 2018, and 2024. A total of 97 protected areas larger than 25 ha were analyzed using four complementary indicators: the Change Area Ratio (CAR), Buffer Pressure Ratio (BPR), Threat Pressure Index (TPI), and Percentage of Artificialization (PA). The results reveal a generally high degree of land cover stability, with forests remaining the dominant land cover class and only limited changes detected during the study period. Pressure-related land cover transitions were identified in only 13 protected areas, primarily within large forest and wetland complexes, while most sites exhibited no detectable pressure-related changes at the spatial resolution of the CLC dataset. In contrast, surrounding 1 km buffer zones showed consistently higher land cover dynamics than protected areas, indicating that anthropogenic pressure is concentrated mainly in the surrounding landscape matrix. The proposed indicator framework provides a standardized and transferable approach for large-scale screening of protected areas and supports evidence-based monitoring and prioritization of conservation management using harmonized land cover datasets.