As listed in Table 9, the first two tier zones (Zones 1 and 2) cover
about 71% of the MSMNP area. Moreover, more than 94% of alpine
ecosystem occurs in the first two conservation zones, and about
84% of forest ecosystem can be found in Ecosystem Conservation
Zone (Zone 2) (Table 9). Although data on endangered species is
limited, they also were used as evaluation indices. Based on the
current limited data, about 89% of the endangered plants and more
than 95% of the endangered animals could be found in Zones 1 and
2. Therefore, most of the conservation targets are located in the first
two important conservation zones. Zone 3 is regarded as a buffer
zone between the conservation zones (Zones 1 and 2) and park
service zones (Zones 4 and 5). In general, the zoning designation
was acceptable by the different stakeholders, particularly for the
biodiversity conservationists.