Measuring Tourist’s Water Footprint in a Mountain Destination of Northwest Yunnan, China

Monitoring and minimizing tourist’s water consumption is essential for the sustainable development of mountain destinations in the world. However, available data and a generally accepted protocol on such measurement are still limited. This study uses water footprint accounting to quantify tourist’s water demand in the Liming valley, a World Heritage site and a rapidly growing tourism destination in Northwest Yunnan, China. Both the water for direct and indirect use is taken into account based on the consump...     

Distance decay of place attachment and perceived authenticity of mountain tourism destinations in China

Place attachment has been a research focus in the fields of park and recreation management.Place attachment plays an important role in promoting sustainable development of parks and mountain tourism destination,however,there are limited studies that identified the spatial patterns of place attachment,especially in the context of mountain tourism destinations in China.Also,the geospatial spectrum of visitors is usually broad,examining the multivariate relationships among spatial proximity,perceived authenticity,and place attachment are essential for mountain tourism destinations to promote destination image and strengthen emotional bonding with targeted visitor groups.In this study,we selected an iconic and highly visited park,Jiuzhai Valley National Park in China,as our study site and conducted an on-site visitor survey to collect 557 samples.Study uses factor analysis and the structure equation model to analyze the relationship among spatial proximity,perceived authenticity,and place attachment.Results validate the two-dimension structure of place attachment and perceived authenticity.Study findings suggest that spatial proximity has significant impacts on existential authenticity and place identity,but has no significant impacts on place dependence.Perceived authenticity has a positive impact on place attachment.Study results advance the theories of place attachment and provide effective strategies to enhance emotional attachment between visitors and mountain tourism destinations.     

Preventing and limiting exposure to geo-hazards: Some lessons from two mountain villages destroyed by the Wenchuan earthquake

This paper examines the experiences of two mountain communities- Yinchanggou and Donghekou in the Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008, where Yinchanggou’s tourism economy and natural park system was destroyed and Donghekou was buried by a landslide. We conducted research surveys on both the communities, interviewing survivors and local officials, and observed the destruction/reconstruction, geological, and living conditions. We suggest that protracted educational processes be put into place so that mountain communities possess a knowledge base to consider long-term disaster prevention when building the economy in the fragile and geo-hazardous conditions of the Longmenshan. The Donghekou Earthquake Ruins Park is an exemplar of turning disaster into sustainable, safe development for small mountain villages.     

Livelihood changes and evolution of upland ethnic communities driven by tourism: a case study in Guizhou Province,southwest China

As an effective livelihood approach to alleviate poverty without rural population migration, ethnic tourism has become the primary choice of economic development in ethnic areas worldwide in addition to traditional livelihood approaches. This article applies the theories of livelihood to study the community evolution driven by tourism livelihood and examine three mountainous tourism communities in different stages of tourist area life cycle. Drawing on the methods of GIS spatial analysis, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, this article proposes a sustainable livelihood framework for ethnic tourism to explore the evolution of ethnic tourism communities by identifying changes in livelihood assets (natural, financial, social, cultural and human capitals) in the process of tourism development. The results show that the development of ethnic tourism has led to changes in the increase of building land, and the diversification of land use functions with a trend of shifting from meeting local villagers' living needs to satisfying tourists, income composition and uneven distribution of tourism income spatially. Ethnic tourism also led to the deterioration of traditional social management structure, collapse of neighboring relationship, the over- commercialization and staged authenticity of ethnic culture, as well as the gradual vanish of agricultural knowledge with a trend of increasing modern business knowledge and higher education. In addition, these changes, involving livelihood assets from natural, economic, human, social and cultural aspects are interrelated and interactive, which form new evolution characters of ethnic community. This study reveals the conflicts over livelihood approaches which have formed new vulnerabilities to impact on sustainable evolution of ethnic communities. This research provides implications for achieving the sustainable development of ethnic communities with the driving force of tourism livelihood.     

Climate change impact in the Western Himalaya: people’s perception and adaptive strategies

The Himalaya represents a vast mountain system and globally valued for its significant role in regulation of global as well as regional climate that has direct impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services crucial for sustenance of millions of people in Himalaya and adjoining areas. However, mountain regions worldwide are impacted by climate change and at the same time represent distinctive area for the assessment of climate related impacts. Climate change impacts in Himalayan region have its implications on food production, natural ecosystems, retreat of glacier, water supply, human and animal health and overall human well being. The livelihood and food security of the people inhabited in region largely depend on climate sensitive sectors i.e. agriculture, livestock, forestry and their interlinkages with each other, and has the potential to break down food and nutritional security as well as livelihood support systems. People’s perception and understanding of climate can be an important asset when it comes to adaptation to climate change impact; however it is not taken into consideration for the development of policy design and implementation of modern mitigation and adaptation strategies by governments and other civil society organizations. The knowledge of local people and farming communities for rural landscape management and sustainable use of bioresources is gaining credence as a key strategy to cope up with the climate change. Therefore, the present study analyzes the indigenous knowledge of local people and their perceptions on climate change, and also documented adaptation approaches at local level in mountain ecosystem of western Himalaya. The study could be useful to policy makers to design appropriate adaptation strategies to cope up with the impacts of climate change.     

The Role of Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in Rural Development in the Karakorum, Hindu Kush ＆ Himalayan Region： Examples from the Northern Mountainous Belt of Pakistan

Pakistan is predominantly a mountainous country where rural development activities are characterised by inconsistency, politically motivated short-term projects without proper feedback. Since the inception of the country, the top-down approach has been followed, and the same development plans that were formulated for the plain areas have been extended to the mountains without any modification. In doing so, neither the participation of the local communities was cared for, nor the mountain specificities were considered in the planning process. Moreover, the representation of the local inhabitants was improper and contradictory to the facts. This biased approach has been one of the main causes for the failure of development projects carried out by different agencies of the Government. Contrary to the perception of the state authorities, the mountain communities proved to be more open to accept new approaches and demonstrated the capacity and capability of being a dependable development partner. In this paper, a detailed account of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme （AKRSP） has been presented to assess and evaluate the approach followed by this non-governmental organisation （NGO）, and the response of the local inhabitants as collaborators in the development process. The achievements of the AKRSP from project planning, implementation and monitoring can be adopted as a model for rural development not only in the plains, but also in the mountainous areas of the developing countries in the world.     

Livelihood diversification as an adaptation approach to change in the pastoral Hindu-Kush Himalayan region

Migratory livestock raising has been one of the most important livelihood options for people residing in high mountain areas and has made a significant contribution to the economy of the Hindu Kush Himalayan（HKH） region, both in terms of supporting households and in export earnings. However, in recent decades, changes in the socioeconomic situation and increasing climate variability have led to a need to enhance adaptation by building the resilience of local socio-ecological systems, including economic diversification and sustainable management of natural resources. Based on semistructured interviews with pastoral communities in six countries within the pastoral HKH region, this paper discusses the situation, trends and driving forces behind the diversification of pastoral livelihood. For internal diversification the study highlights the need for enhancement of pastoral livelihoods through value-adding activities in the pastoral sectors. For external diversification changes on policy changes are needed to support free out-migration, market exploitation, and multiple resource use. Finally the paper highlights the role of education in determining household adaptation strategies in the face of various socio-ecological pressures and recommends integrating innovative and indigenous knowledge to develop appropriate methods for risk management and resource management in the pastoral HKH region.     

Utilization and sustainable development of island mountains in China

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Collecting Ophiocordyceps sinensis: an emerging livelihood strategy in the Garhwal,Indian Himalaya

In the Garhwal of Uttarakhand, India, the Bhotiya, an ethnically and culturally distinct tribal group, were historically engaged in seasonal migration(i.e. transhumance) to take advantage of scarce mountain resources and trade relations with Tibet. This livelihood practice has all but disappeared.Households are adapting to these changing circumstances by engaging in the collection and sale of the valuable alpine medicinal fungus Ophiocordyceps sinensis, widely known as Cordyceps. The collection of this fungus has exploded, emerging as a lucrative yet high-risk livelihood strategy for many Bhotiya communities.The Bhotiyas' historic herding and trade-based interactions and knowledge of these alpine environments where Cordyceps are found uniquely positions them to access this valuable biological resource. Elsewhere in the Himalayan region, some households are earning as much as two-thirds of their income from the collection of Cordyceps; in China Cordyceps is now listed as an endangered species due to intense over-exploitation in the Tibetan Plateau.This paper seeks to fill the void in the scientific literature on the social, ecological and economic aspects of the emerging Cordyceps trade in the Garhwal. Our study investigates the socio-spatial dimensions of Cordyceps collection in the high alpine meadows. We document how a fusion of local knowledge and practice with alpine mountain systems has served to reinvigorate the economic integrity of mountain communities at a time of rapid socioeconomic change and to reimagine a new relationship between alpine resources and community well-being.The article offers suggestions to address the sustainability of both Cordyceps collection and livelihood activities which hinge on this fungus population. We find a need for(1) community-based conservation measures that are rooted in(2) secure resource access rights for local communities to continue sustainable collection and sale of Cordyceps and(3) participatory-and science-based processes for determining appropriate local collection numbers.     

Utilization and sustainable development of island mountains in China

The island mountain utilization is a kind of mountain utilization. Although the islands cover little area, they can be used as the base of marine development. The sustainable development of island mountains is of significance to marine development. There are more than 6500 islands (including the South China Sea Islets) in China, and most of them are continental islands which are the extension of continental mountains extent towards sea. For this reason, there are many hills but few mountains, the area of hills makes up more than two thirds of the whole land area. In order to keep ecological balance of islands, the utilization of island hills and mountains should take exploitation of forests as the main to conserve water source and water-soil, and forests become an important factor in keeping ecological balance and sustainable development of islands. At the same time we should make good use of forests through setting up forest nature protecting area and forest parks and developing forest tourism. A part of research achievements of the project subsidized by National Natural Science Foundation (No. 49171026).     

Shifting dynamics of nature,society and agriculture in the Hindu Kush Himalayas: Perspectives for future mountain development

Current approaches for sustainable mountain development have several persisting warning signals. Economic globalization, profitoriented market development, and infrastructure development have significantly altered traditional nature-society interactions, increased environmental pressures, and challenged agricultural sustainability in the mountains. Some of the effects of globalization could also be beneficial. Social differentiation and disintegration of mountain communities' have weakened their collective stakes on natural resources resulting in decline in initiatives such as community forestry, collective water management, domestication of rapidly disappearing herbal species, and balancing of economic and ecological concerns. Population growth, food insecurity, unemployment, and increasing economic gaps between rich and poor have led to out-migration of youth. Sustained action promoting ownership of new initiatives for rehabilitating degraded mountain landscapes through macro-level global/national initiatives, mountain specific planning and development efforts is severely lacking in many areas on the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. Therefore, there is an urgent need for widening the scope of efforts directed to help mountain areas and communities, and a future thinking approach to enhance the sustainability of mountain areas as they are a valuable natural resource for humankind. This paper discusses the issues, opportunities, and provides suggestions for the future of mountain development.     

快速城市化的空间过程检测与动态机制分析

监测并理解建成区扩张有助于管理城市发展。针对城市建成区提取与其空间扩张驱动力分析存在的困难,提出集遥感信息提取与驱动力分析于一体的技术框架,利用面向对象分类技术提取建成区,采用扩张指标分析城市扩张过程,使用随机森林回归分析城市扩张驱动因素。结果表明,研究区在最近25年里建成区的扩张存在时空差异,研究期内城市扩张主要受社会经济因素和邻域因素驱动,其主导驱动力随时间的推移而演变。     

Integrated Futures for Europe＇s Mountain Regions： Reconciling Biodiversity Conservation and Human Livelihoods

Europe＇s mountains cover nearly half of the continent＇s area and are home to one fifth of the European population. Mountain areas are hotspots of biodiversity and agriculture has played a multifunctional role in defining and sustaining mountain biodiversity. Ongoing trends of agricultural decline are having negative impacts on mountain biodiversity. This paper presents results from an interdisciplinary European research project, BioScene, which investigated the relationship between agriculture and biodiversity in six mountain study areas across Europe to provide recommendations for reconciling biodiversity conservation with social and economic activities through an integrated rural development strategy. BioScene used scenario analysis and stakeholder participation as tools for structuring the analysis of alternative mountain futures. Three main BioScene scenarios were evaluated： Business as Usual （BAIT）, Agricultural Liberalisation （Lib）, Managed Change for Biodiversity （MCB）. BioScene brought together ecologists, economists, sociologists and rural geogra- phers, to carry out interdisciplinary analysis of the scenarios： identifying key drivers of change, assessing the biodiversity consequences and evaluating costeffectiveness. BioScene used a sustainability assessment to integrate the research outputs across natural and social science disciplines to assess the broader sustainability of the scenarios in terms of biodiversity, natural resources, rural development, social development, economic development and institutional capacity. The sustainability assessment showed that the MCB scenario was potentially the most sustainable of the three BioScene scenarios. Through the reconciliation of potentially conflicting objectives, such as conservation, economic development and human livelihoods, and with a strong participatory planning approach, the MCB scenario could represent an alternative approach to BaU for sustainable rural development in Europe＇s mountains. BioScene confirms the necessity for natural and social scientists to work together to seek solutions to environmental problems. Interdisciplinary research can assist with the definition of integrated strategies with the potential to reconcile the ecological, social and economic parameters that determine a sustainable future for European mountain areas.     

山东省菏泽郓城地区地热资源赋存条件评价

山东省菏泽郓城地区地热资源丰富,主要赋存于奥陶系和寒武系灰岩中,为估算评价该区的地热资源,在收集资料、野外勘查的基础上,施工1眼地热井,结合收集该区30余眼地热井资料,基本查清了郓城地区的地热赋存条件,确定奥陶系和寒武系热储为本次研究对象,对郓城地区地热流体质量进行了评价,地热资源量进行了计算。评价结果,为持续做好郓城地区地热资源开发利用工作,带动当地经济发展,构建能源节约型社会提供了数据支持。     

Shifting paradigms for Nepal’s protected areas: history,challenges and relationships

The modern history of protected area (PA) management in Nepal dates back to 1973 when the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (1973) was promulgated and Chitwan National Park was established. In the years immediately following these key events, protected area acts and regulations were strictly applied and the role of local people in managing natural resources was neglected. However with the passage of time, and with changes in the socio-political and economic characteristics of Nepal, management regimes have shifted towards a more liberal model which recognizes more clearly the contributions of people living and working within protected areas. Recently, landscape level conservation models including the designation of multiple use areas have been utilized in the development of management plans for protected areas in Nepal. Conservation agencies have attempted to tackle challenges such as land use conflict, poaching and smuggling of wildlife parts and illegal harvesting of highly valued medicinal herbs through regulation, but these efforts are not always successful. We recommend a holistic conflict resolution approach which recognizes and resolves the different needs of all stakeholders.     

Green Tourism in Mountain Regions - Reducing Vulnerability and Promoting People and Place Centric Development in the Himalayas

In recent years, mountain regions are attracting great attention to Indian tourists in general and foreign tourists in particular. The potential mountain resources for promoting green tourism are enormous in the form of natural and cultural heritage such as biosphere reserves, flora and fauna, lakes and rivers and traditional rural resources. In order to utilise tourism industry market, uncontrolled numbers of tourists and related haphazard infrastructural facilities in the vulnerable mountain regions pose serious environmental implications. The ecological pressures are threatening land, water and wild life resources through direct and indirect environmental impacts together with generation of solid and liquid wastes, so green tourism is emerging as an important task in order to develop new relationship between communities, government agencies and private sectors. The strategy focuses on ecological understanding, environmental protection and ecodevelopment. The major attributes of the green tourism include environmental conservation and education and distribution of income to local people based on strong partnership. Various knowledge systems go a long way for achieving the goals of the green tourism, which creates awareness about the value of environmental resources. Mountains have ecological, recreational, educational and scientific values, which need to be utilised in sustainable way. Various tourist activities andfacilities need to be diversified in order to achieve multiple benefits including scientific field excursion, recreation in natural and cultural areas, community festivals and sport tourisms. Green tourism considers tourism development as an integral part of a national and regional development. The paper discusses the social, economic and environmental dimensions of the green tourism with particular reference to village tourism development programme taking empirical evidences from the Himalaya. Such programme also minimises biophysical and human vulnerability and risks in mountain regions. The environmental consciousness campaign and introduction of code through multi- purpose Tourist Resource Centres are gaining currency in above context.     

山城眺望空间OSCA模型构建及应用

山体是大自然赋予城市的天然景观资源,通过山与城市中建筑群构成的山城空间关系,可形成多类型的眺望景观。当前山城眺望景观在建设热潮中不断被破坏,逐渐消失在林立的高楼中,需要进行一定的控制和保护。以济南市中心城区为例,基于眺望控制分区,寻找城市建筑发展演变、分区建设的规律,结合元胞自动机与多智能体,提出基于眺望景观控制下的山城眺望空间CA-OSCA模型（Overlooking Space Cellular Automata）,构建山城眺望空间演变模型。利用GIS等数据分析平台,对模拟结果进行分析,构建真实城市空间下的未来山城眺望空间景观三维模型,以更加直观、真实地方法探讨在眺望景观分区控制的影响下,未来城市空间结构的发展模式,最终为未来山城眺望景观空间的控制与保护以及眺望景观保护下,山城城市未来空间发展结构提出发展策略。     

Gradient effect of road transportation on economic development in different geomorphic regions

The economic benefits of transport infrastructure investment have been widely accepted. However, the varying influence of road transport development across vertical space has rarely been discussed. Taking Sichuan province in China as case study area where the landform is diverse and complex, administrative counties were categorized into 4 main types: plain counties, hill counties, mountain counties, and plateau counties. Using statistical data during 2006-2014, the performance of economic development and transport construction level in the four types of counties are discussed. Subsequently, the heterogeneous effect of each grade road on economy was calculated by local regression model (GWR). The results indicate that plain counties largely surpassed the other geomorphic counties in economic development level, while the gradient gap among them was on the decline. Similarly, distribution of transport infrastructure presented a decreasing trend from the low plain counties to high plateau counties. Regional imbalances were mainly reflected in the County road and Village road. Regarding the changes of regional gaps, National & Provincial roads and County roads were constantly expanding, whereas the disparity of Village road was slowly narrowing over time. Particularly noteworthy was the non-stationary economic influence of traffic factors across vertical gradients. On average, National & Provincial roads generated higher benefits in the high elevation regions than the lowlands. In contrast, County road and Village road were found to be more effective in promoting economic development in plains. With regard to local estimates of traffic factors, coefficients in mountain counties exhibited larger fluctuation ranges than other geomorphic units. The conclusions provide a basis for government decisionmaking in a more reasonable construction arrangement of road facilities and sustainable economic development.     

Montology manifesto: echoes towards a transdisciplinary science of mountains

Mountains as archetype frame some metageographies of the vertical dimension. Mountain metaphors, thus, have remained as key guidance in developing not only animistic belief systems and religious cults, but also military strategies, economic potential, and scientific innovation. This paper seeks to explain the need to integrate western knowledge, where mountains became known via natural history's mechanistic explanations, with other epistemologies. Mountain scientists therein developed linear approaches that required exploration, experimentation, and pragmatic interpretation of generalizable mountain phenomena. Little is known, however, about other civilizations' more encompassing cognition due to heuristic explanations of mountain myths. Local knowledge holders therein developed approaches that required familiarization, observation, and romantic meditation about situated mountain phenomena. Using a multimethod approach of human geography that includes onomastics, geocritical discourse analysis, political ecology, and critical biogeography, the author posits that there is a paradigmatic shift of geographic fad, when even "nature" is thought of as a "social construct" in the socioecological mountainscapes. Between these tendencies of either Cartesian or Spinozan dogmas about scientific objectives, methods and implications, mountains continue to elicit geographical research. The author thus concludes that integrating narratives of mountain studies with geocritical analyses of political ecology that allow for transgressivity and referentialilty of mountain cognition can be done with transdisciplinary science. Montology, henceforth, couples dialectic thinking with the trifecta of spatiality, complexity and historicity in highlighting mountain microrefugia for biocultural conservation. Use of montological approaches will bring mountain scientists to a new level, where the application of local ecological knowledge and cutting-edge technological instrumentation could render sustainable mountain communities, in dynamic biocultural heritage scenarios.     

Sustainable tourism development in mountain areas in ?umadija and Western Serbia

Sustainable tourism, as an integral part of sustainable development, emerged as a logical outcome of preventing the uncontrolled and excessive use of tourism resources and attractions. This study analyzes whether mountain tourism development in Serbia can be sustainable and feasible in the long term. Given the heterogeneity of mountains in Serbia in terms of tourism development, the subject of this research is the achieved level of sustainable tourism development in mountains in the most developed and most visited region in Serbia-?umadija and Western Serbia: Zlatibor, Kopaonik, Tara, Zlatar, Mokra Gora and Go?. The sustainable tourism development level was analyzed by using five groups of the EU's comparative indicators: economic, social, cultural, environmental and tourist satisfaction indicators. The results showed that the development of tourism in the examined mountains is not fully aligned with sustainable development. The tourist satisfaction indicator has the most acceptable values, which is a good basis for further harmonization of tourism development on the principles of sustainability. Economic indicators, especially the ratio of overnight stays and accommodation capacities, show the most unacceptable values, which indicate the need for implementing changes in the process of tourism development in the coming period. The analysis of sustainable tourism in mountain areas in ?umadija and the Western Serbia undoubtfully points out that it is necessary to significantly change the current tourism product portfolio, which implies harmonizing mountain tourism development with global trends. Certainly, a comparative analysis that looks at the degree of sustainability of mountain tourism in some countries of the Alpine region, such as Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia, contributes to this. The more intensive development of tourism throughout the year would significantly improve indicators of sustainable tourism in all analyzed mountain areas of ?umadija and Western Serbia. This would improve the value of economic indicators, which are marked as the most unsustainable. The development of tourism in the summer season, especially recreational and adventure tourism, would improve the social and cultural component of sustainable tourism. Environmental dimension of sustainable tourism would be enhanced by the development of ecotourism. By connecting spatially close mountains(Zlatibor, Zlatar, Tara and Mokra Gora) into a unique and integrated tourism destination, synergistic effects would be achieved resulting in international recognition and making the region of ?umadija and Western Serbia competitive on the European market.