Residents’ environmental conservation behaviour in the mountain tourism destinations in China: Case studies of Jiuzhaigou and Mount Qingcheng

This study aimed at gaining an understanding of the formation of residents’ Environmental Conservation Behaviour (ECB) to promote sustainable tourism development in Chinese mountain areas. In particular, a theoretical framework was constructed by merging residents’ mountain attachment and their environmental values, and awareness of environmental consequences based on the Cognition Behaviour Theory. This research sampled 642 residents with convenience sampling method in Jiuzhaigou and Mount Qingcheng, and structural equation modelling analysis was conducted to identify the relationships among the above variables. Results verified that mountain attachment affected people’s awareness of environmental consequences, which then affected their ECB. Environmental values and mountain attachment directly and positively influenced ECB. Moreover, awareness of environmental consequences played the most prominent role in predicting ECB among all the predictors in this study. In all, this study derived several significant implications which can not only contribute to environmental management policies in tourism field but also help to improve the levels of the antecedents of residents’ ECB and promote sustainable tourism development in Chinese mountain areas.     

Do mowing regimes affect plant and soil biological activity in the mountain meadows of Southern Poland?

The soil biological activity of mountain meadows is a significant factor that determines the health and utility of these regions. The climax stage of this area is forest, but to maintain semi-natural grassland, which is characterised by high biodiversity,low-intensity land use(mowing or grazing) is necessarily required. To understand the effect of various mowing regimes on the soil biological activity and plants, the soil microbial activity(microbial biomass carbon, dehydrogenase activity and number of the cultivable fraction of soil microbial community),annelids community(density and species composition earthworms and enchytraeids) and plant species composition were investigated. The study area was located in the Pieniny National Park in the Carpathian Mountains, in a meadow belonging to the association Dactylis glomerata-Poa trivialis. The investigated variants were divided according to mowing regime:traditional scything – hand mowing(HM), mechanical mowing(MM), or the abandonment of mowing – nonmowing(NM). The microbial activities(expressed by,e.g. microbial biomass carbon and the number of phosphorus bacteria) were affected by the mowing regime. The density of earthworms was higher in the HM and MM than in the NM variants. The largest changes in plant species composition were caused by the abandonment of mowing(NM). The mean number of plant species was positively correlated with soil moisture, earthworm density, and microbial activity(expressed indirectly by dehydrogenases activity). The soil microbial community, such as vegetative bacteria forms and ammonifying bacteria,were positively associated with pH value, and the microbial and total organic carbon content. The results presented here indicate that there is no single form of optimal management for all living organisms.Decisions about mowing regimes, or abandonment of use, should be preceded by multi-aspect studies,including plants and soil biota.     

Who is at risk in the French mountains? Profiles of the accident victims in outdoor sports and mountain recreation

The risk of both severe and frequent injury associated with active pursuits in mountain areas is acknowledged. This phenomenon is all the most relevant to investigate in France that there is a growing enthusiasm for outdoor sports and recreation. This paper focuses on the social-demographic and sporting profiles of accident victims. Our intent is to better understand who is specifically at risk, while practicing mountain recreation, in the French mountains. Such identification doubtlessly constitutes an important asset in order to enhance prevention. Three critical activities are notably tackled, among some others: hiking, a widespread activity that exposes many practitioners to hazardous settings; mountaineering and ski touring, supposedly entailing the most severe injuries. In order to align the information collected, then provide estimations based on the reasoned crossing of these secondary data, we consulted and summarised all the databases that we knew of on the French territory: rescue team intervention reports, aggregated statistics from the sports ministry, sporting federation accident declarations, avalanche experts statistics, mountain guides union accident/incident reports, healthcare facilities admissions, etc. Only the sources considered to be the most reliable and representative were used, owing to the number of cases processed, the exhaustive nature of data collection, or the level of information detail available. Our method also included consultation of all the parties playing an active role in prevention, training and mountain rescue, thus ensuring a participative, co-constructive approach to the study with the people that have the best knowledge of victims’ profiles. Around fifty such parties were interviewed on the methods implemented, the benefits and limits of current data, and the main expectations in terms of accidentology progress, thus further enhancing the credibility of the study proposed in this paper. Our results show that the parent population profiles (in terms of age, gender, place of residence, etc.), weighted by the level of exposure (frequency of participation, level of engagement, etc.) appears to have an impact on the accident victim profiles. There is certainly a very marked gender bias and a serious age impact to be taken into account, as well as the influence of the level of experience, which counter certain preconceived ideas and which, at the very least, go against instinct. However, aside from a probable over-exposure of experienced or expert participants, much remains to be explained concerning the accident mechanisms and circumstances involved. At this stage, we regret the analytic deficiencies induced by a lack of knowledge concerning the parent populations in many cases, which makes interpretation difficult.     

Resources of coal methane and problems in their development

The coal deposits methane is one of the type ecological mineral-raw materials resources.The methane reasonable extract from coal-methane deposits at the same time with mining of coal.This is the most economical way of the coal methane mining.The Russian coal basins are a large domestic raw materials base for energy,metallurgical and coke industry.There are the 77% of all mines have volume of gas in Kuzbass,Vorkuta and other mining industrial regions of Russia.Russian coal deposits is disposed the most largest in the world coal deposits and are most methane-bearing capacity coal seams:8.1 kg/t methane of coal,to compare with 7.4 kg/t in Great Britain,6.7 kg/t in China,5.0 kg/t in USA and 3.6 kg/t in Germany.     

Distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic, hydrocarbons in main aquacultural areas in Guangdong, China

The environmental quality status of Daya Bay (22.56–22.77°N, 114.51–114.73°E), a main aquaculture area in Guangdong of China, was investigated using 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) sediment samples of the bay. The total concentrations of 16 PAHs varied from 115 to 1 134 ng/g dry weight. The PAH composition pattern in sediments suggest dominance of 4-ring PAHs in Sites 2 and 4, and the ratio of certain related PAHs indicated important pyrolytic and petrogenic sources. The results enhance the understanding of current contamination levels and make a better assessment of likely impacts of organic contamination on ecosystems and the sustainability of local aquaculture in the area especially after the establishment of the Nuclear Power Station by the bay.     

Gradient effect on farmers’ income in the mountain areas and its implication for poverty alleviation strategies: Empirical analysis from the upper reach of Minjiang River, China

Using four types of settlements in the upper reach of Minjiang River as case,we establish structural models in farmers’ income of different settlement patterns based on rural household panel data to reveal the gradient effect on farmers’ income and determinants.The results indicate that:(1) except the resettlement area,the incomes for farmers living in river valley,semi-mountain,and high-mountain settlements present a decreasing trend with the elevation increasing;on the contrary,their nonfarm earnings show an increasing trend with the elevation decreasing;(2) from the effect on farmers’ income,there is a common feature that the nonfarm earnings and farming incomes have significant positive effects,and family size and productive expenditure have significant negative effects.One exception to this is the productive expenditure,which becomes insignificant in the model of resettlement area;(3) from the way of increasing farmers’ income and alleviating poverty,there are great differences for four types of settlements in mountain areas,however,the improvement of agricultural product sales,agricultural production subsidies,the expansion for nonfarm employment,and the control of the family’s size are the most effective approaches for poverty alleviation.     

Do Forest Landscape Pattern Planning and Optimization Play a Role in Enhancing Soil Conservation Services in Mountain Areas of Western China?

The relationship between landscape patterns and soil conservation, as well as the need for nature-based soil erosion control and landscape pattern optimization, have increasingly gained attention in the scientific and political community in the past decade. With the implementation of a series of afforestation/reforestation projects in the western China, the optimization and management of forest landscape patterns will become more important for soil conservation. In this study, the Bailongjiang W...     

Natural Hazard Preventinkon and the Mountain Land Risk Reduction in the Western Carpathians

Introduction According to the definition of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), natural hazards are naturally-occurring physical phenomena caused either by rapid or slow onset events having atmospheric, geologic and hydrologic origins on solar, global, regional, national and local scales. They include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tsunamis, floods and drought. Natural hazards must not automatically cause disasters (UNESCO 2005). …     

Labile and stabile soil organic carbon fractions in surface horizons of mountain soils–relationships with vegetation and altitude

Global and local climate changes could disturb carbon sequestration and carbon stocks in forest soils. Thus, it is important to characterize the stability of soil organic matter and the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions in forest ecosystems. This study had two aims: (1) to evaluate the effects of altitude and vegetation on the content of labile and stabile forms of organic carbon in the mountain soils; and (2) to assess the impact of the properties of soil organic matter on the SOC pools under changing environmental conditions. The studies were conducted in the Karkonosze Mountains (SW Poland, Central Europe). The content of the most labile fraction of carbon (dissolved organic carbon, DOC) decreases with altitude, but the content of fulvic acids (FA), clearly increases in the zone above 1000 m asl, while the stabile fraction (humins, non-hydrolyzing carbon) significantly decreases. A higher contribution of stabile forms was found in soils under coniferous forests (Norway spruce), while a smaller - under deciduous forests (European beech) and on grasslands. The expected climate change and the ongoing land use transformations in the zone above 1000 m asl may lead to a substantial increase in the stable humus fraction (mainly of a non-hydrolyzing carbon) and an increase in the SOC pools, even if humus acids are characterized by a lower maturity and greater mobility favorable to soil podzolization. In the lower zone (below 1000 m asl), a decrease in the most stable humus forms can be expected, accompanied by an increase of DOC contribution, which will result in a reduction in SOC pools. Overall, the expected prevailing (spatial) effect is a decreasing contribution of the most stable humus fractions, which will be associated with a reduction in the SOC pools in medium-high mountains of temperate zone of Central Europe.     

Middle Holocene warm period and sea level high in coastal areas,North China

Relevant geological, geographical, archaeological data were collected to study the characteristics of middle Holocene warm period and sea level high on North China coast. Middle Holocene climate and sea level change on North China coast were correlated to warm marine environment events in about 8-3 ka B.E The sea level in about 8 ka B.E was higher than present mean sea level, then fluctuated for 5 000 years and after that it became even in 3 ka B.E The highest sea level occurred in about 6-5 ka B.E; the maximum was about 2-3 m and minimum was about 1-2 m.     

What is the relationship between ecosystem services and urbanization? A case study of the mountainous areas in Southwest China

China is undergoing a rapid urbanization process, and urbanization will have a direct impact on regional ecosystems and affect regional ecosystem services. Considering the mountainous counties in Southwestern China as the research object, this study reveals the spatial clustering characteristics of four typical ecosystem services(food production, soil conservation, water yield and carbon sequestration)as well as the trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services in different urbanized areas. At the same time, piecewise linear regression is used to determine the threshold of the influence of urbanization on ecosystem services. The results indicate that: 1) There are spatial autocorrelations among the four typical ecosystem services; with strong clustering characteristics, the positive correlation types are "clustered" locally; and with significant spatial heterogeneity, the negative correlation types are scattered and mainly appear in the highly urbanized area. 2) There are also remarkable differences in the relationship among various ecosystem services in different urbanized areas, and in particular, there are marked trade-offs between food production and carbon sequestration in the moderately urbanized area and the highly urbanized area. However, there are synergies between them in the lowly urbanized area. 3) With an increase in the compounded night light index(CNLI), water yield, carbon sequestration, food production and overall ecosystem services values present an increasing-decreasing trend, the soil conservation function value shows a decreasing-increasing trend.The response of water yield, carbon sequestration,food production, and overall ecosystem services to the compounded night light index(CNLI) has a threshold of 1.2642, 1.4833, 1.3388, 1.5146 and 1.2237,respectively. Based on the detected relationships between urbanization and ecosystem services, this study provides a theoretical reference for the selection of urbanization development models in key ecological functional areas.     

Applicability and prospect of China’s development zone model in Africa

Development zones have been an important spatial approach to promoting economic development since China's reform and opening-up. They have also been major contributors to the processes of China's industrialization and urbanization. Along with improvements in the worldwide industrial division of labor and the gradual implementation of China's development zones' Go Global strategy, it is necessary for Africa, a hot spot of global industrialization in recent years, to learn from China's development zone model. By attracting China's capital, technology and enterprises to Africa via Sino-African co-built development zones, a pattern of high complementarity and mutual development between China and Africa can be formed which does favor further improvement of the global industrial division of labor. In order to study the applicability and prospect of China's development zone model in Africa as per the above-mentioned international situation, this paper first sorts out the development course of China's development zones and discusses their roles in China's industrialization and urbanization. Subsequently, this paper analyzes the status quo of industrial development in Africa as a whole and the differences in industrial development between China and Africa, aiming to justify the timing of industrial transfer from China to Africa by constructing Sino-African co-built development zones. Lastly, this paper analyzes the current situation of six Sino-African co-built development zones by focusing on their operation modes, industry types and investment promotion models. In the authors' view, Sino-African co-built development zones can function as a new window of China-African cooperation, a new carrier of African industrialization, and a new engine of global industrial restructuring. China should adhere to the general principles of ‘Sino-African Integration, Multi-Cooperation, Mutual Benefit, Scientific Location, Systematic Planning, Cluster Growth and Open Development' in the planning and construction of development zones in Africa, effectively promoting Africa as the very important part of the global industry system.     

Reconciling Local and Global Agendas in Sustainable Development： Participatory Research with Indigenous Andean Communities

Introduction In tracing the pioneering influences which created the 1980s participatory research movement in international agriculture, health and conserva- tion, the experiences of Latin America must be highlighted. Activist participatory research itselfwas originally inspired by Paulo Freire, the influential Brazilian educator whose pedagogical teachings have been commonplace throughout South America since the 1960s (Freire 1968, Chambers 1994a). Due to a multitude of social forces betwe…     

Telecentres in mountain regions — A Peruvian case study of the impact of information and communication technologies on remoteness and exclusion

Communities in developing country mountain areas, in part due to their remoteness, find themselves excluded from social, political and economic systems; and excluded from access to resources. This paper aims to study the impact of information and communication technologies （ICTs） on remoteness and exclusion. It utilises two models - the resource movement framework, and the ＂information chain＂ - to analyse a telecentre in one district of mountainous Huancavelica, Peru＇s poorest region, set in the high Andes. It finds ICTs enabling new and positive resource flows for the two key user groups： teenaged school students and young farmers. These help to maintain social networks. They also support information searches that have improved agricultural practice where other information chain resources have been available. But non-use and ineffective use of the telecentre are found where information chain resources are lacking. ICTs have some impacts on intangible elements of remoteness. In this particular example, they also offer access to some previously-excluded resources. But they have not really addressed the systematic exclusions faced by mountain communities. And they so far appear to be a technology of inequality; favouring those residents who begin with better resource endowments. The paper concludes by offering some recommendations for mountain ICT project practice.     

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.     

How can saline and hypersaline lakes contribute to aquaculture development? A review

A considerable part of the world's population is currently experiencing a severe scarcity of freshwater and nutrition. Inland aquaculture has the fastest growth in fresh waters, and this contributes to the eutrophication of freshwater bodies. The increase in freshwater aquaculture impacts on the increasing demand for fresh water. A way to overcome this is to develop aquaculture in saline lakes. This article discusses how saline and hypersaline lakes may contribute to overcome this problem and gives a list of fish and shrimp species that can be cultivated in saline lakes. Successful development of aquaculture depends on a healthy cultured stock of commercial fish and shrimps. A sustainable healthy stock of fish and shrimps can be only maintained using live food for the cultured fish larvae, fry and fingerlings. As well as Artemia spp. there are many other crustacean species with the potential for growing in hypersaline waters. At least 26 copepod species around the world can live at a salinity above 100 g/L with 12 species at a salinity higher than 200 g/L, and these all have excellent nutritional value. There is a high potential to use eukaryotic organisms of diff erent taxa in saline/hypersaline aquaculture for food, agri-aquaculture, diff erent industries and as food supplements.     

Tourism resource assessment and spatial analysis of wine tourism development: a case study of the eastern foothills of China’s Helan Mountains

The reasonable development and utilization of mountainous regions closely relates to local economic development and ecological security. The wine production region in the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains in Ningxia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, with its excellent terroir, is emerging as one of China’s three major geographical attractions. Based on surveys of tourism resources and spatial analysis for this wine producing region, we propose a highly representative and practicable path for wine tourism development. Based on China’s national standard in Classification, Investigation and Evaluation of Tourism Resources (GB/T 18972-2003), which recommended the types and grades of tourism resources in one area, we conduct an analysis of resource characteristics and the current state of development. Using ArcGIS software, spatial autocorrelation analysis, average nearest neighbor analysis, as well as clustering and outlier analysis, we are able to derive the spatial distribution characteristics of tourism resources. Our survey showed that tourism resources in this area are relatively abundant and have good quality and clear combination advantages. Nonetheless, there are resources shortage for wine tourism and poor integration of wine production with the tourism industry. Regarding the spatial distribution of resources, we revealed the current states of and issues surrounding regions with concentrated resources, as well as characteristics of this clustering. Finally, we proposed a development path for wine tourism in this region based on the five dimensions of management mode, industrial path, product development, spatial optimization, and market development.     

Marine hazards in coastal areas and human action against them—A case study of the Changjiang River estuaries and Qiantang River

China's eastern coastal area marine hazards (storm surge, erosion and deposition by tidal currents and seawater intrusion) and the history, present situation, experiences and problems of inhabitants in their fight against marine hazards are discussed in this paper, which also suggests counter-measures against, and scientific and rational management of, coastal area marine hazards in order to protect the coastal and estuarine ecosystems.     

Changes in Land Use and Agricultural Production Structure Before and After the Implementation of Grain for Green Program in Western China–Taking Two Typical Counties as Examples

Soil erosion becomes a serious environmental problem in the world, especially in western China. An effective management practice called the Grain for Green Program （GGP）, which was launched in 1999, aims to reduce soil and water loss and alleviate the ecological environment problem in western China. Two typical counties in western China, the Zhongxian （in Chongqing Municipality） and Ansai （in Shaanxi Province） were chosen to evaluate the dynamic changes of land use and agricultural production structure before and after the implementation of the Program in this paper. The results showed that the cultivated land area was reduced by 7.08% from 1989 to 2003. The cultivated land per person was decreased by 8.42% during 1999-2003. Moreover, the stability index of the secondary sector of the economy was increased from 0.91 in the period 1990-1999 to 0.94 in the following ten years. In addition, the stability index of tertiary economic sector increased from 0.88 to 0.92 in Zhongxian county. Meanwhile, the cultivated land area was reduced by 15.48% from 1990 to 1999. The soil erosion modulus was decreased by 33.33% from 1999 to 2006. Also, the stability index of secondary and tertiary economic sectors was 0.86 in the period 1998-2002. However, it decreased by 77% during 2002 to 2007 in Ansai County. These results imply that the Grain for Green Program had different impact on the two regions. Several effective strategies of soil and water conservation have been carried out to ameliorate the sustainable development of ecological environment and economy in these two counties of western China.     

Movements of the Western Pacific Warm Pool Centroid and Their Relationship to Sea Surface Temperature Changes in Nifio Regions

By using monthly historical sea surface temperature (SST) data for the years from 1950 to 2000, the Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP) climatology and anomalies are studied in this paper. The analysis of WPWP centroid (WPWPC) movement anomalies and the Niño-3 region SST anomalies(SSTA) seems to reveal a close, linear relation between the zonal WPWPC and Niño-3 region SSTA, which suggests that a 9° anomaly of the zonal displacement from the climatological position of the WPWPC corresponds to about a l°C anomaly in the Niño-3 region area-mean SST. This study connects the WPWPC zonal displacement with the Niño-3 SSTA, and it may be helpful in better understanding the fact that the WPWP eastward extension is conducive to the Niño-3 region SST increase during an El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event.