Biodiversity conservation and pastoralism—reducing herd size in a communal livestock production system in Richtersveld National Park

Biodiversity is a critical component of the natural environment and the protection of it often meant the displacement of local communities in developing countries. The Richtersveld National Park (South Africa) is unusual in that it forms part of the Richtersveld communal rangeland and is currently managed for goat and sheep farming as well as biodiversity conservation under a contractual agreement. These two objectives are not regarded as mutually compatible and have created tension between conservation management officials and pastoralists. We set out to examine the consequences of reducing herd size in a communal livestock production system in support of biodiversity conservation in a protected area. Kidding, animal offtake (sales and slaughter), mortality and herd persistence showed no clear incentives for an individual pastoralist to reduce herd size. Reducing herd size is not considered a recommended intervention for the conservation of biodiversity or livelihood improvement of pastoralists in the park. The future of the natural resources of the national park is dependent on a delicate balance between the needs of the pastoralists and the conservation of those very same resources that the pastoralists use.     

湘粤赣边界禁止开发区居民生态旅游参与行为机制——以国家风景名胜区东江湖为例

生态旅游兼有环境保护和经济创收作用,是落实禁止开发区功能定位的重要途径。社区居民是生态旅游最重要的利益相关者,居民旅游参与行为对当地生态旅游发展有着至关重要的影响。在已有研究基础上,构建居民的生态旅游认知、态度、参与意向和参与行为的整合结构模型,以湘粤赣边界国家风景名胜区——东江湖的居民为调查对象,获取一手数据资料,并借助SPSS 15.0、AMOS 7.0等统计软件进行数据分析。研究显示：① 修正模型解释了生态旅游参与行为90.7%的变异量,模型预测力较强;② 生态旅游认知可直接影响参与行为,影响路径系数为0.374;③ 生态旅游认知分别以生态旅游态度和参与意向为中介对参与行为形成间接影响,并由此得出提高居民生态旅游参与度的方式。     

USING UPLAND FOREST IN SHIMENTAI NATURE RESERVE,CHINA*

ABSTRACT. The Shimentai Nature Reserve in Yingde County, Guangdong Province, China, established recently in a subtropical upland forest area, has served for ages as an essential and customary source of livelihood for local people. Assessment of forest usage indicates heavy reliance by villagers on its diversified biotic resources. This forest dependence, associated with socioeconomic factors such as distance from village, ethnic origin, out‐migration of rural youngsters, and a local tradition of conservation, is unlikely to decline in the near future. The reserve management recognizes the need to address the livelihood issues of local people and to win local support. A pragmatic adherence to provincial and higher‐level policies that exclude forest‐tapping activities could lead to more people‐versus‐park conflicts, which would dilute fundamental conservation objectives. A more enlightened and localized approach that nurtures a synergy between limited forest use and conservation while helping to develop new income sources could furnish workable alternatives.     

Application of Participatory Development Theory in Wetland Ecotourism Initiatives——A Case Study of Baiyangdian in Anxin of Hebei Province

As one of the few ecological wetlands in North China,Baiyangdian bears multiple important ecological functions,including ①adjusting the ecological balance of North China;②safeguarding the downstream areas,especially Tianjin City,the Beijing-Shanghai Railway and Huabei Oil Field;③serving as the reservoir for the North-to-South Water Diversion Project and the emergent use of water for Beijing;④conserving biodiversity.Wetland ecotourism is a scientific and wise use pattern for wetland resources,through which,a source of financing is provided for wetland conservation,economic alternatives are generated for local people to reduce overexploitation on wetland resources and the public awareness of environmental protection is enhanced.Since wetland ecotourism can benefit the co-existence between human and nature and promote social equity between people,it enjoys broad promise for popularization and implementation.The proactive cooperation and sound interaction between main stakeholders,and the wide participation of the community residents,will guarantee the sustainable development of wetland ecotourism.Based on the analysis of current status of participation and interactive relationships of the main stakeholders in Baiyangdian tourism,this article made an attempt to apply the theory of participatory development to the ecotourism initiatives of Baiyangdian wetland,discussed and brought forward the countermeasures to improve community participation in wetland ecotourism under the guidance of this theory.     

The Role of the Important Agricultural Heritage Systems in the Construction of China’s National Park System and the Optimisation of the Protected Area System

Conservation-compatible development of rural communities is an important part of nature conservation objectives. Understanding the role of agriculture, which is often practiced in or bordering the protected areas in rural China, is critical for managing conservation networks considering that limited spatial areas are available for enclosed protected areas. Important Agricultural Heritage Systems stand out for their multi-functionality, and some of their values are compatible with nature conservation. This paper examined the concept, management objectives and resource management characteristics of the Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (IAHS) by analysing their interactions with national parks in terms of community development. The results reveal that management strategies of dynamic conservation, integrated protection and adaptive management of the IAHS can contribute to those national park management objectives concerning conservation-compatible livelihood. However, the typology of the protected area system, including the traditional agricultural system as a new type, needs further consideration.     

基于EI规划的东湖湿地公园生态旅游综合评价

以EI理念规划的湿地公园更注重生态保护,可科学地保护湿地和可持续利用湿地,实现湿地公园的生态功能服务价值。以宁德东湖湿地公园的EI生态开发为研究对象,采用层次分析法从生态环境、生态旅游资源、生态旅游开发等方面对湿地生态开发旅游进行分类定量评价。通过构建基于多因子的湿地公园生态旅游综合评价体系,对各评价因子进行分类计算及定量分析,比较东湖湿地生态环境与其他湿地公园的差异,研究结果可为闽东地区的湿地公园生态旅游规划提供理论参考和实践依据。     

Livelihoods and the transformative potential of cities: Challenges of inclusive development in Rustenburg,North West Province,South Africa

Urban geographers increasingly incorporate the potential of so‐called informal livelihood activities to provide resources that can be creatively managed in the transformation of urban space, particularly to the benefit of less well off and marginalized residents. This paper reports a case study in Rustenburg, North West Province, South Africa, where city managers began to promote inclusive development in the early 1990s, just prior to the formal dismantling of the apartheid system. The findings reveal that Rustenburg's urban transformation process, over a decade later, continued to reproduce repressive practices that limit the informal livelihood activities of the urban majority. Apparently efforts of well‐meaning city managers to implement a sustainable and inclusive development process are often rendered futile at the point of actually defining the constituents of urban socioeconomic transformation.     

典型藏族社区参与生态旅游开发的态度与感知分析——以西藏申扎为例

以西藏自治区申扎县的部分村落作为典型藏族社区,采取面对面访谈的方法,从社区居民参与的5个方面分析典型藏族社区参与生态旅游开发的感知与态度。结果表明：（1）大部分居民支持发展生态旅游,愿意参与生态旅游政策决策制定与开发,愿意参与旅游教育和培训。（2）大部分居民认为生态旅游可促进本地经济与社会发展,促进居民能力提升和提高居民对环境与文化的保护意识,但部分居民认为开发生态旅游会破坏自然环境与本地民俗文化。（3）社区居民参与生态旅游水平还很低,但参与潜力较大。（4）大部分居民可参与生态旅游开发的主要方式为：旅游开发的劳动力、提供藏族特色住宿餐饮、表演藏族歌曲和销售旅游商品。（5）社区参与生态旅游的能力较差,缺乏资金与技术,居民普遍对政府是否会帮助与支持当地居民参与旅游开发经营出缺乏信心。（6）制约典型藏族社区参与生态旅游的障碍性因素为：语言障碍、资金与技术缺乏、生态旅游的基础设施不足。最后构建申扎县社区参与生态旅游水平的提升机理。     

生态旅游在自然保护区可持续发展的阻碍因素分析——以辽宁省三个国家级自然保护区为例（英文）

自然保护区是生态旅游最主要的实践场地。在可持续发展的大背景下,全球各地大量的自然保护区开展了生态旅游实践探索,并且取得了丰富的实践经验。生态旅游在自然保护区实践中的主要经验包括:建立生态旅游认证体系,成立促进社区参与的管理机构和构建生态旅游实践标准。本研究中以辽宁省的白石砬子、医巫闾山和海棠山三个国家级自然保护区为例,采用问卷调查、田野调查、访谈等方法对当地居民、游客、景区工作人员、自然保护区工作人员、当地媒体等群体进行调查,获取一手资料。通过综合分析发现,当前生态旅游在自然保护区可持续发展的阻碍因素包括两大方面,第一个方面是普遍性阻碍因素,具体包括:(1)环境教育的缺失;(2)社区参与的不足;(3)游客管理的不规范;(4)自然保护区管理机构与当地政府的矛盾冲突(条块矛盾)。第二个方面的阻碍因素是由于每个自然保护区具体的自然环境、社会文化等不同而引起的千差万别的各个自然保护区生态旅游发展的具体性阻碍因素。针对生态旅游在自然保护区实践面临的阻碍因素,本研究提出了五项措施:(1)正确认识并且尽力满足利益相关者的合理利益诉求;(2)完善自然保护区生态旅游的协调机制体系;(3)增加自然保护区管理机构的社会效益职责;(4)自然保护区生态旅游经营权、监督权分离;(5)加强对自然保护区生态旅游游客的环境教育。     

湿地公园生态旅游开发综合评价研究——以盐城市盐渎公园为例

在评价湿地现有成果的基础上,以盐渎湿地休闲公园为例,利用层次分析法对湿地公园生态旅游开发进行综合评价。从生态环境、生态旅游资源、生态旅游开发等三方面着手,构建城市湿地公园生态旅游开发综合评价体系,然后对评价体系进行计算机处理、排序和检验,最后对各个评价因子进行模糊分类及分析,为城市湿地公园生态旅游的开发提供理论和实践依据。     

Partnerships for protected area conservation in Rwanda

This paper seeks to contribute to Rwanda's ongoing restructuring of protected area management. The early part of the paper draws on experiences elsewhere in Africa, as well as key contexts in Rwanda, to assert that conservation of national parks may best be served by flexible and inclusive partnerships that seek to integrate conservation activities across different agents and scales. This assertion is then explored more critically through empirical research that investigates the views of potential conservation partners. The findings suggest that attempts to develop partnerships that are built around national parks will face difficulties. Whilst there is a general willingness to be further involved in park management, this is complicated by cleavages in beliefs about how wider participation might be implemented. In particular, it is only international conservation NGOs that currently seem to be comfortable with the national park approach to conservation management: only they see themselves as having the expertise to be decision-making partners and only they would want their role in a partnership to be formalized.     

论旅游地生态旅游文化系统之构建

旅游地实现可持续发展是生态旅游理论研究和实践发展的核心目标之一.从系统论和文化生态学的角度对生态旅游主、客体构成问题进行了重点的分析,认为生态旅游系统中主体构成包括生态旅游者、非生态旅游者、旅游经营者和旅游属地居民;客体构成包括生态旅游地的自然本底景观和旅游地的风景景观.以此为基础提出了包含旅游景区生态和谐子系统(物质层次)和人对旅游地景观的心灵认知和感悟子系统(精神层次)的生态旅游文化系统,并指出该系统中存在的5种能量信息互动关系和关系介质-生态旅游体验.通过该研究的归总以期推进研究者和管理者对生态旅游文化构成的探讨,将学术界和非学术界对生态旅游的观点相互结合并促使生态旅游实现真正意义上的可持续发展.     

ROOST SITES AND COMMUNAL BEHAVIOR OF ANDEAN CONDORS IN CHILE*

The Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) is an endangered species. Even southern Patagonia, home to the most stable and abundant populations of Andean condors, is witnessing increasing pressure from development and tourism. Taking the case of Torres del Paine National Park, in the Chilean Patagonia, we examine monitoring of condor populations at roosting sites and communal bird behavior in response to humans as an effective tool for bird conservation within protected areas. Based on field data collected throughout 2007, we identify new roosting places, explore activity patterns and population characteristics of free‐ranging and roosting Andean condors, examine bird behavior in response to humans, and analyze the current and likely future ecological impacts of tourism on the condor population and its habitat. Our results reveal that the impact of tourism is still low and that the Andean condors do not seem to be declining in numbers in the park but that the importance of roosts and animal behavior in response to humans must be considered for future monitoring, bird‐conservation planning, and ecotourism management.     

Tourist Willingness to Pay for Protected Area Ecotourism Resources and Influencing Factors at the Hulun Lake Protected Area

We examined the Hulun Lake protected area (HLPA) and tourist willingness to pay (WTP) for ecotourism resources using the contingent valuation method (CVM). Eight hundred questionnaires were distributed in the HLPA and 708 questionnaires were collected. To establish the relationship between variables and WTP, 11 variables were incorporated into the model. Social trust factors and awareness factor were for the first time applied to the models, and two bid equations were obtained by the first and second bid. We found that tourist WTP for ecotourism resources in the HLPA was CNY 14 710 389 in 2010, indicating that tourists have a large WTP for protected area ecotourism resources. Most tourists (79.9%) were willing to pay for ecotourism resources and 21.1% tourists were unwilling to pay. The most common explanation for unwillingness to pay was that it was the government’s responsibility, influenced by special social and economic characteristics in China and indicating that Chinese residents lack resource protection awareness and participation. Income and the awareness of being in a protected area most significantly affected WTP. Trusting protected area authorities significantly affected WTP. Tourists’ satisfaction affected WTP negatively in the first equation and WTP positively in the second equation. These results reveal that tourists had large WTP for ecotourism resources. To improve the WTP for ecotourism resources, the protected area management department could use third-party monitoring mechanisms and accounting systems to strengthen tourists’ trust, and increase ecological education and modify the “one site, several brands” management system.     

National parks in Lithuania: Old environment in a new democracy

Despite a long tradition of nature and forestry management, conservation of nature has a relatively short history in Lithuania. Most aspects of environmental management are facing considerable challenges since Lithuania's recent freedom from the 50-year Soviet regime. New democracies tend to develop new and often unpredictable ramifications for environmental management, and there is an urgent need for developing national park concepts and planning models that are responsive to the local context. This paper discusses some of the challenges encountered in developing and adjusting national park concepts. Lithuanian parks, like protected areas in other parts of the world, are characterised by the interaction of diverse natural and socio-cultural factors. This more or less unique complexity is the essence of the national park identity. Sustainable management of integrated protected area resources demands a change from the former expert-based top-down Soviet management. New models of collaborative, adaptive management will need to consider multiple values and goals and be able to function within rapidly changing political and administrative contexts.     

Multi-designated geoparks face challenges in China’s heritage conservation

The author selects a thorny issue of doubled designations that bother pol-icy-makers, professional planners and managers in the field of conservation for protected areas. The analyzed case study areas cover 5 National Geoparks of China in Sichuan Prov-ince, 18 UNESCO Global Geoparks in China, and 219 World Heritage sites in China and 8 European nations. Through analysis and synthesis, the author concludes that doubled des-ignation, which also leads to unbalanced park distribution, is particularly prevalent in China other than in Europe. Therefore, on-site management agencies and related governments in China should carefully translate the doubled designations into responsibilities and harmoni-ous partnerships between all stakeholders in order to enhance the management effectiveness and avoid paper park phenomenon.     

中国遗产保护中地质公园面临的挑战

The author selects a thorny issue of doubled designations that bother policy-makers, professional planners and managers in the field of conservation for protected areas. The analyzed case study areas cover 5 National Geoparks of China in Sichuan Province, 18 UNESCO Global Geoparks in China, and 219 World Heritage sites in China and 8 European nations. Through analysis and synthesis, the author concludes that doubled designation, which also leads to unbalanced park distribution, is particularly prevalent in China other than in Europe. Therefore, on-site management agencies and related governments in China should carefully translate the doubled designations into responsibilities and harmonious partnerships between all stakeholders in order to enhance the management effectiveness and avoid paper park phenomenon.     

Multi-designated geoparks face challenges in China’s heritage conservation

The author selects a thorny issue of doubled designations that bother pol- icy-makers, professional planners and managers in the field of conservation for protected areas. The analyzed case study areas cover 5 National Geoparks of China in Sichuan Prov- ince, 18 UNESCO Global Geoparks in China, and 219 World Heritage sites in China and 8 European nations. Through analysis and synthesis, the author concludes that doubled des- ignation, which also leads to unbalanced park distribution, is particularly prevalent in China other than in Europe. Therefore, on-site management agencies and related governments in China should carefully translate the doubled designations into responsibilities and harmoni- ous partnerships between all stakeholders in order to enhance the management effectiveness and avoid paper park phenomenon.     

广东省农村居民生计恢复力测度及影响因素分析

从生计质量、生计促进、生计供给及灾害压力4个维度构建气象灾害影响下农村居民生计恢复力评估模型,运用结构动力学方法测度广东省农村居民生计恢复力水平,并识别生计恢复力的主要影响因素。结果表明：① 广东省农村居民生计恢复力水平呈现周期性变化,与生计质量、生计促进、生计供给之间存在显著正相关,与灾害压力存在较强的负相关,重大气象灾害对农村居民生计恢复力的影响作用仍然较为显著;② 人均地区生产总值、农村人均消费水平、人均教育支出、千人卫生技术人员、节水灌溉面积和水土流失综合治理面积对生计恢复力均具有正向促进作用,其中水土流失综合治理面积和节水灌溉面积影响最为显著;③ 政府宜优先从生计保障、生计促进以及抗灾应对3个维度,优化广东省农村居民生计水平,并且着重提升抗灾应对能力。既要注重临时性救助扶持措施,也要注重农村地区长期实力提升,从整体上提升农村居民应对灾害风险的能力,增强广东省农村居民的生计恢复力。     

城市公园休闲供需平衡研究——以广州市为例

从城市居民休闲总体需求的角度出发,具体研究广州市城市公园的休闲供给配置,并通过供需特征对比,发现供需在总量、类型、地域的差异.结果表明,广州市城市公园在总体供给总量上不能满足城市居民的休闲需求.在类型供给总量上,广州市的动物园、植物园、游乐园、带状公园的规模总量能够满足广州市居民的休闲需求,而社区公园、城市综合公园、风景名胜园、体育公园和纪念历史公园的规模不能满足居民的休闲需求,尤其是城市综合公园和体育公园的规模需求量较大.在各区供给总量上,老城区的越秀、海珠、荔湾和新城区的白云、花都不能满足居民的需求,而黄埔、天河、番禺、南沙、萝岗总体规模上能够满足需求,但是在类型上还需进一步调整.