我国生态旅游利益相关者分析

发展生态旅游需要在不同利益主体之间建立一个合理的利益协调和分配机制，而利益相关者角色的错位、缺位，其间关系的交叉、矛盾是制约我国生态旅游发展的关键。为了确保生态旅游的可持续发展，需要对现有的利益相关者角色和关系进行调整。真正使政府、当地牡区，旅游企业、保护地、旅游者、非政府组织、学术界及相关机构、媒体分别扮演好调控者、参与和受益者、执行者、执行监督者、实践者。协助者、研究指导者、宣传监督者的角色。     

Impacts of ecotourism in Rajiv Gandhi National Park (Nagarhole), Karnataka

Ecotourism potentially provides a sustainable approach to tourism development in national parks. The paper focuses on ecotourism impacts and the status of wildlife within the Rajiv Gandhi National Park (Nagarhole) situated in Karnataka. It explores a multitude of interactions that exist among wildlife, conservation efforts, socio-economic, and relocation attempts of the tribal people in the park. Field exploration was undertaken to identify the impacts of ecotourism. The results revealed the ongoing effort by the government to relocate the tribal people within the park and the difficulty faced by park officials to cope with the numerous impacts and conservation strategies in the park. The tourists were engaged in different ecotourism activities and made an observation on the lack of educational awareness and biophysical impacts such as littering and vegetation damage. This paper will contribute a greater understanding of the impacts of ecotourism management for sustainability of the national park.     

Perceived Impacts of Ecotourism on Environmental Learning and Conservation: Turtle Watching as a Case Study

Using a case study, involving turtle-based ecotourism, we explore the role of ecotourism in promoting environmental learning and in sustaining conservation of nature. Mon Repos Conservation Park (an important marine turtle rookery involved in ecotourism) in Queensland, Australia, was selected for this study and visitors were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The reported on-site experiences of respondents are analysed to identify important factors that alter their stated conservation attitudes and behaviours. The impact of these factors (such as the amount of environmental education that respondents claimed they obtained, sighting of sea turtles, nationality) is quantified using regression analyses. There has been little previous quantification of such influences. The study reveals that a considerable amount of environmental knowledge is gained by visitors to Mon Repos. The ecotourism experience, involving environmental education and seeing of turtles, was found to have positive and statistically significant impacts on the visitors' stated desire and intended behaviour to protect sea turtles. The study reveals the importance of learning and the interaction of tourists with wildlife as a contributor to their pro-conservation sentiments and actions. It shows how ecotourism can support nature conservation. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Nature Reserve and Ecotourism Development in China＇s Wuzhishan Mountain Region

As the protected areas of land and coastal environment, nature reserves are designed to address how to reconcile the conservation of biodiversity, the quest for economic and social development and the maintenance of cultural values. This paper establishes a framework for nature reserve development that seeks to incorporate ecotourism into its strategies. The overall purpose was to identify the information needs required for a comprehensive nature reserve that incorporates ecotourism related values. It also illustrates the utility of this framework in the context of the Wuzhishan Mountain Region of China. A literature review, the first phase of a visionary strategy and a subsequent gap analysis for available management information were undertaken in order to achieve this paper＇s purpose. Finally, recommendations axe pre-sented for integrating ecotourism into nature reserve development in the Wuzhishan Mountain Region.     

Nature Reserve and Ecotourism Development in China's Wuzhishan Mountain Region

Abstract

As the protected areas of land and coastal environment, nature reserves are designed to address how to reconcile the conservation of biodiversity, the quest for economic and social development and the maintenance of cultural values. This paper establishes a framework for nature reserve development that seeks to incorporate ecotourism into its strategies. The overall purpose was to identify the information needs required for a comprehensive nature reserve that incorporates ecotourism related values. It also illustrates the utility of this framework in the context of the Wuzhishan Mountain Region of China. A literature review, the first phase of a visionary strategy and a subsequent gap analysis for available management information were undertaken in order to achieve this paper's purpose. Finally, recommendations are presented for integrating ecotourism into nature reserve development in the Wuzhishan Mountain Region.     

A modeling analysis of the sustainability of ecotourism in Belize

Over the past two decades, ecotourism has emerged as an important conservation strategy, especially in the Tropics where a diversity of species and habitats are threatened by traditional forms of development. However, questions remain about the sustainability of ecotourism in terms of distributions of income to local people and degradation of ecosystems visited by the ecotourists. In this study, a computer simulation model was used to study the possible long-term patterns of ecotourism at the country scale for Belize, Central America. The model includes state variables for natural ecosystems and tourism infrastructure with a submodel for global oil supply. It was simulated over a 100-year period as an EXCEL spreadsheet with a time step of 1?year. In all of the simulations, a decline over time in income from ecotourists was found due to increases in the price of oil and due to environmental impacts by tourism. Conservation efforts can slow the declines, but ultimately, the system is shown to be unsustainable. The results are discussed in the context of long-term conservation potential in Belize.     

An assessment of the attitudes of the inhabitants of Northern Karpathos, Greece: towards a framework for ecotourism development in environmentally sensitive areas

This paper is a case study that sets out to explore the extent to which the local residents of the region of Northern Karpathos and Saria in the southeast corner of the Aegean have positive attitudes and perceptions towards ecotourism ventures for sustainable development. The area is included in the European Ecological Network Natura 2000 and was chosen for studying since it constitutes an ideal location for the promotion of soft and alternative forms of tourism. The investigation of the attitudes of the inhabitants of the Community of Olympos, in Northern Karpathos was carried out using as research tool a questionnaire that was drawn up specifically for the needs of the present work. The attempt to provide a systematic way of studying the inhabitants’ attitudes led to the proposition of a framework that contains the necessary conditions for sustainable ecotourism development. This is based on three fundamental factors, namely: (a) environmental conservation, (b) environmental education and (c) empowerment of local community. The main conclusion drawn was that the perceptions of the local people accord with the basic principles of ecotourism. Residents (a) showed a high degree of awareness and sensitivity regarding environmental conservation issues in the area, (b) recognised the need for environmental education concerning ecotourism activities and (c) had a favourable attitude towards the implementation of initiatives in the ecotourism field aimed at their empowerment and at promoting sustainable development in the area. The participants’ place of permanent residence and level of education appeared to influence significantly their perceptions of this alternative form of tourism.     

Combining Conservation and Development on Private Lands: Lessons from Costa Rica

Privately owned parks continue to attract interest across the tropics for their ability to blend biodiversity protection with sustainable development. Despite rapid proliferation of these privately owned protected areas, the conservation community knows little about them. We interviewed owners of 68 private parks in Costa Rica to learn more about their contribution to that country's national conservation effort. Key findings include: (1) the total number of private reserves is estimated to be in the vicinity of 250; (2) reserves fell into a wide variety of categories, ranging from formal parks and ecotourism reserves to biological stations and hybrid reserves; (3) total nationwide coverage is approximately 63,832 ha, or 1.2% of the national territory; (4) reserves were protecting ecologically important habitat, particularly primary rain forest; (5) reserves were owned mostly by Costa Ricans; (6) reserves were used for a wide variety of activities, especially ecotourism and for the owners' personal enjoyment; (7) reserve owners' biggest problem was poaching of mammals; (8) reserves were protecting key corridor and buffer zone areas between and around larger national parks. Results from this study should help enhance our understanding of this little-known conservation and development tool. They should be of interest wherever biodiversity remains threatened and wherever new conservation and development partners are being sought - which includes most of the developing world.     

Linking agricultural adaptation strategies,food security and vulnerability: evidence from West Africa

Adaptation strategies to reduce smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to climate variability and seasonality are needed given the frequency of extreme weather events predicted to increase during the next decades in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in West Africa. We explored the linkages between selected agricultural adaptation strategies (crop diversity, soil and water conservation, trees on farm, small ruminants, improved crop varieties, fertilizers), food security, farm household characteristics and farm productivity in three contrasting agro-ecological sites in West Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana and Senegal). Differences in land area per capita and land productivity largely explained the variation in food security across sites. Based on land size and market orientation, four household types were distinguished (subsistence, diversified, extensive, intensified), with contrasting levels of food security and agricultural adaptation strategies. Income increased steadily with land size, and both income and land productivity increased with degree of market orientation. The adoption of agricultural adaptation strategies was widespread, although the intensity of practice varied across household types. Adaptation strategies improve the food security status of some households, but not all. Some strategies had a significant positive impact on land productivity, while others reduced vulnerability resulting in a more stable cash flow throughout the year. Our results show that for different household types, different adaptation strategies may be ‘climate-smart’. The typology developed in this study gives a good entry point to analyse which practices should be targeted to which type of smallholder farmers, and quantifies the effect of adaptation options on household food security. Subsequently, it will be crucial to empower farmers to access, test and modify these adaptation options, if they were to achieve higher levels of food security.     

Developing Communication Strategies for Mitigating Actions Against Global Warming: Linking Framing and a Dual Processing Model

Although there is increasing public awareness of global warming, there is a gap between such perception and relevant actions to combat the problem. In order to develop effective strategies for facilitating public actions, in this paper we draw upon framing theory and a dual processing model. Based on an experiment involving 261 participants from a large public university in Taiwan, this study found that by framing global warming as a local issue, communication messages can trigger both analytic (issue relevance) and affective (negative emotions) appraisals, which, in turn, will increase people's intentions to take actions. This study provides important insights for government and environmental groups when designing communication campaigns on this issue.     

Tourists‘ and Locals‘ Preferences Toward Ecotourism Development in the Maya Biosphere Reserve,Guatemala

Ecotourism has been identified as a low impact means to provide income generating opportunities that are complementary to nature conservation as well as the welfare of the local population. The Maya Biosphere Reserve in Peten, Guatemala is one of Central America's largest and most isolated protected areas. And although the area is contains a well-visited archeological site, it has not been developed for ecotourism. In this study choice experiments are used to analyze the preferences toward alternative scenarios of ecotourism of two important stakeholder groups: foreign tourists and educated local residents. Results demonstrate that these two populations of have unequal but similar preference orderings, especially toward: improved national park management and the presence of guides for wildlife viewing. These stakeholder groups had different opinions toward paved access roads and the presence of illegal colonists within the protected area. Both populations favored an entrance fee toward the absence of an entrance fee. These preferences were generally consistent across other socioeconomic indicators. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Developing REDD+ policies and measures from the bottom-up for the buffer zones of Amazonian protected areas

A key activity in Phase 1 of REDD+—the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) forestry mitigation mechanism—is the development of policies and measures (PAMs) to define where and how emissions reductions and carbon stock enhancements and conservation will be achieved. This paper provides contextual data and information for the development of PAMs specifically for the buffer zones of protected areas in the Peruvian Amazon, sites where REDD+ has the potential to generate considerable social and ecological co-benefits. The study sites are the buffer zones of two national parks, Yanachaga-Chemillen (YChNP) in central Peru and Manu (MNP) in the south-east. Data were collected through smallholder household surveys (n?=?200), covering livelihood strategies, land use practices and preference rankings of five REDD+ criteria. The findings suggest that PAMs in buffer zones could realistically achieve an additional ~10?% conservation of remaining forest and between 25 and 70?% additional reforestation of non-forest areas on private lands. The paper argues that in areas where agricultural co-operatives exist, such as MNP, these should be engaged in national REDD+ PAMs and supported by an international NGO; in areas where smallholders operate individually, such as YChNP, international NGOs may be best placed to gain local trust and thereby raise participation rates. The environmental effectiveness of REDD+ conservation PAMs could be greater in areas of intense agricultural production, yet financial and technical support for reforestation may offer the most effective avenue for carbon mitigation in these areas.     

中国生物多样性保护适应气候变化的对策

基于气候变化对生物多样性影响的总结分析,初步提出了我国生物多样性保护适应气候变化的对策。气候变化对生物物候、分布、迁移活动、群落结构、栖息地质量、生态系统和景观多样性都产生了一定影响,未来将产生更深刻的影响。我国生物多样性保护适应气候变化需要从物种有效保护、自然保护区规划与管理、灾害防御等方面进行。     

Climate-adapted conservation: how to identify robust strategies for the management of reindeer in Hardangervidda National Park (Norway)

This paper presents an assessment scheme that should help local conservation management in their adaptation to potential effects of climate change. It can be used for the identification of robust adaptation options at site level. The assessment scheme was applied to the management of Europe’s largest population of wild mountain reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) living in the arctic-alpine plateau of Hardangervidda in south-western Norway. At first, the last four decades (1964–2004) were analysed to identify climate- and non-climate-related driving forces affecting the population. In addition, regional projections of climate change were used to build scenarios for the potential effects on these driving forces until 2050. In the second step, the potential effects of climate change were classified according to the risk they pose to the conservation of reindeer in Hardangervidda. Based on this assessment, no-regret strategies for biodiversity management under changing climate conditions could be identified.     

Does community resilience decrease social–ecological vulnerability? Adaptation pathways trade-off in the Bolivian Altiplano

Worsening climate change impacts and environmental degradation are increasingly supporting policies and plans in framing a linear understanding of resilience building and vulnerability reduction. However, adaptations to different but interacting drivers of change are unclear in the mix of opportunities and threats related to increasing connections, emerging technologies, new patterns of dependency and possible lock-in effects. This paper discusses a more open-ended understanding of the relationship between resilience and vulnerability, highlighting emerging trade-offs among adaptive capacities and exposures to different (and new) threats as they relate to social–ecological sustainability. The transition of the Southern Bolivian Altiplano, from being a remote rural area of subsistence farming to a global leader in quinoa production and exportation, has been taken as a study case. Results from 18 workshops organised within different communities provide insights about a range of trade-offs between community resilience attributes and social–ecological vulnerability induced from land use changes, livestock strategies, communities’ behavioural change and institutions’ emerging policies. The main theoretical advances of the paper relate to the need for critically framing multiple threat exposures and adaptive capacity trade-offs, contributing to arguing the usually positive meaning of resilience, and taking into account “to whom or to what is positive which adaptation” and “which trade-off should be accepted, and why”. Framing adaptive pathways through these questions would serve as a tool for addressing sustainable development goals, while avoiding lock-ins or unsustainable path dependencies.     

A Simple Intervention to Reduce Framing Effects in Perceptions of Global Climate Change

This paper explores a technique for mitigating framing effects in perceptions of global climate change. People's opinions on issues ranging from same sex marriage and the environment to free speech and health care have been shown to be influenced by the way in which the issue is presented: the metaphors, images, and catchphrases that communicate implicit normative messages about the issue. The work described here synthesizes insights from experimental research on moderators of framing effects and sociological research on frame reflection. Based on this synthesis, this paper describes a test of a simple highlighting technique for focusing respondents' attention on the framing operating in political materials. Results suggest that this intervention not only can reduce the opinion-shaping impact of frames but may also reduce ideological polarization. Implications include a better understanding of the mechanisms by which frames operate, techniques for making frame reflection possible among political non-elites, and recommendations for strengthening environmental groups' public communication strategies.     

Adaptation of Iranian farmers to climate variability and change

Climate change poses serious challenges for populations whose livelihoods depend principally on natural resources. Given the increases in extreme weather events projected to adversely affect the arid and semi-arid regions of Iran, adaptation of the agricultural sector is imperative. Few studies have addressed the farmers’ adaptation in Iran, and little is known about ongoing adaptation strategies in use. Adopting principal component analysis/fuzzy logic-based method, this paper considers the agricultural adaptation to climate variability. A survey of 255 farmers of Fars Province, selected through a multistage stratified random sampling method, revealed different levels of adaptation, specifically the low, moderate and high, which are principally distinguished by various degrees of sensitivity and adaptive capacity. The study also identified the main adaptation strategies used by farmers in response to climate-related shocks. Results indicated that although a large percentage of farmers make some adjustments to their farming practices, there are significant differences in choice of adaptation strategies by the adaptation categories. Some conclusions and recommendations are offered to increase the adaptive capacity of farmers and reduce negative impacts of climate variability and change.     

Adoption and adaptation of natural resource management innovations in smallholder agriculture: reflections on key lessons and best practices

Many smallholder farmers in vulnerable areas continue to face complex challenges in adoption and adaptation of resource management and conservation strategies. Although much has been learned from diverse experiences in sustainable resource management, there is still inadequate understanding of the market, policy and institutional failures that shape and structure farmer incentives and investment decisions. The policy and institutional failures exacerbate market failures, locking smallholder resource users into a low level equilibrium that perpetuates poverty and land degradation. Improved market access that raises the returns to land and labor is often the driving force for adoption of new practices in agriculture. Market linkages, access to credit and availability of pro-poor options for beneficial conservation are critical factors in stimulating livelihood and sustainability-enhancing investments. Future interventions need to promote joint innovations that ensure farmer experimentation and adaptation of new technologies and careful consideration of market, policy and institutional factors that stimulate widespread smallholder investments. Future projects should act as ‘toolboxes’, giving essential support to farmers to devise complementary solutions based on available options. Addressing the externalities and institutional failures that prevent private and joint investments for management of agricultural landscapes will require new kinds of institutional mechanisms for empowering communities through local collective action that would ensure broad participation and equitable distributions of the gains from joint conservation investments. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Contract farming and the adoption of climate change coping and adaptation strategies in the northern region of Ghana

In climate change adaptation, contract farming can facilitate the adoption of coping and adaptation strategies, but such dynamics are less understood in the literature. This study uses primary data collected from a cross section of crop farmers in northern Ghana and a simultaneous equation systems approach to examine the links between contract farming and adoption of climate change coping and adaptation strategies. The major coping and adaptation strategies used by farmers include spraying of farms with chemicals, row planting, mixed farming, mixed cropping and crop rotation. Econometric results confirm that contract farming enhances the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies, but there is also a feedback effect on contract farming, such that farmers adopting more adaptation strategies have higher probabilities to get contract offer. This makes contract farming a viable policy instrument to consider in climate change adaptation. Furthermore, land ownership and extension services exert significant positive influence on adoption. As much as possible, coping and adaptation strategies should effectively be communicated to crop farmers. Policy-wise, development actors and successive governments in Ghana should encourage and facilitate contract or group farming, as was in the case of the National Block Farming, led by Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture.     

Evaluation of ecotourism development in rural regions of China

The current status of ecotourism in rural China was analyzed in this paper.Empirical surveys covering the whole country indicate that ecotourism in rural China has attracted a large number of tourists who,however,didn’t generate revenues that can match the number.Although the environmental quality of those rural ecotourism destinations is high with little negative impacts,several problems have already appeared,suggesting a need to monitor those areas.The current practice of interpretation in most rural ecotourism destinations did not provide environmental education opportunities to the tourists.And local communities need more effective ways to decide on the prospects of local ecotourism development by themselves.Finally,a few recommendations for improving the sustainability of ecotourism destinations were provided.