美丽中国建设地方实践评估与展望

美丽中国建设需要各地区各部门社会各界共同推动,开展美丽中国建设地方实践是实现美丽中国建设目标的有效途径。党的十八大以来,全国各地积极开展美丽中国建设实践,全力打造美丽中国建设样本和先行区,丰富建设内涵、深化建设内容、拓展建设领域、创新实践模式、完善实践机制,取得了显著成效,形成了一批典型经验。进入新时代新征程,围绕建设人与自然和谐共生的美丽中国,需要进一步发挥各地积极性、主动性、创造性,深化美丽中国建设地方实践,坚持分区分类因地制宜,形成各美其美的美丽中国建设格局,坚持系统谋划,创新提升美丽中国建设地方实践模式,强化政策协同和宣传激励,形成各地区全社会合力共建美丽中国的良好氛围,为全面建设美丽中国提供丰富的地方实践和坚实的基础支撑。     

Rethinking the study of human–wildlife coexistence

Although coexistence with wildlife is a key goal of conservation, little is known about it or how to study it. By coexistence we mean a sustainable though dynamic state in which humans and wildlife coadapt to sharing landscapes, where human interactions with wildlife are effectively governed to ensure wildlife populations persist in socially legitimate ways that ensure tolerable risk levels. Problems that arise from current conflict-oriented framing of human–wildlife interactions include reinforcing a human–nature dichotomy as fundamentally oppositional, suggesting coexistence requires the absence of conflict, and skewing research and management toward direct negative impacts over indirect impacts and positive aspects of living with wildlife. Human behavior toward wildlife is framed as rational calculus of costs and benefits, sidelining emotional and cultural dimensions of these interactions. Coexistence is less studied due to unfamiliarity with relevant methodologies, including qualitative methods, self-reflexivity and ethical rigor, and constraints on funding and time. These challenges are illustrated with examples from fieldwork in India and Africa. We recommend a basic approach to case studies aimed at expanding the scope of inquiries into human–wildlife relations beyond studies of rational behavior and quantification of costs and benefits of wildlife to humans.