National parks south of the border

This paper appraises, in the context of the current debate concerning national parks for Scotland, factors that may have contributed to the achievement of national park purposes in England and Wales. Voluntary support, presumptions and resources are seen as crucial to the achievement of those purposes; while the few extra powers available to the national park authorities and the plan making process are seen to be of some importance. In contrast, it is argued that the much‐debated nature of the administrative authority has had little effect on the extent to which park purposes are achieved.     

Restoring naturalness to national parks

National park resource management planning requires ecological information describing the objectives to be achieved. This information must be quantitative and unambiguous. Since most acts creating United States national parks, beginning with the Yellowstone National Park Act of 1872, specify that these parks should be maintained in a natural condition, resource management objectives for each national park must be defined in terms of quantitative standards of naturalness. Such quantitative standards of naturalness do not yet exist for any national park in the United States. Although this article focuses on US national parks, the same problem exists in national parks, reserves, and wilderness areas throughout the world. The physical evidence needed to develop quantitative standards of naturalness is rapidly disappearing because of the effects of management fires, wildfires, decomposition, successional changes, and other disturbances. Therefore, a nationwide rescue ecology program is recommended to recover as much remaining ecological information as possible before it is lost. This information is essential for developing quantitative standards to restore naturalness to national parks.     

Toward Sustainable Management of National Parks in Japan: Securing Local Community and Stakeholder Participation

Japan’s national park system constitutes a potentially viable mechanism for securing local community participation and building stakeholder consensus for sustainable park management, although the potential of this system is yet to be fully maximized. This article gives an overview of the system of protecting natural resources in Japan, focusing on the national park system. Parks are managed by zoning and regulation, which is unique in that land is not “set aside” for nature conservation, but designated as national park wherever the need to preserve “scenic beauty” has been recognized, regardless of land ownership or land use. Although resource conservation under this system has been problematic, it has advantages, especially in terms of community participation. This article demonstrates that in order to reach the system’s potential, the park authority must act as coordinator of stakeholders and facilitator of bottom-up approaches to decision-making. In order to do this, steps that must be taken include the following: identifying the various stakeholders in park management and defining the “local community”; clarifying the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder; and supporting consensus-building among stakeholders regarding the objectives and long-term vision of each park. By taking these steps, it would be possible to build a park management system that overrides government boundaries and involves local communities. This will enable the park authority to address the challenges facing Japan’s complex system of conserving natural resources, and move towards sustainable management of natural resources in Japan.     

Reference Conditions of Alpine Streams: Physical Habitat and Ecology

Natural and near-natural streams are rare in the densely populated areas of the Alps. A variety of anthropogenic impacts have resulted in the alteration and sometimes even complete destruction of these systems. Nowadays it is difficult to find un-impacted streams that are strongly needed to define the natural variability and ecosystem processes. The results from freshwater inventories and habitat assessments conducted in protected areas in Austria (Nationalpark Hohe Tauern) and Italy (Naturpark Rieserferner-Ahrn) were used to develop a comprehensive typology of Alpine streams. Three different levels were used to discriminate between the distinct stream/river types: source (glacial vs. non-glacial), hierarchy (i.e. location within the stream system) and topography/ channel morphology. Important characters defining the structure and function of these stream types are gradient, substrate composition, flow pattern and riparian vegetation. Benthic fauna assemblages from 99 near-natural stream segments in glacial and non-glacial systems demonstrated the effect of glaciation on abundance levels of the total macroinvertebrate fauna, EPT taxa (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera) and the chironomid subfamily Diamesinae in different altitudes. A general decrease of abundances with increasing altitude was found. While stream segments with a degree of glaciation >10% primarily showed reduced abundances at all altitudes, lower (<10%) or no glaciation did not influence invertebrate abundances at lower reaches. Due to the near-natural conditions of the selected stream segments, a valuable definition of reference conditions of Alpine streams based on habitat characteristics is available. As a basis it offers excellent opportunities to conduct holistic interdisciplinary studies in protected areas in the future.     

郊野公园作为城市自然保留地的价值分析

城市自然保留地（urban natural reserved area）是指城市地区范围内具有一定面积的自然或近自然区域,具有保持生物多样性、乡土物种保护和保存复杂基因库等重要的生态功能。郊野公园作为城市自然保留地的重要组成,在生态、游憩、乡土植物、研究教育等方面具有重要的价值。本文分析了郊野公园在这些方面的价值,并介绍了香港的郊野公园建设,最后对郊野公园的建设提出了建议。     

Present situation of wastewater treatment in the Iranian industrial estates: Recycle and reuse as a solution for achieving goals of eco-industrial parks

Iran is located in arid and semi-arid region, which means water resource management is a strategic issue for this country. Water scarcity is one of the most critical concerns of industrial estates in Iran. For this reason, recycling and reusing of treated wastewater is the most practical solution for compensating of water shortage in industrial estates. Currently, only 20% of total treated wastewater is used for irrigation and almost 0.81% is consumed for industrial purpose. This study presents an overview on the wastewater management at the Iranian industrial estates for the purpose of achieving the goal of eco-industrial parks by describing the present situation and discussing the experiences of wastewater reuse systems for irrigation and industrial purposes. The aims of this study was to provide an overview of the wastewater management at the industrial estates in Iran towards achieving eco-industrial parks by describing present states and the outcome of wastewater consumption for irrigation and industrial purposes.     

化工园区建立OHSMS的研究与应用

在深入分析化工园区的风险特性与安全管理现状的基础上,探索新的化工园区安全管理模式;以系统的思想,探讨建立以化工园区为对象、各园区企业为相关方的职业健康安全管理体系(OHSMS),对化工园区实施系统化管理.实践表明,通过推行OHSMS,可以实现化工园区科学化、系统化、规范化、文件化的职业健康安全管理,切实提高了园区整体的...     

北方城市园林绿化出现的问题及科学绿化措施

根据城市绿化的特点和植物的功能,指出了在园林绿化中一些错误认识和不科学的绿化方式,强调应树立科学绿化观,通过严格管理、科学种养,在节约能源、资金、资源的基础上,保证园林绿化的观赏效果、生态功能和社会效益。     

Confronting the challenge of greenline parks: Limits of the traditional administrative approach

The National Park Service, like other natural resource management agencies, has adopted the traditional model of public administration, which emphasizes efficiency, effectiveness, economy, and dichotomy between politics and administration. This approach is particularly ineffective in greenline parks and increasingly inappropriate in traditional areas. In an era of ecological interdependence, relationships with other agencies and jurisdictions and with adjacent as well as noncontiguous landowners are as important as controlling visitors. Recreation managers need to develop more skill in negotiation, cooperation, coordination, and interpersonal communication if they are to preserve and protect park resources.