建立新疆喀拉峻自然保护区的思考

喀拉峻草原被联合国专家誉为“无与伦比的世界最美草原”,是世界自然遗产《中国新疆天山》的组成部分。该地有着完整的垂直自然景观带,是天山中部北坡典型代表地段之一,是原始西天山五花草甸草原和野生珍稀动植物的基因库,建立喀拉峻自然保护区有深远的科学及生态经济价值。     

Exploring the co-benefits (and costs) of home gardening for biodiversity conservation

ABSTRACT

Despite growing evidence pointing to the multiple benefits of home gardening, few studies have considered the health and well-being benefits perceived by gardeners who are principally motivated by biodiversity conservation (i.e. home gardening for biodiversity conservation). This study explores the environmental, social and economic co-benefits (and costs) of home gardening for biodiversity conservation in the City of Winnipeg, Canada. A total of 42 semi-structured interviews (30–60?min each) were conducted with 50 home gardeners who were formally certified or locally recognised for undertaking multiple gardening activities that promote biodiversity conservation. Thematic analysis revealed that study participants self-reported a range of environmental, psychological, physiological and social outcomes associated with their home gardening experiences. Despite home gardening often being a solitary activity, most gardeners valued the multiple forms of social interaction that occurred during important social events in their garden, or when connecting with passers-by. Home gardeners also cited benefits related to connection to nature and place attachment; attention restoration; reduced stress and anxiety; improved mood; satisfaction and pride; increased self-esteem and courage to do things differently in life; and, important education or learning opportunities. However, conflicts relating to the nexus between biodiversity and perceived tidiness of gardens emerged, which raise important ethical and social justice issues for sustainability planning. We compare key insights to the benefits (and costs) of community gardening and make some recommendations for future research, including how to engage more disadvantaged groups in gardening for conservation.     

Social factors mediating human–carnivore coexistence: Understanding thematic strands influencing coexistence in Central Romania

Facilitating human–carnivore coexistence depends on the biophysical environment but also on social factors. Focusing on Central Romania, we conducted 71 semi-structured interviews to explore human–bear (Ursus arctos) coexistence. Qualitative content and discourse analysis identified three socially mediated thematic strands, which showed different ways in which perceived interactions between people, bears and the environment shape coexistence. The “landscape-bear strand” described perceptions of the way in which the landscape offers resources for the bear, while the “landscape-human strand” related to ways in which humans experience the landscape. The “management strand” related to the way bears was managed. All three strands highlight both threats and opportunities for the peaceful coexistence of people and bears. Management and policy interventions could be improved by systematically considering the possible effects of interventions on each of the three strands shaping coexistence. Future research should explore the relevance of the identified thematic strands in other settings worldwide.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0760-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Uncovering context-induced status quo effects in choice experiments

In this study five design dimensions are varied systematically investigating context-induced status quo effects in choice experiments. Additionally, two structural complexity measures, entropy and the number of attribute level changes, are used to capture status quo effects from the similarity between alternatives and the number of trade-offs. A crucial finding is that the frequency of status quo choices is negatively associated with the number of alternatives indicating preference matching effects. By contrast, the probability of choosing the status quo increases with a higher number of choice tasks, a wider level range, and the similarity between alternatives. Status quo choices are further affected by the current environmental situation perceived by respondents. We also find that marginal and non-marginal welfare estimates are significantly affected by the choice design. One key finding is that the most used choice task format in environmental economics, i.e., two hypothetical and a status quo alternative, is likely to increase the propensity to choose the status quo option.     

Wistful wilderness: communication about ‘new’ nature in the Netherlands

Based on in-depth interviews, this article presents findings of a study centred on public communication regarding Tiengemeten, a Dutch island previously occupied by farmers. An answer is sought to the question of how visitors to Tiengemeten evaluate, according to their own experiences, the discourse of people involved in Tiengemeten from a policy and communication perspective. This study showed that visitors’ experiences do not always match the emotions appealed to in public communication materials. It is also suggested that people involved from a policy and communication perspective should refrain from using ‘heavily value-laden’ phraseology. For reasons of trust, this article suggests aligning public communication with genuine experiences of visitors. This is also necessary for avoiding scepticism of visitors as policy makers and communication professionals run a risk that public communication regarding nature becomes counterproductive.     

Bordering Ecosystems: The Rhetorical Function of Characterization in Gray Wolf Management

Decisions about iconic species such as the wolf provide a key index of human–nature relations. The gray wolf's reintroduction in the USA has been controversial, particularly at the interface of state versus federal management. This essay analyzes discourse surrounding this controversy, focusing on how wolves are characterized as ecological and social actors in official correspondence and management plans. I interpret this textual evidence by drawing from social theory regarding sovereignty, discipline, and population, including studies on bordering practices imposed on humans. As with humans, bordering practices in the case of the wolf may illuminate how political forces impose physical and discursive limits upon mobile bodies motivated to move across political borders by powerful exigencies of need. The essay seeks to amplify understanding about how regimes of power enact difference from “others” whose presence strongly influences the health of ecosystems and economies.     

Balancing local interests and national conservation obligations in nature protection. The case of local management boards in Norway

In 2010, Norway introduced local management of national parks and other large protected areas. Boards comprised of local politicians are delegated extended powers in the management of the protected areas. This paper examines how this system of local management deals with the conflicting dimensions of local interests versus national obligations, and conservation versus use. The study is based on data from surveys to protected area board members and other actors involved, and on case studies in two protected areas. The main finding is that the boards, accountable to central government but comprised of politicians accountable to the local voters, aim to balance local interests and national obligations, and conservation and use. Popular involvement and anchorage is, however, weak due to lack of mobilization and transparency. Furthermore, formal restrictions hindering the boards from dealing with local economic development could make the boards less attractive for the local political leadership.     

河北省自然保护区现状调查与规划研究

在河北省自然保护区现状调查的基础上,探讨目前自然保护区建设中的主要问题,并对河北省自然保护区规划和对策进行研究。     

Combining culturomic sources to uncover trends in popularity and seasonal interest in plants

Culturomic tools enable the exploration of trends in human–nature interactions, although they entail inherent biases and necessitate careful validation. Furthermore, people may engage with nature across different culturomic data sets differently. We evaluated people's digital interest and engagement with plant species based on Wikipedia and Google data and explored the conservation implications of these temporal interest patterns. As a case study, we explored the digital footprints of the most popular plant species in Israel. We analyzed 4 years of daily page views from Hebrew Wikipedia and 10 years of daily Google search volume in Israel. We modeled popularity of plant species in these 2 data sets based on a suite of plant attributes. We further explored the seasonal trends of people's interest in each species. We found differences in how people interacted digitally with plants in Wikipedia and Google. Overall, in Google, searches for species that have utility to humans were more common, whereas in Wikipedia, plants that serve as cultural emblems received more attention. Furthermore, in Google, popular species attracted more attention over time, opposite to the trend in Wikipedia. In Google, interest in species with short bloom duration exhibited more pronounced seasonal patterns, whereas in Wikipedia, seasonality of interest increased as bloom duration increased. Together, our results suggest that people's digital interactions with nature may be inherently different depending on the sources explored, which may affect use of this information for conservation. Although culturomics holds much promise, better understanding of its underpinnings is important when translating insights into conservation actions.     

对生物入侵的认识与思考

由于全球化的生产、消费和投资模式迅速地在世界范围内得到强化和发展,世界开始迅速变成一个村落或城市。全球化不仅带来了世界政治和经济格局的变化,而且也改变了生物分布的空间格局,导致生物种群的重新分布,由此而产生的生物入侵已成为各国政府、国际社会和学术界所共同关心的全球变化问题,也是当前最棘手的三大环境问题之一。本文从生物入侵的本质、生物入侵的历史、科学技术、全球化等方面,从哲学和其它角度浅析当今的生物入侵问题,以期对生物入侵有更深的认识。