Measuring Protected‐Area Isolation and Correlations of Isolation with Land‐Use Intensity and Protection Status

Abstract: Protected areas cover over 12% of the terrestrial surface of Earth, and yet many fail to protect species and ecological processes as originally envisioned. Results of recent studies suggest that a critical reason for this failure is an increasing contrast between the protected lands and the surrounding matrix of often highly altered land cover. We measured the isolation of 114 protected areas distributed worldwide by comparing vegetation‐cover heterogeneity inside protected areas with heterogeneity outside the protected areas. We quantified heterogeneity as the contagion of greenness on the basis of NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) values, for which a higher value of contagion indicates less heterogeneous land cover. We then measured isolation as the difference between mean contagion inside the protected area and mean contagion in 3 buffer areas of increasing distance from the protected‐area border. The isolation of protected areas was significantly positive in 110 of the 114 areas, indicating that vegetation cover was consistently more heterogeneous 10–20 km outside protected areas than inside their borders. Unlike previous researchers, we found that protected areas in which low levels of human activity are allowed were more isolated than areas in which high levels are allowed. Our method is a novel way to assess the isolation of protected areas in different environmental contexts and regions.     

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.     

风景区环境噪声的模糊综合评价

通过对城市风景旅游公园内各不同功能的景点区进行环境噪声实测和对游人进行主观反应调查,运用模糊数学的原理,对公园环境噪声进行综合评价。在目前尚未对城市风景旅游公园建立专门的噪声标准的情况下,这一评价方法对正确评估城市风景旅游公园的声环境质量有积极的实用意义。     

国家公园领域财政事权划分改革研究

随着自然保护地的整合优化和财政体制改革的深入推进,对国家公园领域财政事权和支出责任进行明确划分、界定,对于建立健全国家公园领域资金保障机制具有重要意义,有助于建立政府间权责明晰、协同有序的国家公园治理体系。本文在梳理我国国家公园领域财政事权清单、分析财政支出责任划分现状及存在问题的基础上,根据中央有关国家公园事权的文件以及部门机构职责、中央和地方财政关系的制度特点,提出我国国家公园领域政府间财政事权和支出责任划分的总体思路与政策建议,为建立以国家公园为主体的自然保护地体系提供决策参考。     

Planning for environmental justice in an urban national park

Urban national parks were designed in the 1970s to bring nature and recreational opportunities to socio-economically disadvantaged communities in the USA. Using the theoretical frame of environmental justice, this paper discusses findings of a recent survey of visitors to Los Angeles' Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area – the United States' largest urban national park. Findings show park visitors were predominantly white, affluent, and lived nearby. People of colour travelled further, were significantly less likely to be return visitors, and were less inclined to use the park for active recreation. Seemingly, this park fails to meet the needs of the disadvantaged urban communities for whom it was created, a problem that may also affect other parks in the United States and potentially parks in other countries. Park planners and managers can take practical steps to increase accessibility to this park for people of colour and low-income earners, and should monitor other parks for patterns of ethno-racially differentiated access and utilisation.     

Natural Resource Assessment: An Approach to Science Based Planning in National Parks

We conducted a natural resource assessment at two national parks, New River Gorge National River and Shenandoah National Park, to help meet the goals of the Natural Resource Challenge—a program to help strengthen natural resource management at national parks. We met this challenge by synthesizing and interpreting natural resource information for planning purposes and we identified information gaps and natural significance of resources. We identified a variety of natural resources at both parks as being globally and/or nationally significant, including large expanses of unfragmented, mixed-mesophytic forests that qualify for wilderness protection, rare plant communities, diverse assemblages of neotropical migratory birds and salamanders, and outstanding aquatic recreational resources. In addition, these parks function, in part, as ecological reserves for plants in and wildlife. With these significant natural resources in mind, we also developed a suite of natural resource management recommendations in light of increasing threats from within and outside park boundaries. We hope that our approach can provide a blueprint for natural resource conservation at publically owned lands.     

Strategies for sustainable development of industrial park in Ulsan,South Korea—From spontaneous evolution to systematic expansion of industrial symbiosis

The Korea National Cleaner Production Center (KNCPC) affiliated to the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH) has started a 15 year, 3-phase EIP master plan with the support of Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Energy (MOCIE). A total of 6 industrial parks, including industrial parks in Ulsan city, known as the industrial capital of South Korea, are planning projects to find the feasibility of shifting existing industrial parks to eco-industrial parks. The basic survey shows that Ulsan industrial complex has been continuously evolving from conventional industrial complexes to eco-industrial parks by spontaneous industrial symbiosis. This paper describes the Korean national policies and the developmental activities of this vision to drive the global trend of innovation for converting the existing industrial parks to eco-industrial parks through inter-industry waste, energy, and material exchange in Ulsan Industrial complexes. In addition, the primary and supportive components of the Ulsan EIP pilot project, which will be implemented for 5 years is elaborated with its schedules and economic benefits.