Sustainable Tourism Development Management of Local Cultural Landscapes

Nowa days, ecological and cultural tourism, especially those ancient villages and towns in China, have attracted an increasing number of tourists because of their unique cultural features. However, rapid development of tourism brings economic benefits, but results in a series of problems that threaten further tourism development and protection of ancient towns, such as over-commercialization and tourism urbanization. Taking Longmen ancient town as an example, this paper presented a sustainable way of preserving and developing resources of ancient villages and towns. First, identify cultural features and the extent of ancient villages and towns, and find the approach through which a cultural landscape zoning can be applied. Second, define a cooperative function area to release the pressure on core areas and protect their authentic cultures by extending tourism space. Third, balance tourism development with traditional industries to enhance the sustainability of community economies.     

三峡工程淹没区文物古迹的价值评估（二）

文物价值是客观的，是文物本身固有的。依据三峡工程淹没区内文物古迹的特定地位，阐明了其文物价值，不应仅从现定文物级别下定论，还应立足于三峡地区本身的历史，文化及地理背影从历史，艺术，科学等各方面去识别，评价。     

Controversial sectors in banks’ sustainability reporting

Albeit indirectly, through its lending and investing, the financial sector can contribute substantially to achieve sustainable development. One of such practices concerns investment on or financing of entities that deal with environmentally or socially sensitive transactions (gambling, tobacco, alcohol, arms, etc.). Although there is a wealth of literature on banks’ CSR and its reporting, one can count on the fingers of one hand the studies mentioning explicitly these issue. What is more, this CSR practice gets treated only cursorily in these few studies. This study focuses on the communication of information on investment and financing of firms from controversial sectors in banks’ sustainability reports. We begin by examining whether financial institutions in our sample report having such policies or not. Then, we investigate what kind of policies are reported. In addition, this study seeks to capture the influence of national culture and firm-specific characteristics (type of property, listing status and multinationality) on the reporting of such issues. Ordinal regression analysis is used to analyse the relation of these factors with such reporting. Our findings suggest that the disclosure of information on policies regarding investment on and financing of firms from controversial sectors is not widespread, and the organizations reporting policies of total exclusion of some sectors or projects on ethical grounds are few. This study may encourage more detailed analyses of the type of CSR policies examined and of their impacts. It also may be of utility to banks by raising awareness about the need to consider these issues.     

Avoiding cultural trauma: climate change and social inertia

ABSTRACT

The failure of societies to respond in a concerted, meaningful way to climate change is a core concern of the social science climate literature. Existing explanations of social inertia display little coherence. Here, a theoretical approach is suggested that integrates disparate perspectives on social inertia regarding climate change. Climate change constitutes a potential cultural trauma. The threat of cultural trauma is met with resistance and attempts to restore and maintain the status quo. Thus, efforts to avoid large-scale social changes associated with climate change constitute an effort to avoid cultural trauma, and result in social inertia regarding climate change at individual, institutional, and societal levels. Existing approaches to social inertia are reviewed. An intellectual framework utilizing the work of Pierre Bourdieu is proposed to integrate these different levels of social interaction. Social processes that maintain social order and thus avoid cultural trauma create social inertia regarding climate change.     

I will not go,I cannot go: cultural and social limitations of disaster preparedness in Asia,Africa, and Oceania

While much work has been invested in addressing the economic and technical basis of disaster preparedness, less effort has been directed towards understanding the cultural and social obstacles to and opportunities for disaster risk reduction. This paper presents local insights from five different national settings into the cultural and social contexts of disaster preparedness. In most cases, an early warning system was in place, but it failed to alert people to diverse environmental shocks. The research findings show that despite geographical and typological differences in these locations, the limitations of the systems were fairly similar. In Kenya, people received warnings, but from contradictory systems, whereas in the Philippines and on the island of Saipan, people did not understand the messages or take them seriously. In Bangladesh and Nepal, however, a deeper cultural and religious reasoning serves to explain disasters, and how to prevent them or find safety when they strike.     

Determinants of coverage in Community‐based Therapeutic Care programmes: towards a joint quantitative and qualitative analysis

One of the most important elements behind the success of Community‐based Therapeutic Care (CTC) programmes for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition has been their ability to achieve high levels of coverage. In CTC, coverage is measured using the Centric System Area Sampling (CSAS) method, which provides accurate and reliable estimates of programme coverage as well as information on the primary reasons for non‐attendance. Another important feature of CTC programmes is their use of socio‐cultural assessments to determine potential barriers to access and to develop context‐specific responses. By analysing data on non‐attendance provided by CSAS surveys, in conjunction with data from socio‐cultural assessments, it is possible to identify common factors responsible for failures in programme coverage. This paper focuses on an analysis of data from 12 CTC programmes across five African countries. It pinpoints three common factors (distance to sites, community awareness of the programme, and the way in which rejections are handled at the sites) that, together, account for approximately 75 per cent of non‐attendance.     

“A Short Burst of Inconsequential Information:” Networked Rhetorics,Avian Consciousness,and Bioegalitarianism

This essay uses the concept of “avian consciousness” to reconsider assumptions about human communication and theorize networked rhetorics. By adopting an ornithomorphic frame, I critically read Don DeLillo's The Body Artist as an exploration of overlaps between human and avian consciousness. I then argue that avian consciousness provides a richer metaphor for understanding networked rhetorics than autistic consciousness, which is an increasingly dominant trope for explaining interaction with digitally networked media. I explore how Twitter, explicitly modeled on avian communication, can be understood as circulating information in ways analogous to the contact and assembly calls of birds. The essay concludes by noting that seeing avian features in human communication diminishes the perceived gap between human and nonhuman animal, holding out hope for a more bioegalitarian relationship between species.     

Managing Indirect Environmental Impact within Local Authorities' Standardized Environmental Management Systems

Abstract

Many local authorities use standardized environmental management systems (EMSs) to improve their environmental management. These authorities often find it difficult to manage environmental impact caused by their exercise of authority i.e. indirect environmental impact (IEI) within their EMSs. Since this is connected to their core activities, it is important to understand how IEI could be more efficiently managed with respect to EMS work. The purpose for this paper is to study if and how IEI could be managed within the framework of EMS. In this study we have identified two different approaches to managing IEI. Because managing IEI is complex, it is often ignored when initiating EMSs or managed by explicitly avoid mentioning the concept. Managing IEI is seen as a matter of maturity within the organization. The paper concludes with a discussion regarding a developed definition of IEI and how management of IEI could be facilitated.     

陕西省非物质文化遗产旅游开发与生态环境影响研究

陕西省近几年谋求转型发展,致力于将旅游业转换成为陕西省新兴支柱产业,并使其成为陕西转型升级的突破口,进而打造文化旅游大省.陕西省非物质文化遗产旅游资源丰富,在竞争中独具优势,市场前景广阔.因旅游开发起步晚,关注度低,存在着一定程度的欠缺.文章通过研究陕西省非物质文化遗产旅游资源的空间分布,同时采用网络文本分析法分析游客感知,认为应更多的关注游客认知与反馈,提高游客认同感,从而提出陕西省非物质文化遗产旅游的开发模式.     

北京故宫的世界遗产资源管理与可持续发展研究

阐述了北京故宫的突出价值,并将其与世界部分同类宫殿进行对比.分析了故宫的管理现状和存在的问题,在管理机制、法律法规、技术手段、旅游开发方面提出相应的建议,为北京故宫世界遗产资源的管理和可持续发展寻找一条科学之路.