Water Resource Management in Botswana: Balancing Sustainability and Economic Development*

Botswana is a rapidly developing country in southern Africa. Over the last three decades, diamond mining and tourism have provided double-digit rates of economic growth. Yet most of Botswana’s land is in the Kalahari desert where the climate is subject to sustained periods of severe drought. In this environment, water resources are the most crucial of all environmental resources. Water use directly affects economic development because water utilization impacts all the major national economic sectors. A sustainable water use resource management plan must stretch several decades into the future to assure the availability of adequate supplies of water to future generations while not compromising the ability of the current generation to reasonable rates of economic development. Yet thinking about sustainability is present in Botswana water policy mostly only in rhetoric. A series of cultural traditions and political constraints, coupled with bureaucratic managerial weaknesses, serve to maintain a system of water allocation that is unsustainable in the long run and inefficient in the short-term. Unless sustainable water use patterns are adopted, the results for the short-term, as well as the long-term, will be devastating. Drawing on data obtained through a series of interviews with government officials, leaders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and water resource researchers, this paper explores water policy in Botswana within the larger context of sustainable natural resource management practice and the pressures of economic development. This research was partially funded under U.S. Department of State, College and University Affiliations Grant # ASCS-1095.     

长江三角洲城市旅游与城市发展协调性及影响因素

城市旅游业作为城市服务业的重要部门,是推动城市发展的后续动力。运用信息熵赋权法和TOPSIS法相结合,从经济水平、社会发展、公共交通、城市绿化、环境保护、旅游发展6个方面对长江三角洲2003年和2008年的城市旅游与城市发展的协调性进行分析,借助ArcGIS软件的空间聚类法分析了城市旅游与城市发展协调水平的空间格局及演变,最后探讨影响因素。结果表明:长江三角洲16城市的城市旅游协调水平在研究期间相对稳定,具体可被划分为4个等级,第一、二等级城市数量较少,得分显著高于第三、四等级城市。城市旅游协调水平空间上存在较大差异,北部城市得分高于南部城市,基本格局保持稳定,呈现以上海、南京、杭州三个城市为核心向外围边缘城市的空间衰减。产业发展、城市旅游发展模式、城市旅游重大项目投资、区位条件是长江三角洲城市旅游协调水平产生空间分化的主要影响因素,可制定以城市旅游发展为手段的方式推动城市发展,促进区域均衡发展。     

国外气候变化对旅游业影响的定量研究进展与启示

加强气候变化对旅游业影响的定量研究,有助于旅游业在气候变化背景下实现可持续发展。基于SCI/SSCI文献数据库,梳理分析国外气候变化对旅游业影响的定量研究进展。结果显示,30余年来国外主要采用指标方法、需求模型与选择分析方法开展相关研究。20世纪80年代末出现的指标方法是运用最早、最广泛的方法,主要用于旅游资源环境变化等研究,呈现由单项指标转向综合指标的应用趋势;20世纪90年代末兴起的需求模型主要用于天气状况对旅游需求的影响等研究,呈现由时间序列模型转向累计需求模型的应用趋势;21世纪兴起的选择分析主要用于气候变化背景下的行为意愿等研究,呈现由描述统计转向离散选择模型的应用趋势。这些给我国研究的启示是：在研究方法与研究领域上,重点加强累计需求模型在旅游流相关研究中的运用,加强离散选择模型在旅游市场结构相关研究中的运用,加强系统科学方法与大数据技术在相关研究中的运用;在研究对象上,丰富中国境内气候敏感型旅游活动的相关研究,加强“一带一路”沿线国家、地区及青藏高原的相关研究。     

Introduction: Natural Capital, Poverty and Development

Can development occur without running down natural resources in an unsustainable way? The concept of natural capital offers a way for those with divergent views (ecologists and economists for example) to discuss this difficult question. Four aspects are examined in detail. First, the role of institutions in facilitating sustainable development is discussed, with examples from forestry. Then examples from (eco)tourism illustrate the potential – and limits – of applicability of the concept. Measurement issues for natural capital are then considered in detail. Finally, the concept is applied to agricultural strategy in fragile lands, where the tradeoff between the environment and development is likely to be most severe. Some implications for future research and policy are developed.     

Assessing Tourists' Preferences for Recreational and Environmental Management Programs Central to the Sustainable Development of a Tourism Area in the Dominican Republic

The main goals of this paper are to (1) highlight the need for sustainable development as a means to conserve natural resources and the environment, which often represent the basis for tourism development, (2) illustrate the importance of assessing tourists' preferences when designing programs and policies central to the sustainable development of a tourism area, and (3) study tourists' interests in sustainable development. With these goals in mind, 180 tourists from Europe, Latin America, and North America were interviewed as they were leaving the resort region of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. The main factors that they considered when deciding where to go on a beach vacation were evaluated, as well as their preferences regarding four programs designed to improve recreational and environmental management of the area. Preferences by tourists were elicited both in monetary and non-monetary terms. This paper reports the non-monetary analysis of the data. The results indicate that clean ocean water and beaches, quality of services, and price are the most important factors considered by the respondents before deciding to come to Punta Cana. It was not possible to obtain reliable responses on how tourists perceived the four programs contributing to the sustainable development of Punta Cana. Nevertheless, they expressed high interest and willingness to pay for two of these programs: the outdoor aquarium and the Water Management Program. The results reported in this paper show how important it is to elicit tourists' preferences of programs central to the sustainable development of tourism areas since these preferences can drive managers' development decisions in more sustainable directions.     

Ecotourism Model and Benefits of Periphery Regions in Western Sichuan Province

There are many problems in the minority regions of western Sichuan Province, such as serious soil erosion, fragile ecological environment, low levels of economy and so on. Ad-vantages of tourism resources in the "periphery regions" should be fully utilized, and "multi-tourism" meets the characteristics and present situation of the minority regions. The "multi-tourism de-velopment model" can exert the functions of tourism as the key industry. Based on the demands and the internal linkages among different industries, the model can accelerate the development of related-industries, such as eco-agriculture, eco-industry and so on. Through implementing the multi-tourism model, we can fully utilize the advantages of the periphery regions and promote the sustainable development of regional economy.     

旅游业推行清洁生产与可持续旅游发展

本文尝试将清洁生产的理论与方法导入旅游业 ,探讨了旅游业清洁生产的概念、必要性、内容和模式 ,进而就旅游业清洁生产与可持续旅游发展的关系及清洁生产的实施途径进行了探讨     

Perceived Impacts of Ecotourism on Environmental Learning and Conservation: Turtle Watching as a Case Study

Using a case study, involving turtle-based ecotourism, we explore the role of ecotourism in promoting environmental learning and in sustaining conservation of nature. Mon Repos Conservation Park (an important marine turtle rookery involved in ecotourism) in Queensland, Australia, was selected for this study and visitors were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The reported on-site experiences of respondents are analysed to identify important factors that alter their stated conservation attitudes and behaviours. The impact of these factors (such as the amount of environmental education that respondents claimed they obtained, sighting of sea turtles, nationality) is quantified using regression analyses. There has been little previous quantification of such influences. The study reveals that a considerable amount of environmental knowledge is gained by visitors to Mon Repos. The ecotourism experience, involving environmental education and seeing of turtles, was found to have positive and statistically significant impacts on the visitors' stated desire and intended behaviour to protect sea turtles. The study reveals the importance of learning and the interaction of tourists with wildlife as a contributor to their pro-conservation sentiments and actions. It shows how ecotourism can support nature conservation. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

上海都市旅游业与现代服务业互动机制研究

以现代服务业与都市旅游业的相关性做为切入点,以上海为例,结合都市旅游的产品体系,分析了都市旅游业对现代服务业的动力作用,运用迈克尔.波特的“钻石体系”理论和相关产业族群理论,分析了现代服务业对都市旅游业的支援作用,提出了旅游业与现代服务业从产业融合到空间融合作用机理,然后从建立现代服务业集聚区、培育现代服务集团、培养复合型服务人才、加快现代服务业的支持政策等方面提出发挥旅游业与现代服务业互动作用的具体措施与思路。     

南岭山区传统聚落景观资源及其旅游开发研究

南岭山区的乡村传统聚落,经特定历史地理环境的演进和发展,以其特有的景观美学价值、鲜明的地域文化特色和科学实用价值的完美结合,而成为极为珍贵的历史文化遗产。由于古代南岭山区复杂地理环境的隔绝机制和移民们一直恪守着祖宗留下的遗风,其聚落景观至今得以大量保存而成为极富开发价值的 旅游资源。为促进南岭山区21世纪社会经济的快速发展,应将这一丰富的旅游资源的开发利用和保护列入议事日程。但必须深入调查研究,并坚持突出重点,择优开发;因地制宜,突出地域文化特色;旅游开发与乡村社会经济发展协调;保护与利用并重等开发原则。