Evaluating the influence of nature connection and values on conservation attitudes at a tropical deforestation frontier

Inner phenomena, such as personal motivations for pursuing sustainability, may be critical levers for improving conservation outcomes. Most conservation research and policies, however, focus on external phenomena (e.g., ecological change or economic processes). We explored the factors shaping 9 conservation attitudes toward forest and wildlife protection among colonist farmers around an Amazonian deforestation frontier. Our data comprised 241 face-to-face quantitative surveys, complemented with qualitative insights from open-ended questionnaire responses and opportunistic semistructured interviews. To account for the full spectrum of possible inner motivations, we employed measures of nature connection (indicating biospheric motivation) and personal values organized around the traditionalism (traditionalist through to high openness to change) and universalism dimensions (egoistic through to altruistic motivations). We used averaged beta-binomial generalized linear models to assess the role of external factors (socioeconomic, sociodemographic, and environmental) and personal (inner) motivations on the variation in attitudes. Each attitude was modeled separately. The relative importance of each predictor was judged by the proportion of models where it appeared as significant. Proconservation views were expressed by the majority (at least 65%) of the respondents in 7 out of the 9 attitude models. The most consistent predictors were emotional nature connection and personal values (significant in 4–6 out of 9 models), rather than external phenomena (significant in 0–5 models). However, the poorest farmers had lower scores on the agreement with prioritizing nature over development (𝛽 = –0.52, 95% CI: –0.96 to –0.07). Qualitative data also indicated that economic barriers hinder forest conservation on farms. These results suggest that biospheric, traditionalistic, and altruistic motivations promote people's proconservation attitudes, but nurturing these latent motivations is unlikely to improve conservation outcomes if material poverty remains unaddressed. Integrating the inner–outer perspective into conservation thinking and practical interventions could foster environmental stewardship and increase human well-being.     

经济发达地区城市灾害综合应对能力评价分析——以珠江三角洲城市为例

以我国经济发达的珠江三角洲经济区城市作为研究对象,构建了城市自然灾害综合应对能力评价指标体系,在实证测算研究的基础上,对经济快速发展过程中珠三角城市自然灾害应对能力的时空演变规律、协调度特征等进行了分析和研究,对综合评价城市灾害管理水平具有一定的理论和实践意义。     

中国自然保护区类型划分标准的研究

在总结国内外有关自然保护区类型划分研究进展的基础上,根据我国自然保护区建设和管理的实际状况,提出我国自然保护区类型划分的基本原则。并据此原则,研究制定了我国自然保护区类型划分的标准。该标准将中国自然保护区定义和划分为3个类别9个类型。即：1．自然生态系统类自然保护区,包括森林、草原与草甸、荒漠、内陆湿地和水域、海洋与海岸等5个生态系统类型;2。野生生物类自然保护区,包括野生动物和野生植物两个类型;3．自然遗迹类自然保护区,包括地质遗迹和古生物遗迹两个类型。同时,还对其分类体系结构、自然保护区范畴以及本标准的可行性等有关问题作了详细的阐述和讨论。     

Striking a Balance between Biodiversity Conservation and Socioeconomic Viability in the Design of Marine Protected Areas

Abstract: The establishment of marine protected areas is often viewed as a conflict between conservation and fishing. We considered consumptive and nonconsumptive interests of multiple stakeholders (i.e., fishers, scuba divers, conservationists, managers, scientists) in the systematic design of a network of marine protected areas along California's central coast in the context of the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative. With advice from managers, administrators, and scientists, a representative group of stakeholders defined biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic goals that accommodated social needs and conserved marine ecosystems, consistent with legal requirements. To satisfy biodiversity goals, we targeted 11 marine habitats across 5 depth zones, areas of high species diversity, and areas containing species of special status. We minimized adverse socioeconomic impacts by minimizing negative effects on fishers. We included fine‐scale fishing data from the recreational and commercial fishing sectors across 24 fisheries. Protected areas designed with consideration of commercial and recreational fisheries reduced potential impact to the fisheries approximately 21% more than protected areas designed without consideration of fishing effort and resulted in a small increase in the total area protected (approximately 3.4%). We incorporated confidential fishing data without revealing the identity of specific fisheries or individual fishing grounds. We sited a portion of the protected areas near land parks, marine laboratories, and scientific monitoring sites to address nonconsumptive socioeconomic goals. Our results show that a stakeholder‐driven design process can use systematic conservation‐planning methods to successfully produce options for network design that satisfy multiple conservation and socioeconomic objectives. Marine protected areas that incorporate multiple stakeholder interests without compromising biodiversity conservation goals are more likely to protect marine ecosystems.     

Meta-analysis of human connection to nature and proenvironmental behavior

Understanding what drives environmentally protective or destructive behavior is important to the design and implementation of effective public policies to encourage people's engagement in proenvironmental behavior (PEB). Research shows that a connection to nature is associated with greater engagement in PEB. However, the variety of instruments and methods used in these studies poses a major barrier to integrating research findings. We conducted a meta-analysis of the relationship between connection to nature and PEB. We identified studies through a systematic review of the literature and used Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software to analyze the results from 37 samples (n = 13,237) and to test for moderators. A random-effects model demonstrated a positive and significant association between connection to nature and PEB (r = 0.42, 95% CI 0.36, 0.47, p < 0.001). People who are more connected to nature reported greater engagement in PEB. Standard tests indicated little effect of publication bias in the sample. There was significant heterogeneity among the samples. Univariate categorical analyses showed that the scales used to measure connection to nature and PEB were significant moderators and explained the majority of the between-study variance. The geographic location of a study, age of participants, and the percentage of females in a study were not significant moderators. We found that a deeper connection to nature may partially explain why some people behave more proenvironmentally than others and that the relationship is ubiquitous. Facilitating a stronger connection to nature may result in greater engagement in PEB and conservation, although more longitudinal studies with randomized experiments are required to demonstrate causation.     

山东省省级自然保护区人类活动遥感监测与评价

基于2018年高分系列遥感影像数据,提取山东省省级自然保护区人类土地利用活动信息,探讨人类活动对山东省省级自然保护区的影响。结果表明,自然保护区人类活动总面积占保护区总面积的22.2%,人类活动影响指数介于0~0.01368。不同类型的自然保护区人类活动面积不同,主要影响因子差异明显,森林生态类保护区以农业用地为主,内陆湿地类保护区以养殖场为主。内陆湿地类保护区是受到人类干扰程度最为严重的保护区类型,野生动物类保护区受到人类影响最小。     

豫东黄河故道湿地鸟类自然保护区现状调查及生态保护规划

对豫东黄河故道湿地鸟类自然保护区现状进行了调查,并提出了生态保护规划。     

准噶尔盆地南缘活化沙丘植被自然恢复初探——以梭梭、白梭梭为例

古尔班通古特沙漠边缘植被破坏严重,沙丘活化明显,是新疆干旱区植被恢复的重点地区之一,一般缺乏地表水补充,其沙丘的水分状况便成为植被生存和恢复过程的关键条件。为掌握古尔班通古特沙漠边缘活化沙丘水分状况,并在其上恢复自然植被,对植物生长期内沙丘水分进行连续监测,并采用当地采集的梭梭、白梭梭种子进行植被恢复实验,结果表明:活化沙丘表层存在干沙层,沙丘中部和下部存在稳定湿沙层,处在距沙丘表面60 cm以下,且厚度超过100 cm,具备植被自然恢复的基础,干沙层的形成速率和风蚀是制约活化沙丘植被自然恢复的决定因素。     

Spatial Economic–Hydroecological Modelling and Evaluation of Land Use Impacts in the Vecht Wetlands Area

Wetlands provide many important goods and services to human societies, and generate nonuse values as well. Wetlands are also very sensitive ecosystems that are subject to much stress from human activities. Reducing the stress on wetlands requires a spatial matching between physical planning, hydrological and ecological processes, and economic activities. Spatially integrated modelling and evaluation can support this. The present study has developed a triple layer model that integrates information and concepts from social and natural sciences to address the analysis and evaluation of land-use scenarios for a wetlands area in the Netherlands, the Vecht area. This is the floodplain of river Vecht, located in the centre of the Netherlands. The study has resulted in a set of linked spatial hydrological, ecological and economic models, formulated at the level of grids and polders. The main activities incorporated in the system of models are housing, infrastructure, agriculture, recreation and nature conservation. The formulation of alternative development scenarios is dominated by land use and land cover options that are consistent with the stimulation of agriculture, nature or recreation. Two aggregate performance indicators have been constructed from model output, namely net present value of changes and environmental quality. The spatial characteristics of these indicators are retained in a spatial evaluation that ranks scenarios.     

A Property Rights Approach to Understanding Human Displacement from Protected Areas: the Case of Marine Protected Areas

Abstract:  The physical, economic, and sociocultural displacement of local peoples from protected areas generates intense discussion among scholars and policy makers. To foster greater precision and clarity in these discussions, we used a conceptual framework from the political economy literature to examine different forms of human displacement from protected areas. Using marine protected areas (MPAs) to ground our analysis, we characterized the 5 types of property rights that are reallocated (lost, secured, and gained) through the establishment of protected areas. All forms of MPA "displacement" involve reallocation of property rights, but the specific types and bundles of rights lost, secured, and gained dramatically shape the magnitude, extent, and equity of MPA impacts—positive and negative—on governance, economic well-being, health, education, social capital, and culture. The impacts of reallocating rights to MPA resources vary within and among social groups, inducing changes in society, in patterns of resource use, and in the environment. To create more environmentally sustainable and socially just conservation practice, a critical next step in conservation social science research is to document and explain variation in the social impacts of protected areas.