Residents’ Attitudes Towards Tourism in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems Pilot Site: a Case Study in China

Abstract

Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) is a wide program to promote the conservation and adaptive management of such systems and their associated landscapes, biodiversity, knowledge systems and cultures. Rice-Fish Systems (RFS) in Longxian village of China, as a traditional agricultural system, was selected as one of the five pilot sites of GIAHS in 2005. Researchers have paid more attention to the dynamic conservation and adaptive management of RFS because it is under severe threats from global development challenges. Tourism is suggested to be brought into the RFS conservation program as an alternative industry. This paper presents a comparative study of residents in three types of farm household in Longxian, seeking attitudes to the RFS conservation and tourism development and ways in which such information may guide future strategies. Results show residents, belonging to the household type in which most family members are abroad, have the most positive attitudes to RFS conservation and tourism development; while residents, as other household type in which less than 50% of family members are abroad, are the least sensitive group in these three household types, due to the motivation of moving abroad weakening their enthusiasm to participate in the local activities. Implications are discussed in the context of how resident attitudes will affect the future management of GIAHS conservation and tourism development, and then measures are put forward to foster tourism cooperation and multistakeholders process establishment.     

污水生物处理系统中内源过程的研究进展

污水生物处理系统的内源过程涉及到一系列微生物学、生态学机制和过程,因而对处理系统的各个方面都有重要影响.然而-目前对内源过程的认识还相当有限.本文首先在总结现有知识的基础上对污水生物处理系统中的内源过程作了定义,并对其区分为细胞和群落两个水平-随后,分别对内源过程中的细胞维持、解偶联、程序化细胞死亡、饥饿状态、高等微生物捕食等过程作了综述,总结了其在污水生物处理领域的研究进展.此外.文章还概述了细胞维持能量和细胞衰减速率的测定方法及其研究进展和存在的问题.本文的目的是通过综述现有的知识,推动对污水生物处理系统中内源过程研究的进一步发展.     

Application of game theory for a groundwater conflict in Mexico

Exploitation of scarce water resources, particularly in areas of high demand, inevitably produces conflict among disparate stakeholders, each of whom may have their own set of priorities. In order to arrive at a socially acceptable compromise, the decision-makers should seek an optimal trade-off between conflicting objectives that reflect the priorities of the various stakeholders. In this study, game theory was applied to a multiobjective conflict problem for the Alto Rio Lerma Irrigation District, located in the state of Guanajuato in Mexico, where economic benefits from agricultural production should be balanced with associated negative environmental impacts. The short period of rainfall in this area, combined with high groundwater withdrawals from irrigation wells, has produced severe aquifer overdraft. In addition, current agricultural practices of applying high loads of fertilizers and pesticides have contaminated regions of the aquifer. The net economic benefit to this agricultural region in the short-term lies with increasing crop yields, which requires large pumping extractions for irrigation as well as high chemical loading. In the longer term, this can produce economic loss due to higher pumping costs (i.e., higher lift requirements), or even loss of the aquifer as a viable source of water. Negative environmental impacts include continued diminishment of groundwater quality, and declining groundwater levels in the basin, which can damage surface water systems that support environmental habitats. The two primary stakeholders or players, the farmers in the irrigation district and the community at large, must find an optimal balance between positive economic benefits and negative environmental impacts. In this paper, game theory was applied to find the optimal solution between the two conflicting objectives among 12 alternative groundwater extraction scenarios. Different attributes were used to quantify the benefits and costs of the two objectives, and, following generation of the Pareto frontier or trade-off curve, four conflict resolution methods were then applied.     

Evaluation of coastal zone sustainability: an integrated approach applied in Shanghai Municipality and Chong Ming Island

A systems approach has been applied to the examination of sustainable development in the coastal zone. This complex system is envisaged as comprising three sub-systems: environment and resources, economic development and society. A sustainability indicator system based on these three sub-systems has been set up to evaluate the nature of development in the coastal zone. The administrative regions of the Municipality of Shanghai and Chong Ming Island (in the Yangtze Estuary) have been selected as two coastal zones in which to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the approach. The approach indicated that the development process in Shanghai is one of weak sustainability with relatively rapid social and economic development at the cost of environment and resource degradation. In contrast, social and economic development in Chong Ming County has been limited to protect the regional environment and resources indicating a more sustainable approach to development.     

River environmental decision support system development for Suzhou Creek in Shanghai

The Suzhou Creek Rehabilitation Project (SCRP) is one of the largest water-related environmental rehabilitation schemes ever undertaken in the vicinity of Shanghai, China. This paper details the development and application of a River Environmental Decision Support System (REDSS) for scientific planning and decision-making on the Suzhou Creek project, and illustrates the flexibility of the REDSS framework. We developed the following components: (1) a GIS-based analysis employing Component technology; (2) a "data mart" for multi-dimensional, multi-level, integrated, dynamic, and flexible data querying; and (3) a set of hydrodynamic and water quality models which can simulate complex tidal river networks. In addition, we detail how a water quality assessment model is embedded into the REDSS by employing an Identification Index Method. With the REDSS, all GIS and non-GIS components are integrated seamlessly and data from different sources can be queried simultaneously. This allows for various scenarios to be simulated and analyzed in advance to predict and assess the effects of proposed engineering and management measures. Generated information can thus support effective decisions. All operations of the REDSS can be implemented conveniently through user-friendly interfaces. The function of the REDSS framework is demonstrated through an application to Suzhou Creek. Because the REDSS characteristics are quite general, it may be applied in different geographic regions.     

Quantitative Pollution Spill Risk Assessment: Using A Gis-Based System

Federal and State agencies have recently advocated risk-based analysis as a mechanism for advancing regulatory reform and safety determination in marine systems. the present investigation promotes this objective through the development of risk-based environmental planning strategies for oil spill contingency plans. This alternative approach to contingency planning departs from conventional methodology by employing quantitative risk assessment methods to identify hazardous oil spill zones and sensitive environmental areas, R_o and R_e respectively. the product of this conversion is referenced on a single “Risk” layer within a Geographic Information System (GIS) framework allowing coastal managers to evaluate natural resource data with associated elements of oil spill risk. As a new tool for coastal pollution management, risk-based environmental planning strategies have shown potential for evolving more efficient oil spill contingency plans.     

农业文化遗产保护目标下农户生计状况分析

农户生计是农业文化遗产认定标准之一,也是影响农业文化遗产保护与传承的关键因素,在贫困地区,遗产保护与农户脱贫的两难困境更为突出。本研究基于可持续生计理论和分析框架,以全球重要农业文化遗产地——云南红河哈尼稻作梯田为案例区域,通过生计资本指标体系构建和量化,对比分析了不同生计途径农户的生计状况。评估结果发现,农户的生计资本均值为2.312,生计资本处于匮乏状态,金融资本值最低,而文化资本值最高。从事农业和打工是当前农户的主要生计途径,旅游接待成为生计拓展的重要形式。三类农户生计资本值和家庭年均收入排序相同,都表现为旅游接待户打工兼业户纯农业户,纯农业户的生计状况最差。从单项生计资本看,旅游接待户和打工兼业户的人力资本显著高于纯农业户,物质资本和金融资本比较中,旅游接待户显著高于其他两类农户,说明人力资本越丰富的农户越可能倾向于兼业,农户开展旅游接待需要较高的物质和金融资本作为基础。这意味着,农业文化遗产保护要大力提高农户的农业经营收益,延长农业的价值链和产业链,完善农村金融市场,开展旅游接待培训,从人力、金融等多方面改善农户生计资本状况,实现生计途径拓展。     

Environmental management: A system approach

This paper presents a system framework whose purpose is to improve understanding of environmental management. By analyzing the links between elements of the environmental management system, it is possible to construct a model that aids thinking systematically about the decision-making subsystem, and other subsystems, of the entire environmental management system.Through a multidisciplinary environmental approach, each of the individual subsystems is able to adapt to threats and opportunities. The fields of government, market economics, social responsibility and ecology, for example, are so complex that it is extremely difficult to develop a framework that gives full consideration to all aspects. This paper, through the application of a highly idealized system framework, attempts to show the general relationships that exist between complex system elements.     

North East Scotland River Catchment Nitrate Loading in Relation to Agricultural Intensity

Modern agricultural practices have been strongly linked with increased NO₃-N loadings in surface waters. Nitrate leaching increases as land use progresses from forest and moorland through grassland, to arable agriculture. There are, within the UK, few studies on a regional scale capable of displaying a relationship between land cover (agricultural intensity) and water quality. This relationship can be investigated using computer manipulation of spatial geographic information together with conventional river and agricultural census data.

Simple regression analysis against primary land cover suggests that agriculture is reponsible for annual losses of nitrate in North East Scotland river catchments. Further multi-linear regression analysis, using the GIS data and agricultural census returns indicate that most of the outstanding variation can be accounted for if the agricultural variable is related to agricultural practice, such as spring, winter and grass cropping.     

A fuzzy expert system for soil characterization

As soil is a natural resource not always renewable, the risk characterization of contaminated soils is an issue of great interest. Artificial Intelligence (AI), based on Decision Support Systems (DSSs), has been developed for a wide range of applications in contaminated soil management. Decision trees have already shown to be easy to interpret and able to treat large scale applications. Fuzzy logic gives an improvement in the perturbations and the variance of the training data, due to the elasticity of fuzzy set formalism. In this study, we have developed a classificatory tool applied to characterize contaminated soil in function of human and environmental risks. Knowledge engineering for constructing the Soil Risk Characterization Decision Support System (SRC-DSS) involves three stages: knowledge acquisition, conceptual design and system implementation. A total of 26 parameters were divided into three groups to facilitate the configuration of the expert system: source attributes, transfer vector attributes, and local properties. Sixteen case studies were evaluated with the SRC-DSS. In comparison with other techniques, the results of the current study have shown that SRC-DDS is an excellent tool to classify and characterize soils according to the associated risk.