Role of capitals and capabilities in ensuring economic resilience of land conservation efforts: A case study of the grain for green project in China’s Loess Hills

The article describes how economic resilience of farming households can be measured using a composite indicator of revealed adaptive actions, and investigates how capabilities of farm households to recombine human, financial, natural and physical capitals are linked to observed economic resilience to land set-aside interventions. The land set-aside intervention known as the Grain for Green Project (GGP), which has been altering livelihoods of farming households in China’s Loess Hills since 1999, is taken as a case study. Household surveys were conducted in three V-shaped valleys and three riparian areas in Yanhe Township in northwestern China in an effort to measure household resilience and explore its’ relationship to forms of capital. A composite index of adaptive strategies that can reorganize livelihood activities under land set-aside intervention into a new economic equilibrium is crafted using an objective weighting scheme based on principal component analysis. Subsequently, a multiple regression model was utilized to examine the relationship between the composite resilience index and various indicators related to human, social, financial, natural and physical capitals. The results reveal the latent structure and internal correlations of adaptive strategies, and present quantitative evidence about the relationship between livelihood capitals and household economic resilience. The analysis shows that household resilience deteriorates when the ratio of GGP land to cultivated farmland goes above a threshold level, and revealed that interventions targeting various forms of capitals can enhance the economic resilience for households to conservation efforts.     

Socio-economics and wildlife conservation of a peri-urban national park in central Kenya

The support, perceptions, values and aspiration of the local people, especially those who neighbour protected areas is increasingly recognised as critical for long-term biodiversity conservation in many countries. As such, conservation agencies are keen to understand the linkages and interactions between wildlife conservation and socio-economics of local communities. We assessed the socio-economic, demographic factors and livelihood status of the households of communities bordering Oldoinyo Sapuk National Park in central Kenya, and evaluated their willingness to support wildlife conservation. We randomly interviewed households that neighbour the Park on a wide range of socio-economic, livelihood and demographic factors. The majority of respondents were small-scale farmers practicing crop farming and livestock keeping. Most respondents considered the Park to have great potential for the future economic development of the area, especially through ecotourism as a potential avenue to support local livelihoods.     

自然保护地社区生计转型与产业发展

良好的社区与自然保护地关系首先建立在社区生计的公平与可持续发展上。为促进社区认同、接受乃至参与自然保护地建设与管理，我国自然保护地管理逐渐重视社区利益，推动其生计转型发展与生态保护相协调。社区居民从事产业活动、进行生产经营、参与产业分工，是维持和改善生计的重要方式之一。研究采用质性内容分析方法，从不同研究视角、地理空间和政策背景的案例研究中提取自然保护地社区生计转型及其产业发展路径的内在逻辑，形成内容、激励机制、政策保障、结果、成败分析、发展对策六个核心范畴，以动因与形式、结果与原因来归纳总结前5个范畴的核心事实，根据发展对策提出自然保护地社区生计转型和产业发展原则，并结合国家公园特征和管理目标提出建议。研究表明，在社区层面协同保护与发展本质上来说是降低农户面临的自然、政策和市场风险的过程，生计可持续性和公平性双重目标可以通过产业生态化，产业部分替代或完全替代来实现。以产业发展带动生计转型具有经济、社会、文化多重效益，但其实现需要尊重本土文化，保障社区基本权利，多方参与协作，匹配和提升居民差异化能力。在国家公园体制建设中社区生计发展特别需要依托本地资源，对标市场需求，推进产业生态化，拓展传统产业功能，从自然和半自然生态系统的协同中寻求生态和文化价值向经济价值转化。     

Socioeconomic development shows positive links to the conservation efficiency of China's protected area network

While the protected area (PA) covers >15% of the planet's terrestrial land area and continues to expand, factors determining its effectiveness in conserving endangered species are being debated. We investigated the links between direct anthropogenic pressures, socioeconomic settings, and the coverage of vertebrate taxa by China's PA network, and indicated that high socioeconomic status and low levels of human pressure correlate with high species coverage, with threatened mammals more effectively conserved than reptiles or amphibians. Positive links between conservation outcomes and socioeconomic progress appear linked to local livelihood improvements triggering positive perceptions of local PAs—aided further by ecological compensation and tourism schemes introduced in wealthy areas and reinforced by continued positive conservation outcomes. Socioeconomic development of China's less developed regions might assist regional PA efficiency and achievement of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, while also addressing potential shortcomings from an insufficient past focus on socioeconomic impacts for biodiversity conservation.     

Escalating human–wildlife conflict in the Wolong Nature Reserve,China: A dynamic and paradoxical process

Human–wildlife conflict (HWC) has become a conservation focus for both protected area management and local communities in many parts of the world. The incidence and mediation of HWCs are rooted in coupled environmental and socioeconomic contexts. A systematic analysis of HWCs was undertaken in 2016 in the Wolong Nature Reserve located in Sichuan Province, southwestern China. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 201 local households to understand the occurrence of wildlife damage, the wildlife species involved, the typical losses incurred, and the mitigation measures employed. The results revealed that local HWC has increased rapidly in recent years due to effective biodiversity conservation and ecological restoration policies. Despite the widespread occurrence of HWCs, with nearly all respondents stating that they had suffered a financial loss, appropriate compensation schemes are lacking. Local respondents' expected compensation amount and style were investigated, and it was concluded that integrated compensation and community development plans are needed to mediate and resolve HWC. In particular, greater attention should be given to reduce local households' dependence on agriculture and transform local livelihood strategies to alternative economic activities not related to farming, such as ecotourism development and migrating employment.     

Conservation and human livelihoods at the crossroads: Local needs and knowledge in the management of Arabuko Sokoke Forest

Arabuko Sokoke Forest is the largest remaining single block of indigenous dry coastal tropical forest in Eastern Africa. Households within a 5 km buffer zone depend heavily on the forest for their livelihood needs, and the pressure on forest resources is on the increase. In May 2015, 109 households were interviewed on resources they obtain from the forest, in terms of the self‐reported level of monthly income. We found household income and farm size significantly positively correlated with benefits from the forest, highlighting the possible influence of household wealth in exploiting forest resources. A large proportion of households (32%) had limited knowledge of local birds, while human–bird conflict was reported by 44% of the households. While many households were keen to participate in conservation projects that maintain the forest, 44% had no knowledge of the forest management plan, and 60% of those interviewed had no idea of how forest zones were designated for particular activities. Drivers for local community participation in conservation projects appear to be sustainable income and fulfilment of basic household needs.     

Measuring the impacts of community-based grasslands management in Mongolia's Gobi

We assessed a donor-funded grassland management project designed to create both conservation and livelihood benefits in the rangelands of Mongolia's Gobi desert. The project ran from 1995 to 2006, and we used remote sensing Normalized Differential Vegetation Index data from 1982 to 2009 to compare project grazing sites to matched control sites before and after the project's implementation. We found that the productivity of project grazing sites was on average within 1% of control sites for the 20 years before the project but generated 11% more biomass on average than the control areas from 2000 to 2009. To better understand the benefits of the improved grasslands to local people, we conducted 280 household interviews, 8 focus group discussions, and 31 key informant interviews across 6 districts. We found a 12% greater median annual income as well as a range of other socioeconomic benefits for project households compared to control households in the same areas. Overall, the project generated measurable benefits to both nature and people. The key factors underlying project achievements that may be replicable by other conservation projects include the community-driven approach of the project, knowledge exchanges within and between communities inside and outside the country, a project-supported local community organizer in each district, and strong community leadership.     

保护地旅游公路的野生动物通道设计原则与技术参数

保护地以其丰富的生物多样性和优美的自然环境为生态旅游的开展提供了基础条件。近年来, 保护地的生态旅游与旅游道路建设得到了飞速发展。旅游公路的修建, 在促进经济发展的同时, 也带来了野生动物致死、基因隔离、栖息地丧失、生境破碎化等一系列生态问题。因此设立合适的野生动物通道作为一种有效方式, 成为缓解公路对野生动物负面影响的主要途径。本文基于动物通道相关研究, 提出通道设计应遵从针对性、科学性、持续有效性、可行性四条原则, 道路生态学与保护生物学相关理论、保护地管理法规与管理规划、关键物种或类群生态学特性与栖息地现状以及沿线地形地貌特征都应作为通道设置的参考依据; 并从通道建设的数量、位置、类型、尺寸、表面设计、配套设施以及后期监测等方面提出了通道建设的技术参数。为长期有效地发挥野生动物通道的生态功能, 建议制定通道建设技术规范, 细化通道技术参数, 积极开展科研监测, 以缓解道路对野生动物的影响。     

Livelihood Diversity, Food Security and Resilience among the Caiçara of Coastal Brazil

To analyze the relationships between local livelihoods and vulnerability to food insecurity, using a resilience approach, we interviewed 350 households from seven mixed-heritage Caiçara communities in Paraty, Brazil. Fishing was a livelihood activity for 70 % of the households, and the main declared activity for 16 %. Fishing was combined with other activities such as day-wage jobs, tourism, agriculture, and commerce. Livelihood activities were not homogeneously distributed among communities, and a higher proportion of fishing households were found in generalist communities. Food insecurity appeared to be transitory (and not chronic), and fishing is central to food security. Small-scale fisheries cannot be seen in isolation from the diversity of activities that make up the livelihood portfolios of coastal communities. In view of rapid change in the area, pressures from protected areas, large-scale fisheries, tourism development and economic change in general, threaten the resilience of Caiçara livelihoods, with implications for future food insecurity.     

Ecotourism and biodiversity conservation in Jozani–Chwaka Bay National Park, Zanzibar

This study is based on a study undertaken to assess how ecotourism has influenced biodiversity conservation in Jozani–Chwaka Bay National Park (JCBNP). It involved two communities surrounding the park, namely Pete and Kitogani. Field data were collected using structured questionnaires, key informant interviews and field observations. Questionnaires were administered to 76 households, whereas key informant interviews were conducted with foresters and JCBNP officials. Data analysis was undertaken using standard statistical methods. Findings from the study show that biodiversity management in the JCBNP has improved considerably after the introduction of ecotourism. The number of endemic colobus monkeys ( Piliocolobus kirkii ) and other rare species has increased. However, this achievement has been attained by restricting surrounding communities from using forest resources without providing alternative sources of livelihood. Findings also show that the benefits from ecotourism do not reach individual households, but the community as whole, in form of various social services. This has caused some resentment among the local people leading to their reluctance to reduce their direct use of ecosystem services available in the JCBNP, claiming that they cannot sustain their livelihood without such services. This has become a major source of conflict between the JCBNP and surrounding communities. Increased awareness and knowledge on biodiversity conservation would be needed for the communities surrounding the park to realize the potential and long-term benefits of ecotourism, and hence the need for their increased involvement in biodiversity management.     

Impacts of Community-based Conservation on Local Communities in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

Approaches to the management of protected areas that involve the participation of local communities are now being widely promoted. However, the impacts of such community-based conservation initiatives on local communities remain poorly defined. This research examines the socio-economic impacts of community-based conservation within the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA), Nepal, through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey with local residents, situated both within and outside the protected area. Results indicate that local communities have received a number of benefits from conservation, including improvements in access to forest resources, improved basic infrastructure such as drinking water, trails and bridges, and improvements in health, sanitation and social services. However, relatively few people (14.9%) within ACA receive direct financial income from tourism. Local communities also experience a number of costs of being involved in conservation, the most significant of which is increased crop damage by wildlife. Eighty-four percent of respondents within ACA have experienced problems of crop damage, accounting for 6% (rice) to 23% (maize) of total production. Depredation of livestock by wildlife is also experienced; mean losses per household being the equivalent of ￡3.9 (Rs. 479.70) each year. However, 66% of respondents within ACA reported that they had never experienced this problem. These results indicate that the socio-economic benefits of community-based approaches to conservation can outweigh the costs, even though the latter are significant. However, a participatory approach to management of problematic animal species will need to be developed within ACA, if conflicts between local communities and protected area management are to be avoided in future.     

Marine protected areas can be useful but are not a silver bullet for kelp conservation

Kelp forests are among the most valuable ecosystems on Earth, but they are increasingly being degraded and lost due to a range of human-related stressors, leading to recent calls for their improved management and conservation. One of the primary tools to conserve marine species and biodiversity is the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs). International commitments to protect 30% of the world's ecosystems are gaining momentum, offering a promising avenue to secure kelp forests into the Anthropocene. However, a clear understanding of the efficacy of MPAs for conserving kelp forests in a changing ocean is lacking. In this perspective, we question whether strengthened global protection will create meaningful conservation outcomes for kelp forests. We explore the benefits of MPAs for kelp conservation under a suite of different stressors, focusing on empirical evidence from protected kelp forests. We show that MPAs can be effective against some drivers of kelp loss (e.g., overgrazing, kelp harvesting), particularly when they are maintained in the long-term and enforced as no-take areas. There is also some evidence that MPAs can reduce impacts of climate change through building resilience in multi-stressor situations. However, MPAs also often fail to provide protection against ocean warming, marine heatwaves, coastal darkening, and pollution, which have emerged as dominant drivers of kelp forest loss globally. Although well-enforced MPAs should remain an important tool to protect kelp forests, successful kelp conservation will require implementing an additional suite of management solutions that target these accelerating threats.     

The Prospects for Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in Vietnam: A Look at Three Payment Schemes

Global conservation discourses and practices increasingly rely on market-based solutions to fulfill the dual objective of forest conservation and economic development. Although varied, these interventions are premised on the assumption that natural resources are most effectively managed and preserved while benefiting livelihoods if the market-incentives of a liberalised economy are correctly in place. By examining three nationally supported payment for ecosystem service (PES) schemes in Vietnam we show how insecure land tenure, high transaction costs and high opportunity costs can undermine the long-term benefits of PES programmes for local households and, hence, potentially threaten their livelihood viability. In many cases, the income from PES programmes does not reach the poor because of political and economic constraints. Local elite capture of PES benefits through the monopolization of access to forestland and existing state forestry management are identified as key problems. We argue that as PES schemes create a market for ecosystem services, such markets must be understood not simply as bald economic exchanges between ‘rational actors’ but rather as exchanges embedded in particular socio-political and historical contexts to support the sustainable use of forest resources and local livelihoods in Vietnam.     

Evaluating the role of livelihood assets in suitable livelihood strategies: Protocol for anti-poverty policy in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau,China

Although numerous studies have been conducted on the relationship between livelihood assets and strategies, only a few quantitative studies exist on the topic for anti-poverty policies with regard to the Tibetan Plateau. This study investigated 357 households in the upper reaches of the Dadu River watershed in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau, China, using the participatory rural appraisal method. Then, applying a multinomial logistic regression model, we quantitatively analyzed the relationship between livelihood assets and livelihood strategies, the findings of which have implications for local agricultural policy interventions. The preliminary results indicate that of the four classifications of livelihood strategies used in this study, the main livelihood strategy is that of the non-farming-dependent household type (i.e., Type III in our study) that combines agricultural and non-farm activities or practices self-employment for wages. There are significant differences in the livelihood assets owned by households with different livelihood strategies. Human, natural, and financial assets have significant influences on livelihood strategies, and the choice of livelihood strategy varies by livelihood assets. Further, with improvements in household labor capacity and cash income per capita, the livelihood strategies of non-agricultural and non-farming households may shift away from agriculture, while an increase in farmland cultivated per capita, cash income per capita, and household labor capacity may encourage households to adopt agriculture-dependent livelihood strategies. These findings contribute to research on livelihood and related development strategies and anti-poverty policies in not only the Eastern Tibetan Plateau but also other regions with similar livelihood strategies.     

Optimal harvesting strategies for timber and non-timber forest products in tropical ecosystems

Harvesting wild plants for non-timber forest products (NTFPs) can be ecologically sustainable–without long-term consequences to the dynamics of targeted and associated species–but it may not be economically satisfying because it fails to provide enough revenues for local people over time. In several cases, the same species can be harvested for NTFP and also logged for timber. Three decades of studies on the sustainability of NTFP harvest for local people’s livelihood have failed to successfully integrate these socio-economic and ecological factors. We apply optimal control theory to investigate optimal strategies for the combinations of non-lethal (e.g., NTFP) and lethal (e.g., timber) harvest that minimize the cost of harvesting while maximizing the benefits (revenue) that accrue to harvesters and the conservation value of harvested ecosystems. Optimal harvesting strategies include starting with non-lethal NTFP harvest and postponing lethal timber harvesting to begin after a few years. We clearly demonstrate that slow growth species have lower optimal harvesting rates, objective functional values and profits than fast growth species. However, contrary to expectation, the effect of species lifespan on optimal harvesting rates was weak suggesting that life history is a better indicator of species resilience to harvest than lifespan. Overall, lethal or nonlethal harvest rates must be <40 % to ensure optimality. This optimal rate is lower than commonly reported sustainable harvest rates for non-timber forest products.     

Maintaining customary harvesting of freshwater resources: sustainable Indigenous livelihoods in the floodplains of northern Australia

Freshwater resources underpin multiple livelihood systems around the world, particularly in highly productive tropical floodplain regions. Sustaining Indigenous people’s access to freshwater resources for customary harvesting, while developing alternative livelihood strategies can be challenging. The sustainable livelihoods approach was applied to examine the ways in which multiple livelihoods in the East Alligator River floodplain region in northern Australia influence Aboriginal people’s access to freshwater resources for customary harvesting. Interviews with Aboriginal residents were conducted to understand changes to freshwater customary harvesting practices. The dominant floodplain-based livelihoods analysed were pastoralism, biodiversity conservation and tourism and they were found to generate both opportunities and constraints for sustaining freshwater customary harvesting. Opportunities were provided through facilitating regular access to floodplain country and opportunistic access for harvesting, which assists in sustaining bio-cultural knowledge. Partnerships developed through these mainstream livelihoods built human capacity that enhanced all livelihood resource capitals (natural, human, social, financial and physical). Three key ways the dominant livelihoods constrained access to key freshwater resources were identified. Tourism required sacrificing certain hunting places and had to accommodate recreational fishing pressure. The successful recovery of the saltwater crocodile population through biodiversity conservation policy has inadvertently reduced people’s customary access to in-stream resources. Pastoralism on the floodplain had restricted traditional floodplain burning practices associated with accessing aestivating long-necked turtles, affecting access and abundance. These findings highlight the need for the development of remote Indigenous livelihood strategies to make explicit their influences on freshwater customary harvesting practices, to better support their maintenance amongst multiple, non-customary floodplain livelihoods.     

Using Social Media to Measure the Contribution of Red List Species to the Nature-Based Tourism Potential of African Protected Areas

Cultural ecosystem services are defined by people’s perception of the environment, which make them hard to quantify systematically. Methods to describe cultural benefits from ecosystems typically include resource-demanding survey techniques, which are not suitable to assess cultural ecosystem services for large areas. In this paper we explore a method to quantify cultural benefits through the enjoyment of natured-based tourism, by assessing the potential tourism attractiveness of species for each protected area in Africa using the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species. We use the number of pictures of wildlife posted on a photo sharing website as a proxy for charisma, popularity, and ease of observation, as these factors combined are assumed to determine how attractive species are for the global wildlife tourist. Based on photo counts of 2473 African animals and plants, species that seem most attractive to nature-based tourism are the Lion, African Elephant and Leopard. Combining the photo counts with species range data, African protected areas with the highest potential to attract wildlife tourists based on attractive species occurrence were Samburu National Reserve in Kenya, Mukogodo Forest Reserve located just north of Mount Kenya, and Addo Elephant National Park in South-Africa. The proposed method requires only three data sources which are freely accessible and available online, which could make the proposed index tractable for large scale quantitative ecosystem service assessments. The index directly links species presence to the tourism potential of protected areas, making the connection between nature and human benefits explicit, but excludes other important contributing factors for tourism, such as accessibility and safety. This social media based index provides a broad understanding of those species that are popular globally; in many cases these are not the species of highest conservation concern.     

Tourism and the Conservation of Critically Endangered Frogs

Protected areas are critical for the conservation of many threatened species. Despite this, many protected areas are acutely underfunded, which reduces their effectiveness significantly. Tourism is one mechanism to promote and fund conservation in protected areas, but there are few studies analyzing its tangible conservation outcomes for threatened species. This study uses the 415 IUCN critically endangered frog species to evaluate the contribution of protected area tourism revenue to conservation. Contributions were calculated for each species as the proportion of geographic range inside protected areas multiplied by the proportion of protected area revenues derived from tourism. Geographic ranges were determined from IUCN Extent of Occurrence maps. Almost 60% (239) of critically endangered frog species occur in protected areas. Higher proportions of total range are protected in Nearctic, Australasian and Afrotopical regions. Tourism contributions to protected area budgets ranged from 5–100%. These financial contributions are highest for developing countries in the Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Neotropical regions. Data for both geographic range and budget are available for 201 critically endangered frog species with proportional contributions from tourism to species protection ranging from 0.8–99%. Tourism''s financial contributions to critically endangered frog species protection are highest in the Afrotropical region. This study uses a coarse measure but at the global scale it demonstrates that tourism has significant potential to contribute to global frog conservation efforts.     

旅游与生计可视化分析

旅游发展对当地居民的生计具有重要影响,旅游与生计研究业已成为学术界关注的热点领域。以Web of science核心库中1994—2016年间收录相关主题的文献为基础,利用可视化软件Cite Space和Carrot2对旅游与生计研究的前沿热点、知识基础和合作网络进行分析。研究发现,旅游与生计研究涉及多个学科,主要集中在生态、环境、管理和地理等学科领域;"乡村旅游"、"保护区旅游"、"文化旅游"、"海洋旅游"等是旅游与生计研究的热点议题;旅游与生计研究的知识基础主要包括"保护区管治"、"成本效益分析"、"乡村旅游"、"乡村发展"等研究领域。     

农户生计与生态系统服务关系的区域差异及驱动机制——以密云水库上游流域为例

深入揭示生态系统与农户福祉之间的关系,对实现农户差异化管理及区域可持续发展具有重要意义。本研究以密云水库上游流域(包括北京市和河北省的部分区域)为研究区域,基于1754份农户调查问卷数据,通过统计计量方法对比分析了流域内北京市、河北省农户福祉水平(以家庭总收入表示)与生态系统服务依赖性(以生态系统依赖性指数表示)的关系。结果表明: 流域内京冀农户生计与生态系统的互作模式均可分为4类,但京冀两地不同模式占比差异较大。北京农户样本中,占比最高的是高福祉-低依赖模式(33.9%),农户人均年收入显著高于河北农户,农户的各项生计资本也较河北省农户高;河北农户中,不提倡的低福祉-高依赖模式仍占比39.1%,对提升农户福祉水平至关重要的人力资本素质、社会资本、金融资本等均显著低于北京农户;河北农户主要依赖农业生产收入(41.2%),对土地的开发利用程度显著较高;相对于北京农户,河北农户的自然资源条件、人力资本素质对农户生计的影响更加显著。保持适当家庭规模、不断提高劳动力教育水平、提高低收入家庭的生态补偿标准是形成农户与生态系统良好互动关系(高福祉-低依赖型)的关键因素。