Impacts of Social Trust on Rural Households’ Attitudes towards Ecological Conservation—Example of the Giant Panda Nature Reserves in China

Understanding rural households’ conservation attitudes is crucial to achieving biodiversity conservation effectiveness, and one underlying predictor of household conservation attitudes is social trust. This study examined the impact of rural households’ social trust on their ecological protection attitudes based on 922 rural household data around 13 giant panda nature reserves in Shaanxi Province and Sichuan Province, China. The results show that: (1) Social trust has a significant positive impact on rural households’ conservation attitudes. (2) Males’ ecological conservation attitudes are influenced by all the social trust variables, whereas females’ attitudes are influenced mainly by interpersonal trust (trust in neighbors and villagers). The conservation attitudes of households with higher education levels and higher family incomes are mainly affected by trust in government, while those with lower education levels and lower family incomes are more significantly affected by the trust in villagers and village cadres. The above conclusions are helpful to understand the influencing mechanism of rural households’ conservation attitudes and improve the protection effects of nature reserves.

THE PROBLEM OF USAGE OF ELEMENTS OF NATURAL RESERVE AND MUSEUM HERITAGE IN TOURISM (ON THE EXAMPLE OF IVANO-FRANKIVSK REGION)

In terms of pandemics, tourism gained a huge loss. However, the background for a qualitatively new restoration of the branch has appeared. One of the actual scientific and practical problems is an estimation of the condition of usage of elements of natural and historical-cultural heritage in tourism in terms of probable growth of domestic tourism during quarantine. In the article was analyzed the potential of natural heritage and museums as elements of the historical-cultural heritage of the Ivano-Frankivsk region in the context of their usage in tourism and dynamics of tourism visits of these objects which testify about the existence of the number of barriers of growth. As of 26.01.2020 region`s natural reserve fund counts of 482 territories and objects of the total area of 218,9 thousand hectares which is 15.7% of the total region`s area. It can be stated that the Ivano-Frankivsk region is a popular tourist destination due to the tourist visits of the territories of the national parks. On the background of national parks visit increase, the problem of the statistic visits data collection and low park`s service commercialization because of an absence of fee collection mechanism on the whole park`s territory. Was observed uneven distribution of tourist flow in national parks. Various institutional affiliations of the natural reserve establishments and the absence of tourism branch specialists in establishments, and the fact that tourism is only one of the different branches of these establishments complicates the organization of tourism activities. The level of national park`s promotion as tourism destinations stays low. None of the nature reserves of the region has a marketing strategy to promote them in the tourism market, so the level of advertising activity of the parks is reduced to printing booklets. Park sites focus the attention of park visitors, mainly on the results of their activities, and little attention is paid to tourist information. Most sites do not have a comprehensive section for tourists with the full range of tourist services and the possibilities of the park to provide them. Excursion activities are one of the main activities of museums as elements of cultural heritage. Every year the museums of Ivano-Frankivsk region are visited by more than 400 thousand people, however, there is a negative dynamics of attendance, the vast majority of visitors (in 2017 – 277, 5 thousand people) are local students, ie not tourists. The decrease in attendance may be due to an increase in the number of non-state and other public museums, which are mainly collections of private collections (more than 210 in the region), as well as the emergence of other tourist attractions of this type. The problems of tourist use of museums as tourist objects of cultural heritage are the low promotional activity of museums, the lack of additional services for tourists and outdated, of little interest to the average tourist exhibitions, the lack of additional hospitality infrastructure. Improving museum expositions, updating existing ones and creating modern expositions – providing material and technical equipment (premises, music, multimedia centers, purchase of modern office equipment) will increase the attractiveness of museums as tourist attractions. Lack of marketing strategies, experience of cooperation with all stakeholders of the tourist process also significantly slow down the development of tourism based on the use of elements of natural and historical and cultural heritage of the studied region. Promotion of museum services in the market of tourist services – creation of an informative catalog about museums, which is periodically updated, distribution of information publications, booklets, holding various events that will promote museums, such as exhibitions, celebrations, coverage of museums in the media, organization of a series films for television, creation of museum websites and targeted advertising, involvement of educational institutions, tourism specialists in the promotion of museums. The measures proposed by the authors for more effective use of elements of natural and historical and cultural heritage in tourism can be successfully applied in other tourist destinations of environmental nature and museum institutions of the country. Keywords: nature reserves, elements of museum heritage, tourism, tourist destinations.

COVID-19 Restrictions in a Nature Reserve Reveal the Costs of Human Presence for the Threatened Nubian Ibex (Capra nubiana)

The increasing pressure of ecotourism on wildlife in their natural habitats leads many wild animals to alter their behaviors. The restrictions issued in many places due to COVID-19 provide a rare opportunity to examine wildlife behavior in nature reserves with reduced human presence, and to reveal the impact of human visitation on the behaviors and fitness of local wildlife species. In 2019 and 2020 we placed trail cameras next to two natural springs in the Israeli Negev Desert, Ein-Avdat and Ein-Shaviv, located 9 km apart. Both sites serve as the main water source for local Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) populations, but Ein-Avdat is situated within a popular national park into which visitors’ entrance was restricted due to COVID-19 regulations in 2020, while Ein-Shaviv is more remote and thus attracts only few visitors regardless of COVID-19 regulations. Our study revealed that during 2020, ibex in Ein-Avdat arrived to drink earlier in the day and the population’s Female:Kids ratio more than doubled. These changes were not observed in Ein-Shaviv. We found that the daily number of visitors in Ein-Avdat affected the arrival time of ibex to the water pool. We conclude that the reduced number of visitors to Ein-Avdat in 2020 compared to 2019 may have allowed ibex to arrive in preferred hours, and may have contributed to the increased kid-to-females ratio. Our study shows that behavioral adaptions to human visitation in nature reserves might carry a high fitness cost.

Op onvruchtbare bodem?

On barren soil? Early nature reserves of Natuurmonumenten and the Dutch landscape In 1905, Natuurmonumenten (Natural Monuments Society), a Dutch NGO for nature conservation, was founded. The society aimed to preserve some uncultivated lands, such as heathlands, fens, peat bogs but also forests, which were under threat of cultivation and reclamation. Natuurmonumenten managed to acquire a number of nature reserves in the years 1905-1940 for scientific, recreational and aesthetic reasons. In this article, this collection is analyzed and compared to the reserves of other Dutch nature conservation organizations in the same period. Although Natuurmonumenten acquired mainly barren soils, it turned out to be a fruitful start of a nature preservation organization that operated nationwide, and established a strong network within Dutch society.

THE PRACTICE OF IMMOBILIZING LARGE WILD CARNIVOROUS ANIMALS IN A NATIONAL PARK

In the conditions of the Serengeti National Park (Tanzania), female lions were immobilized in order to conduct clinical, physiological and special studies using xylazine and ketamine, and atypamezol as an antidote. The first signs of immobilization in lionesses after the use of xylazine and ketamine occur in 4.8±0.8 minutes, and the restoration of mobility after the use of the antidote – in 1.5 minutes. Depression of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems in lionesses and disorders of the general condition after the use of the above-mentioned drugs were not noted, which allows us to recommend the use of such a combination of drugs for immobilizing wild animals in national parks, nature reserves and zoos.

Quantifying the Preference of Stakeholders in the Utilization of Forest Resources

The economic contribution of forest resources to the communities surrounding nature reserves cannot be ignored. The method for which to find a forest resource utilization path to balance the contradiction between local farmers’ economic development and ecological protection in the development of nature reserves is important. However, little attention has been given to the effect of forest resource users’ behavioral preferences on forest resource utilization. This study selected Wolong Nature Reserve as a case study and randomly interviewed different stakeholders with semi-structured questionnaires to investigate the differences in forest resource utilization patterns among stakeholders with different behavioral preferences. According to the results of multi-attribute decision analysis with behavioral preference, stakeholders form different behavioral preferences by judging their own resource endowment. With a change of in the behavioral preference value λ, when the behavioral preference of stakeholders is more pessimistic (λ = 0.1), cautious (λ = 0.3), or neutral (λ = 0.5), they are more inclined to choose the economically dominant forest resource utilization mode; when the behavioral preference of stakeholders is optimistic (λ = 0.7) or even radical (λ = 0.9), they choose the eco-economic or eco-dominant forest resource utilization mode, respectively. This study confirms that stakeholders’ behavioral preferences have an important impact on forest resource utilization patterns. Therefore, policy making should focus on improving the economic benefits of forest resources and providing alternative livelihoods, which will change the resource endowment of the stakeholders of nature reserve, guide them to turn to relatively optimistic behavioral preferences, enhance their awareness and motivation of ecological protection, and thereby improve forest conservation outcomes.

Spatiotemporal Contribution of Participants in Patrolling Efforts from a Forest Station, Pu Hu Nature Reserve, Vietnam

Understanding the contributions of participants from management practices and those from the local community to protected areas (PAs) as nature reserves, is crucial for forest protection and resource conservation. Thus, empirical studies have usually investigated whether patrolling has significantly improved forest protection action. Many previous studies have exhaustively examined the contributions to forest protection by rangers or local persons, but there has been little research on the contribution of both sides to patrol efforts with separate consideration given to each. This paper explores insights into the patrol efforts in the Nam Tien forest station. The total number of patrollers, walking distances, and working days across years were significantly different between the ranger and local person patrol groups. There was a considerable variation in the number of patrollers (Z = 2.02; p < 0.01), distance (Z = 2.45; p < 0.01) and working days (Z = 2.37; p < 0.01) between rangers and local persons related to monthly patrolling. For the traditional patrols in the various PAs, it is shown that, for long-term forest protection, local persons patrolling should be considered more, in order to achieve the sustainable conservation.

Poaching of Encephalartos transvenosus, in the Limpopo Province, South Africa

There is an established link between deforestation and negative hydrological effects which may affect watersheds. The number of the cycads Encephalartos transvenosus Stapf & Burtt Davy in South Africa is drastically reducing, and they are nearly extinct. Additionally, poaching and reduction in the population of cycads in reserves may impact negatively on watersheds in protected and buffer areas since the regeneration of this plant occurs over a long period. This research aimed to study the distributions of poached cycads, evaluate the factors responsible for poaching activity and suggest possible solutions towards conservation of E. transvenosus Stapf & Burtt Davy in some of the nature reserves in Limpopo province. Field observation was used to ascertain and collect locations of poached cycads. Data was obtained through the use of a questionnaire. Questionnaires were administered to rangers for the collection of data on causes of poaching, parts poached, measures taken and challenges of rangers in the nature reserves. Processing of the collected data was done by simple statistical analysis. The total population of rangers available in the reserves was used for the determination of the sample size of rangers by Slovin’s formula. Unemployment (46%) is the leading cause for poaching in Mphaphuli Nature Reserve, while trade is a leading factor in Modjadji and Lekgalameetse (37% and 60%) respectively. Debarked cycads amount to 14 (54%) while 12 of the total (26 poached cycads) were completely removed (46%). The most effective way of stopping the poaching of cycads as perceived by the rangers is by patrolling the nature reserves. The observed poaching of Encephalartos transvenosus is alarming since this plant has a low population size which is currently confined to the Limpopo Province in South Africa only. If poaching continues in the nature reserves, all cycads have the tendency of being removed. Therefore, there is a need to continually develop strategies for the conservation of cycads. The peculiar nature and challenges of each reserve have been established and unique solutions for these nature reserves in Limpopo Province have been proposed. Better conservation of cycad species can positively impact the hydrological process of the concerned area and better help the watersheds.