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Urban parks enhance residents' quality of life and health by fostering a harmonious relationship between people and nature, so effective park design needs to prioritize ecological protection, sustainable landscapes, and practical spatial structures to achieve these benefits. This study takes the typical case of urban park renovation and reconstruction—Kowloon Walled City Park—as an example to conduct research and divides the interior of the park into four types of areas: contemporary built-up area; historical relic area; natural–folk custom area; and ecological conservation area. Based on 405 valid questionnaire data for respondents, this study conducts empirical research using a combination of the Semantic Differential (SD) method, Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) model, and unordered multivariate logit choice model, comprehensively describes and analyzes individual spatial perception and preferences, and further discusses the potential factors affecting individual perception preferences. The results show that there are differences in many characteristics between different areas in Kowloon Walled City Park. At the same time, people generally prefer park areas that integrate modern and traditional elements, natural and cultural environments, and pay attention to the balance between naturalness and sociality in park design. These results provide useful information for planners, developers, and others, as well as data for designing urban park construction with higher practical value and natural benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conflict between biodiversity conservation and economic development is intense in developing countries. With the decline in biodiversity, the Chinese government imposed a 10-year fishing ban in the priority waters of the Yangtze River Basin, which resulted in many fishermen losing their livelihood. However, a compensation policy was subsequently introduced. To investigate the impact of the ban, we conducted a two-year study using balanced panel data and the PSM-DID model for 365 households in the Poyang Lake area and introduced fixed effects to discuss the impact of the Yangtze River fishing ban compensation policy on the income of returning fishermen and their choices for alternative income. We also explored the interactive effects of fishing ban compensation and other biodiversity conservation policies on their income. The results showed that the fishing ban negatively impacted the agricultural income of households but not the total household income, and the compensation somewhat subsidized the fishermen's loss of income. Moreover, this was an opportunity for farmers to adjust their livelihood strategies. These findings improve our understanding of the impact of this fishing ban and compensation policy on the household incomes of returning fishermen and their adaptive strategies for alternative income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the development of eco-industries plays a significant role in achieving the harmonious symbiosis between economic growth and environmental protection as well as enhancing the comprehensive effectiveness of ecological and economic benefits. Due to their unique nature, cooperatives may play a crucial role in facilitating the integration between farmers and the development of eco-industries. To investigate whether cooperatives possess the capacity to enhance the income-generating effects for farmers involved in eco-industries, this study selected the Crested Ibis National Nature Reserve (CINNR), a representative area for eco-industry development, as the research site. Data were gathered through face-to-face interviews, and this research empirically analyzed the impact of cooperatives on the income-generating effect of farmers using endogenous switching regression (ESR). The findings are threefold. First, cooperatives indeed enhance the income-generating effects for farmers engaged in eco-industries. Second, variables such as the distribution of agroforestry materials, premium capacity, soil quality, and status of village cadres have a positive impact on farmers joining cooperatives, whereas punishment initiatives discourage their participation. Third, for farmers who have joined cooperatives, factors such as the distribution of agroforestry materials, premium capacity, low-cost conservation initiatives, land area, status of village cadres, the proportion of labor force, technical training, soil quality, and land area positively affect their income from eco-industries. Conversely, punishment initiatives, age, and land location negatively impact their income. The results of this study provide new ideas for farmers to participate in the development of eco-industries, new evidence showing co-operatives can improve farmers' income, and new directions for coordinating conflicts between conservation and development in protected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the dual pressures of climate change and human activities, the restrictions imposed by conservation policies, along with the increasing overlap between wildlife protected areas (PAs) and community living areas, have intensified the contradictions and conflicts between PAs and surrounding communities. Effective governance of such conflicts is particularly crucial to reconciling the contradictions between conservation and development. This study takes the Mikumi–Selous areas in Tanzania, Africa, as a case study. Through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, it explores the current state of conflicts between PAs and communities in the study area and summarizes conflict governance measures. Moreover, this research focuses on identifying various factors that influence the conservation willingness and action of community residents, further validating the relationships between residents' household characteristics, conservation costs and benefits, conservation cognition, willingness, and behaviors through empirical analysis methods. The results indicate that residents' conservation cognition significantly positively impacts their conservation willingness and behaviors, while conservation willingness also positively affects their conservation behaviors. Additionally, it was found that conservation costs inhibit residents' conservation willingness and behaviors. This study primarily explores, from a community governance perspective, the participation willingness and behaviors of core stakeholders in conflict governance, emphasizing the critical role of community involvement in achieving biodiversity conservation and coordinated community development and providing a new perspective for alleviating conservation and development issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effectively guiding residents towards low-carbon behavior is an important way to reduce carbon emissions, mitigate climate change and achieve sustainable social development. We developed a dual mediator model of environmental pressure on low-carbon behavior based on Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) theory. The structural equation modelling analysis method was used to conduct an empirical test with 1557 questionnaires of urban residents from Beijing and Shanghai. The results indicate that: (1) environmental pollution intensity and social pressure intensity had a significant effect on residents’ low-carbon behavior. Social pressure was more likely to result in low-carbon behavior. (2) Perceived benefits were conducive to low-carbon behavior, whereas perceived costs inhibited low-carbon behavior. Social pressure intensity influenced low-carbon behavior by significantly acting on perceived benefits and costs, whereas environmental pollution intensity only contributed to low-carbon behavior by significantly reducing perceived costs. (3) Multi-group analysis gender, age, household size, and city of residence had significant moderating effects on the influence of environmental pollution intensity on low-carbon behavior. To promote residents’ low-carbon behavior, society should increase the dissemination of information on green, frugal, and low-carbon concepts to increase social pressure. And incentive measures should be taken to promote residents’ low-carbon behavior by relating them to interests. The results of the study are important for promoting residents’ low-carbon behavior from the perspective of social pressure and understanding the psychological changes in residents’ low-carbon behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bamboo is an important agroforestry and forest plant managed and utilized by rural communities in some countries in the Asia Pacific region, which can generate various benefits to meet social and environmental needs. In rural areas of China, as a large number of forest land management rights have been allocated to small-scale farmers, the willingness of small-scale farmers to reinvest in bamboo forest management has become a key factor for bamboo forest ecosystems to be able to sustainably supply quality ecosystem services. Therefore, it is necessary to answer the question of how to enhance small-scale farmers' willingness to reinvest in bamboo forest management in the current policy and market context. Combining the prospect theory, the mindsponge theory, the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study constructs theoretical models of perceived property rights security, perceived bamboo forest certification, government support, group decision making, risk perception, perceived value, geographic conditions, and resource endowment affecting willingness to reinvest in bamboo forest management. Based on 1090 questionnaires from a field study in Fujian, China, in 2021, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the theoretical model. The results show that, under the current policy and market environment, government support is the key to enhance small-scale farmers' willingness to reinvest in bamboo forest management, and their perception of ecological certification also has a facilitating effect on small-scale farmers' willingness to reinvest in bamboo forest management, in which risk perception plays a significant mediating role. The government can enhance small-scale farmers' willingness to reinvest in bamboo forest management by maintaining stable land property rights policies, increasing the publicity and promotion of bamboo forest certification, and enhancing information exchange among farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human–bear conflicts (HBC) impact the livelihoods and safety of local communities in underdeveloped areas and challenges local governments and wildlife conservation agencies. We conducted a systematic analysis of HBC in the Sanjiangyuan National Park, which is a core region of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. This study consisted of semi-structured interviews with 81 stakeholders in October 2020, including local families and government departments. We qualitatively assessed the dominant characteristics and causes of bear damage in the region and proposed various mitigation strategies. The results revealed that recent implementations of biodiversity conservation and ecological restoration policies have increased the number and severity of HBC. Livestock depredation, attack on humans, and house break-ins were the most common and damaging conflict types. We discuss the challenges of HBC mitigation in the region and propose possible mitigation strategies based on the results of the interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on analysis of the wetland water resources system in Beijing city, this paper established a system dynamics (SD) model for the water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) in Beijing city. Using a computer simulation of the SD model, the variation trends from 2006 to 2030 in population, economy, water supply and demand, and pressure on the water environment were derived for Beijing, from which 12 core variables of the model were chosen as the WRCC evaluation indices. Five cases were designed in this study. The results indicate that the WRCC will continue to decline annually by following the status quo (Case 1), since the water environment will have difficulty in supporting the long-term social and economic development of Beijing. The status quo of Beijing’s socioeconomic development is therefore not sustainable. In order to address this problem, five optimization cases were put forward to improve the WRCC, and the carrying capacities and trends of the cases were compared and analyzed. Under Case 5, the WRCC (0.8 in 2030) will increase by 50%, compared to that in Case 1 (0.4 in 2030), while the water supply and demand ratio will be 20% higher than the average, and the water pollution will be 35% lower than the average in 2030. According to the analysis results, in order to guarantee sustainable utilization of water resources and social economy development in Beijing, it is necessary to increase water saving policies and pollution control investment in the future. Corresponding measures will need to be taken to ensure the implementation of water saving strategies to improve the water environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]