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This study offers new insights into the largest threats to natural and mixed World Heritage sites in developed countries as considered by their management. In addition to this, the capacity of the management to deal with threats is examined. An Ordered Probit model is used that distinguishes three groups of threats and four categories of adaptive capacity of the management. Data originate from the 2014 UNESCO Periodic Report II for sites in economically advanced countries (Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea) linked to the World Heritage Site database. Estimation results reveal that the probability of a major threat to World Heritage sites is perceived to be highest in the category of climate change and extreme weather events, followed by local conditions affecting the physical structure (temperature, rain, dust). Sites in tropical climates are perceived as significantly more threatened, as are those earlier listed as in danger. The likelihood of perceiving a major threat is highest in Turkey, Italy, Norway and North America. Threats related to climate change are those the management has the lowest capacity to deal with when other important aspects are controlled for. Large and natural areas have a higher perceived administrative capacity to deal with threats than others.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is associated with venous vascular dysfunction below the level of injury, resulting in dysregulation of tissue fluid homeostasis in afflicted skin. The purpose of this study was to determine whether loss of neuronal control in chronic SCI also affects the skin lymphatic system. Morphology of lymphatics was characterized by immunohistochemistry and lymphatic gene expression profiles determined by DNA microarray analysis. In SCI, skin lymphatic function appeared to be impaired, because the ratio of functionally dilated versus collapsed lymphatic vessels was decreased 10-fold compared with control. Consequently, the average lumen area of lymphatic vessels was almost halved, possibly due to the known impaired connective tissue integrity of SCI skin. In fact, collagenases were found to be overexpressed in SCI skin, and dermal collagen structure was impaired. Molecular profiling also suggested an SCI-specific phenotype of increased connective tissue turnover and decreased lymphatic contractility. The total number of lymphatic vessels in SCI skin, however, was doubled, pointing to enhanced lymphangiogenesis. In conclusion, these data show, for the first time, that lymphatic function and development in human skin are under neuronal control. Because peripheral venous and lymphatic vascular defects are associated with disturbed fluid homeostasis, inappropriate wound healing reactions, and impaired skin immunity, they might contribute to the predisposition of afflicted individuals to pressure ulcer formation and wound healing disorders.

PurposeThis article examines the nature of service provision in the platform-based collaborative economy from the perspective of entrepreneurship theories. It departs from a knowledge gap about the individual and contextual determinants of service provision through digital platforms. By exploring these determinants for the service provision in two main sectors of the collaborative economy, transportation and accommodation, the study provides a first conceptual introduction of these activities and their nature for the existing entrepreneurship research.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based upon Eurobarometer microdata (2018), covering 28 European countries with about 27,000 observations, and uses a seemingly unrelated Probit model.FindingsThe likelihood of service provision through platforms in the collaborative economy is highest for individuals aged 25–34 years but decreases continuously with age. Occupation, sex and population density of the place of residence are other relevant determinants. By contrast, the regulatory system and GDP per capita of the region are not relevant.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings illuminate the under-studied individual and contextual determinants related to individuals engaging with entrepreneurial activities in the collaborative economy. Future research should investigate the role of previous self-employment, skills and spatial context.Practical implicationsThe collaborative economy is still a marginal sector in Europe that is likely to grow bigger. Particularly the young, highly educated entrepreneurial persons located in urban regions may spur this expected growth. Supporting policy measures aimed at this social stratum might foster digital entrepreneurship and contribute to growth in the digital economy.Originality/valueBy exploring the individual and contextual determinants for the service provision in the two main sectors of the platform-based collaborative economy, transportation and accommodation, the study provides a first conceptual introduction of these activities and their nature into existing entrepreneurship research.

This study investigates empirically how natural snow depth and permanent snow affect the number of new second homes in Norway. One out of four Norwegian municipalities is partly covered by glaciers and permanent snow. In the winter seasons of 1983–2020, there is a decline in snow depth from 50 to 35 cm on average (based on 41 popular second-home areas in the mountains). Results of the fixed effects Poisson estimator with spatial elements show that there is a significant and positive relationship between natural snow depth in the municipality and the number of second homes started. There is also a significant and negative relationship between the number of new second homes in the municipality and a scarcity of snow in the surrounding municipalities. However, the magnitude of both effects is small. Estimates also show a strong positive relationship between the proportion of surface covered by permanent snow or glaciers in the municipality and new second homes. This implies that a decline in permanent snow and glaciers may make these areas less attractive for the location of second homes.

Integrated landscape approaches (ILA) aim to reconcile multiple, often competing, interests across agriculture, nature conservation, and other land uses. Recognized ILA design principles provide guidance for implementation, yet application remains challenging, and a strong performance evidence-base is yet to be formed. Through a critical literature review and focus group discussions with practitioners, we identified considerable diversity of ILA in actors, temporal, and spatial scales, inter alia. This diversity hampers learning from and steering ILA because of the intractable nature of the concept. Therefore, we developed a tool—an ‘ILA mixing board’—to structure the complexity of ILA into selectable and scalable attributes in a replicable way to allow planning, diagnosing, and comparing ILA. The ILA mixing board tool presents seven qualifiers, each representing a key attribute of ILA design and performance (for example, project flexibility, inclusiveness of the dialogue, and the centrality of the power distribution). Each qualifier has five (non-normative) outcome indicators that can be registered as present or absent. This process in turn guides planners, evaluators and other participating stakeholders involved in landscape management to diagnose the ILA type, or its performance. We apply the ILA mixing board to three ILA cases in Nicaragua, Madagascar, and the Congo Basin to show some of the many possible configurations of qualifiers on the mixing board. Further application of the tool would allow comparative analysis of the complexity of ILA in a structured and manageable way thereby enhancing the understanding of ILA performance and informing the development of evidence-based land use policy., Environmental Science & Policy, 147, ISSN:1462-9011, ISSN:1873-6416

Due to their remoteness or boundless nature, activities at Natural Heritage Sites are difficult to monitor. In this study, two digital measures of the interest in Natural Word Heritage Sites are compared: one ex ante based on the number of Wikipedia page views of the site and another ex post derived from actual visitation as measured by the number of Instagram posts. The entire UNESCO database, which includes 248 Natural World Heritage Sites is linked to the 2.8 million Wikipedia page views, the 58 million Instagram posts and the Köppen extreme climate zone categories. Quantile regressions reveal that the main association in common for the two indicators is the risk of the site losing its inscription. Presence in the UNESCO Danger list is associated with reduced interest in a site, particularly in the number of Instagram posts and in the top quartile of Wikipedia views. Years since inscription is also an important explanatory variable, especially for the Instagram posts and the Wikipedia views in the top quartile. The UNESCO selection criterion of outstanding beauty only relates to the Instagram posts. Climate zone is mainly linked to the ex post variable and its upper quartile, where the sites with the most attention are found. Wikipedia views are also negatively associated with sites in Africa, the Arab countries and Latin America. Elevation, size of the area as well as kind of site are all variables not significant. There is a significant correlation between the two outcome variables with a coefficient of 0.5. While the Instagram posts relate clearly to actual visits, the Wikipedia page views is considered a possible leading indicator of future interest in a site.

This study investigates empirically changes in domestic summer tourism demand following the Covid-19 pandemic in 305 regions across six European countries (Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Spain and Sweden) based on official data. Five different groups of NUTS 3 regions are identified in accordance with a typology suggested by the OECD where density and connectivity are aspects of importance. Dynamic panel data estimations show that large metropolitan regions experience strong decreases in demand (approximately 30 per cent) both in July and August 2020. There are, however, clear differences between the Northern and Southern European countries. In the North, the remote regions encounter an increased demand that is partially offsetting losses in the large metropolitan regions. This pattern cannot be found in the South. The decline in domestic tourism flows to the major metropolitan areas is also more pronounced in the South of Europe, approximately 50 per cent per summer month compared with 20 per cent (July 2020) and stagnation (August 2020) in the North regions.

This study investigates empirically if land characteristics (especially forests and mountains) are of importance for the local ability to withstand the shock of the Covid-19 on domestic tourism demand during the summer of 2020. A second step of the analysis focuses on the recovery stage in the subsequent summer. Three tourism indicators are considered: arrivals, overnight stays and length of stay. Official data on land use characteristics of 2029 villages in the Federal state of Bavaria (South Germany) are employed for the analysis. Estimations using the Spatial Durbin model combined with the Heckman selection model reveal that there is a significant relationship between the proportion of forest within as well as surrounding the village and the demand for domestic tourism compared with the 2019 baseline. There is also a significant relationship with the altitude of the surrounding areas. The importance of mountains and forests is present in both the initial year of the pandemic and in the recovery year of 2021, although the magnitude is lower in the summer of 2021. Direct and spatial effects can also be found for lakes and rivers on overnight stays and length of stay.

Since the 1990s, India invested more than one billion USD in participatory watershed development. Amongst other interventions, the rehabilitation of small-scale water harvesting infrastructure is a main focus. Nevertheless, despite its multiple economic and ecological benefits, many communities fail to maintain the structures. External support in this regard focuses largely on the promotion of blueprint solutions such as community water funds or organizational capacity development of Water User Associations. Little attention is paid to supporting the communities in developing rules related to the actual water and water infrastructure management. In this study we explored how experimental games closely framed to local conditions can help to better understand coordination challenges and develop institutional capacities related to managing small village reservoirs in Rajasthan/India. We played artefactual public good experiments with 300 water managers and combined the games with discussions. The approach created awareness for the cooperation challenges, facilitated debate related to possible solutions and helped to better understand cooperation patterns. Our results suggest that participants were playing substantially better than the predictions of standard economic theory but also substantially better than the behavior observed in real life. The discussions showed that the players connected the game to their real life experiences. They highlighted challenges but also gave examples where cooperation in the community is working well. The games allowed them to experiment in a compressed way with different institutions which deepened the discussion.

As resource users interact and impose externalities onto each other, institutions are needed to coordinate resource use, create trust, and provide incentives for sustainable management. Coordinated collective action can play a key role in enabling communities to manage natural resources more sustainably. But when such collective action is not present, what can be done to foster it? There is growing awareness that the governance of natural resources has to be adapted to the specific context. Interventions are often implemented at small scale, and the potential to scale up facilitation intensive approaches is limited. Moreover, sustainable resource management frequently fails to emerge or breaks down after the project ends. To date, researchers have typically used behavioral games to study cooperation patterns of communities. Recently, games have been adapted as learning and stakeholder engagement tools to improve management of the commons, strengthen self-regulation of resource use, and enhance constructive interactions among resource users. Combining games with other interventions and tools and facilitated discussions has been proposed as a promising approach to improve collective action institutions through experiential learning — a classic approach in education. This paper reviews existing literature and synthesizes lessons learned from a series of studies testing the use of behavioral games for institutional capacity development in India. We conclude that, while games alone will not be the solution to all natural resource management challenges games can provide a structured and therefore replicable approach for influencing behavior. They can also improve system understanding, raise awareness, influence norms, facilitate dialogue, train for crisis response, and increase legitimacy of decisions.

People’s preferences influence national priorities for economic development and ecological integrity. Often policy makers and development agents base their actions on unclear assumptions about people’s preferences. This paper explores rural citizens’ preferences for economic and ecological development goals and how they differ within and between communities. We collected data from three purposely selected communities representing dominant social-ecological systems in the transboundary Cubango-Okavango River Basin in southern Africa. We used contingent ranking survey experiments, which are a novel methodological advance in policy related research. This included a qualitative experimental design process that provided a broad framing underpinning the research. The contingent ranking itself allowed us to simultaneously assess (i) participants’ ranking priorities for the development goals; and (ii) participants’ preferences for the ordering of those goals. We found relatively strong preference homogeneity within and between communities. Economic development attributes were given high priority across all communities. At the same time, all communities expressed a high preference for a healthy river system providing stable water quality and quantity. This does not mean that our respondents prioritized nature conservation. They showed low preferences for preserving biodiversity and forests which provide less important local benefits than water. This is of high governance relevance. The results point at development domains where policy makers can most likely expect stronger buy-in from citizens. Understanding citizens’ preferences helps to better align national development priorities with what citizens want.

This study estimates factors of importance for the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions generated by travellers flying for different reasons based on representative Austrian micro data for the period 2014–2016. The annual average number of flights taken by adults vary between 0.1 (visiting friends) and 0.8 (going on holiday), and the amount of CO2e emissions generated by each return flight is approximately 1100 kg. This leads to a total of 6 million tonnes CO2e emissions per year. Results of the Pseudo Poisson Maximum Likelihood estimations reveal that the amount of CO2e emissions created is related to socio-demographic, locational and seasonal factors, although mainly for the largest group of travellers: the holiday makers. In this group, individuals with university degrees, young persons (16–24 years) and capital city residents generate the largest amounts of emissions, as opposed to persons with children and large households. Residents of the capital region each quarter cause 64 kg more CO2e emissions than inhabitants of rural areas, persons with university degrees create 74 kg larger emissions than those without degrees and young adults instigate 90 kg more emissions than middle-aged persons. CO2e emissions of holiday flights are highest in the first quarter of the year. The importance of education is also pronounced for CO2e emissions related to business travel, as is gender.

Acceptance of Open Data by the governments, foundations, science councils and other sponsors of research across the world have prompted the trend towards Open Data. Many researchers and organizations have embraced the Open Data policy. Most often the datasets are released through Dataverse. However, just making datasets available is not enough. We need inbuilt user-friendly data extraction and transformation techniques, and analytical features that can facilitate analyses of research data and generate new knowledge and insights from such data. The Village Dynamics in South Asia (VDSA) Knowledge Bank, ( http://vdsakb.icrisat.ac.in/ ), is a unique data warehouse with user-friendly data retrieval and online analytical processing features for household level panel data on India and Bangladesh. It is the first of its kind in the world for managing household survey data. It exemplifies how digital innovation tools (Microsoft SQL and Business Intelligence tools) can be used in processing diverse, complex long-term databases and promoting the cause of Open Data and facilitates decision support needs. This paper has documented the development process, technical features and impacts of the VDSA Knowledge Bank. It provides an in-depth understanding about how to plan, partner with information technology firms, design and implement a data warehouse project. Thus, the main contribution of this paper is featuring how developments in information technology can be innovatively used to promote Open Data and enhance impacts. Hopefully, this study will stimulate interests among researchers and donors in building data warehouse for management and dissemination of Open Data.