Tourism as practice of making meaning

In this paper we attempt to investigate how the semiotic construction of touristed landscapes “works” in tour owners’ ideologizing of the representation of Romania as an ecotourist destination. A semiotic framework of tourism as meaning-making practice is proposed on account of the theory of meaning as well as on cultural geography theories approaching landscape. The paper also addresses the ecotourism ideology as background to our study. The semiotic analysis frames the study of signs on levels of significance, along with the theory of intertextuality. The research corpus shows how the embodied experiences, practices and performances shape the significances we attach to objects and how tourism is meaning made by multiple actors, both tourism promoters and tourists.     

Dynamic land use and land cover changes and their effect on forest resources in a coastal village of Matemwe,Zanzibar, Tanzania

Recent land cover change estimates show overall decline of tropical forests at the regional and global scales caused by multiple social, cultural and economic factors. There is an overall concern on the prevailing land use practices, such as shifting cultivation and extraction of forest materials as agents of forests losses, but also new, emerging land uses are threatening tropical forests. Understanding of the long-term development and driving forces of forest changes are needed, especially at local levels where many decisions on forest policies and land uses are made. This paper addresses the importance of such information for improved estimates of forest dynamics by studying local level land cover and land use changes during the last 50–70 years in the Eastern African tropical island of Zanzibar, Tanzania. The paper discusses the role of traditional and new land uses mainly subsistence farming, tourism and government interference through tree planting, in the long-term development of the forests at the village level. The material for the study is gathered from the interpretation of archival maps and aerial photographs combined with contemporary digital aerial photographs. The analyses are based on the mapping, spatial sampling and spatio-temporal change trajectory analysis (LCTA) of forest land cover, forest land uses and settlement patterns with GIS and statistics. Six distinct forest land cover change trajectories were identified and these illustrate dynamic and heterogeneous nature of the forests. Closed forest cover has dominated throughout due to cyclical land use patterns, but over 70% of the land area has been continuously transforming between closed, semi-open and open land cover conditions. Land use turnover rates indicate that hardly any forest areas are left untouched from the forces, which remove and re-establish forest vegetation in the long run. Land cover and land use change trajectories are spatially fragmented in the studied landscape. Majority of forest loss-gain dynamics is caused by shifting cultivation, while forest losses are most dramatic along the coast, where traditional and new land uses meet and land uses pressures are highest. The study suggests that landscape change trajectory analyses, where contemporary and historical information on land uses and land cover changes are spatially linked, can provide valuable aspects into local level forest land use planning and management strategies. For the case study, the findings suggest the following key forest management strategies for consideration: (1) establishment of a protected forest/scrubland in participation with the local stakeholders, especially the farmers, (2) promotion of areas for permanent agricultural practices, while simultaneously introducing management controls in the traditional slash-and-burn farming areas, and (3) promoting new livelihood opportunities for the farmers, who have traditionally been dependent on forest resources, meanwhile introducing alternatives for fuel wood for cooking.     

辽河三角洲湿地景观格局脆弱性变化

目前湿地开发利用日益加剧,本文结合全局自相关、局部自相关进行空间关联分析的研究方法进行分析。虽然辽河三角洲区域脆弱度逐渐减弱,仍有部分地区存在高脆弱度值。数据表明2015年低脆弱度区基本覆盖整个辽河三角洲区域。     

论“原乡规划”及其乡村规划思想

原乡规划借鉴老庄哲学顺应自然的无为自化思想,强调在规划过程中以无为作为最高境界,尊重自然,以实现自然境域下人们生活与生产的原真性,规划理念和方法强调人与自然的和谐,主张以自然为本,以居民为本,主张保持好原住民的生活方式,主张为人们提供本色的自然体验和生活体验。原乡规划运用于乡村规划的思想,是拒绝乡村的城市化,使乡村保持好乡村景观和乡村意象,是拒绝让城市病蔓延到乡村。     

试论"主题山水"及其构思与营建

针对自然景观旅游地目前存在的诸多问题，借鉴“主题公园”的构建理念，本文提出“主题山水”的建设方法。认为应当在山水自然景观的开发、建设和经营管理中，提炼或塑造出一个适当的文化主题作为引力源；即在对自然山水景观的本底进行严格保育并使其自身的生态机能向良性方向发展的基础上，发掘或赋予其具有较高审美价值的文化因素作为整个旅游地的文化主题，景区内部的实体环境建设、无形氛围营造以及游程和解说系统均围绕这一主题展开，并以之作为旅游管理部门或企业的整体形象和经营理念，向外传播。并具体阐述了构建“主题山水”的思路和方法，包括深化、扩展和移植三种。     

Progressive fragmentation of a traditional Mediterranean landscape by hazelnut plantations: The impact of CAP over time in the Langhe region (NW Italy)

Land use change is strongly modifying the traditional landscape of hilly productive Mediterranean sites. An example of these circumstances is the Langhe region (Piemonte, NW Italy), where woody plantations such as vineyards and orchards have been cultivated on hillslopes for centuries. In this paper we assess landscape changes occurred in the Diano study area (2651 ha) in the 1954–2000 period and we ascertain land use transition paths and rates of this rural ecosystem. Land use mapping obtained from object-oriented analysis of aerial photographs was used to quantify land use changes between 1954 and 2000. To examine the spatio-temporal patterns of land use change over time, a set of spatial statistics capturing different dimensions of landscape change was identified. An increase of landscape heterogeneity from 1954 to the present was observed due to the expansion of orchards and the fragmentation of field crops. A significant portion (55%) of current orchards surface is represented by former field crops, 24% by vineyards and 15% by forests. The strong expansion of hazelnut orchards concurred to the fragmentation of traditional rural landscape was dominated by vineyards, field crops and forests. Hazelnut orchards expansion was mainly located in places where grapes cultivation was less remunerative. A further expansion of hazelnut in the area should be planned, discussed and carefully monitored through change detection studies in order to avoid potential unsustainable use of the land.     

Land use changes in protected areas and their future: The legal effectiveness of landscape protection

It is expected that the application of a restrictive legal instrument would be an important barrier to human pressures on protected areas in Brazil. One aspect that remains to be determined is whether the applied restrictions will be related to the quality of scenarios at the borders of protected areas. The objective of this work was to analyze the capacity for minimizing the impacts on two protected areas and to identify the effective function of the barrier imposed by an environmental legal border. The borders of two protected areas, the Despraiado Sustainable Development Reserve and the Jureia-Itatins State Ecological Station, as well as the corresponding buffer zone were studied. The historical evolution of the land cover/land use of these regions was analyzed by dividing the regions into 900 m² hexagonal units. The scenarios for the years 1962, 1980 and 2007 were overlaid for each hexagon. The hexagons were classified according to the possible effects of conservation, and the results were quantified in terms of the frequency of land use and ecological flows. A simulation of future land use in 2028 was performed using the Kappa index, Markov chain modeling, multi-criteria analysis and cellular automata modeling. Based on the trend for the last 45 years, a very dynamic interaction at the legal boundaries was identified; in certain cases, either conservation or degradation were stimulated, and the intended objectives of legal environmental measures were never fulfilled. The simulation showed that by 2028, the frontiers of these protected areas will retain less than 10% of the natural vegetation cover, and 43% of this area will be covered with banana plantations.     

Contrasting the attitudes of farmers and the general public regarding the ‘multifunctional’ role of the agricultural sector

Using separate nationally representative surveys, this study compared the views and perspectives of farmers towards agricultural related conservation issues with that of the general public. Results suggest that both the general public and farmers expressed similar levels of concern regarding the environment as a whole. This is an encouraging sign when it comes to environmental protection, as it indicates a certain level of agreement between farmers as the group whose activities largely shape the quality of the rural environment, with the views of the general public who are the major consumers of landscape related environmental public goods. The analysis did, however, reveal important differences in attitudes in relation to certain environmental issues such as the relative importance of maintaining wildlife and habitats and having wild flora and fauna in the countryside. These activities could be seen as in conflict with farmers’ productivist attitudes. We found no significant difference in environmental attitudes between farmers who have participated in voluntary agri-environmental schemes and those who did not. Results also suggest that there is significant heterogeneity in public attitudes towards environmental issues. Specifically, age, income, place of residence and presence of children were all significantly associated with environmental preferences. The study concludes that consideration needs to be given to the different views and perspectives of farmers and the general public in formulating policy aimed at providing an optimal mix of agricultural related environmental public goods and services.     

循环经济对产业集群生态化转型的启示与路径分析

产业集群对环境资源所带来的负面影响成为产业集群发展的重大障碍。如何利用循环经济推进产业集群的生态化转型是解决当前经济危机的重要途径,本文就利用循环经济促进集群转型提出了具体实施策略。     

民营企业融资所处困境的危机金融生态分析

2007年下半年以来波及全球的世界性经济危机对我国民营企业的发展带来了沉重的打击,反映最强烈的问题便是因资金链的断裂而造成的资金短缺。融资利益各方在信息不对称约束下相互博弈,形成了不同于常规金融环境下的金融生态。因此,只有切实从危机生态下的困境结点出发,才能寻找出特定金融生态下摆脱民营企业融资困境的路径。