Local perceptions of ecosystem services and protection of culturally protected forests in southeast China

Introduction: Culturally protected forests (CPFs), preserved and managed by local people on the basis of traditional practices and beliefs, have social and ecological functions. Local residents’ perceptions were investigated in three types of CPFs (community forests, ancestral temple forests, and cemetery forests) in five villages in southeast China. In semi-structured interviews (232 questionnaires), residents were asked about their perceptions concerning ecosystem services and protection of CPFs. Outcomes: The survey results showed that resource utilization was not high in CPFs than in forests without culturally protected. Important ecosystem services provided by CPFs included air quality improvement, water retention, recreation, and aesthetic value. Respondents were satisfied with different cultural services provided by CPFs, including aesthetic value of community forests, ecotourism of ancestral temple forests, and cultural heritage of cemetery forests. Informal rules and traditional customs were used as the main measures to govern forests in daily life; however, the most effective measures, in order of importance, were setting fines or punishment by laws, using informal rules and village regulations, or protection by government agencies. Only half of the respondents were willing to pay for maintaining ecosystem services of CPFs, but 77.8% respondents were willing to spend time on protection. From apolicy perspective, educational programs were as important as traditions, and they are crucial to explain the ecological importance of CPFs. Conclusion: The conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services of CPFs will benefit if government agencies consider incorporating CPFs into policy and legislative frameworks, maintain CPFs as collectively owned forests, and introduce ecological compensation mechanisms

Spatial Frames and the Quest for Institutional Fit

Spatial frames play a crucial role in debates over environmental sustainability. Building on a social scientific understanding of space, we discuss key spatial frames in biodiversity and ecosystem management, including territory, social-ecological systems, global networks and flows, and sense of place. In evaluating these frames, we argue that the state with its territorial power has clear limitations in effectively and legitimately addressing ecosystem problems, even when it remains a crucial power-container and regulator. Adapting institutional arrangements to ecosystem scale, as advocates of social-ecological systems propose, is often inappropriate because of cross-scale socio-political dynamics. Given the importance of global flows, we argue that place-based or landscape approaches that bring together local ecosystem management and global value chains present an ambivalent, but highly relevant spatial framing

Pursuing genius loci: interaction design and natural places

Human computer interaction (HCI) has little explored everyday life and enriching experiences in rural, wilderness and other predominantly “natural” places despite their socioeconomic importance. Beyond simply addressing the challenge arising from applying an urban perspective to designing technologies for use in natural places, we wish to provoke integration of the natural and computational worlds. To stimulate design that both draws upon and affords such integration, we propose seven themes we have distilled from the literature and supplement these with our own research observations. Bodies Imagine and Remember recognizes the inseparability of meanings and corporeal experience of natural places for design. Indexicality and Habitus refers to the need for design to be sensitive to the processes by which natural features become intelligible in our actions and communication. Values and Story-spaces observes the way representations and infrastructures, infused with particular values, become dominant. Identity and Belonging, suggests the need to reconcile designs with couplings between physical settings, processes of community and personal identity. Rhythm and Dynamism considers links between people’s daily routines, nature’s events and patterns and spatial and social issues pertinent to design and in Revealing and Receding we suggest that design must simultaneously fade into the background and provoke seeing natural places differently. Fragility, Liability and Spirituality refers to technological opportunities to support positive relations within ecosystems and recognizing the limits of technological control