Viable contribution of Tibetan sacred mountains in southwestern China to   forest conservation

doi:10.1111/cobi.12587

CORC > 北京大学 > 生命科学学院

	Viable contribution of Tibetan sacred mountains in southwestern China to forest conservation
	Shen, Xiaoli ; Li, Sheng ; Wang, Dajun ; Lu, Zhi
刊名	CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
	2015
关键词	deforestation forest cover remote sensing sacred sites southwest China PROTECTED AREAS WESTERN-GHATS GROVES DEFORESTATION BIODIVERSITY DIVERSITY COVER INDIA GHANA MADAGASCAR
DOI	10.1111/cobi.12587
英文摘要	The Tibetan sacred mountains (TSMs) cover a large area and may represent a landscape-scale conservation opportunity. We compared the conservation value of forests in these mountains with the conservation value of government-established nature reserves and unmanaged open-access areas in Danba County, southwestern China. We used Landsat satellite images to map forest cover and to estimate forest loss in 1974-1989, 1989-1999, and 1999-2013. The TSMs (n = 41) and nature reserves (n = 4) accounted for 21.6% and 29.7% of the county's land area, respectively. Remaining land was open-access areas (i.e., areas without any restrictions on resource use) (56.2%) and farmlands (2.2%). Within the elevation range suitable for forests, forest cover did not differ significantly between nature reserves (58.8%) and open-access areas (58.4%), but was significantly higher in TSMs (65.5%) after controlling for environmental factors such as aspect, slope, and elevation. The TSMs of great cultural importance had higher forest cover, but patrols by monastery staff were not necessarily associated with increased forest cover. The annual deforestation rate in nonsacred areas almost tripled in 1989-1999 (111.4 ha/year) relative to 1974-1989 (40.4 ha/year), whereas the rate in TSMs decreased in the later period (19.7 ha/year vs. 17.2 ha/year). The reduced forest loss in TSMs in 1989-1999 was possibly due to the renaissance of TSM worship and strengthened management by the local Buddhist community since late 1980s. The annual deforestation rate in Danba decreased dramatically to 4.4 ha/ year in 1999-2013, which coincided with the implementation of a national ban on logging in 1998. As the only form of protected area across the Tibetan region during much of its history, TSMs have positively contributed to conserving forest at a landscape scale. Conservation of TSM forests largely relied on the strength of local religious institutions. Integrating community-based conservation of TSMs within the government conservation network would benefit the conservation of the Tibetan region.; Blue Moon Fund; Conservation International-China Program; Shanshui Conservation Center; Peking University; SCI(E); PubMed; ARTICLE; shengli@pku.edu.cn; 6; 1518-1526; 29
语种	英语
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://ir.pku.edu.cn/handle/20.500.11897/418061]
专题	生命科学学院
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Shen, Xiaoli,Li, Sheng,Wang, Dajun,et al. Viable contribution of Tibetan sacred mountains in southwestern China to forest conservation[J]. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY,2015.
APA	Shen, Xiaoli,Li, Sheng,Wang, Dajun,&Lu, Zhi.(2015).Viable contribution of Tibetan sacred mountains in southwestern China to forest conservation.CONSERVATION BIOLOGY.
MLA	Shen, Xiaoli,et al."Viable contribution of Tibetan sacred mountains in southwestern China to forest conservation".CONSERVATION BIOLOGY (2015).