Karst areas are one of the most fragile regions in the world. The Karst environment is very common in southwest China with severe poverty and environmental degradation. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the Karst ecosystem and its ability to provide goods and services for society. In this paper, we analyzed the spatial distribution of organic productivity values (OPV) in Northwest Guangxi, China in 1985, 1990, 2000, and 2005 using remote sensing and geographic information system techniques. OPV showed a decreasing trend in the last 20 years though there were fluctuations. OPV was 184.85, 117.53, 163.66 and 177.25 million Yuan in 1985, 1990, 2000 and 2005, respectively. Woodland and shrub were the two largest contributors to total OPV. They accounted for 70.51%, 69.13%, 73.92% and 66.23%, respectively, in those four years. Conversely, OPV of residential and barren rock was low with a percentage of 0.70%, 0.56%, 0.57% and 0.90%, respectively. Spatially, OPV is higher in the west than in the east. However, OPV increased in typical Karst areas but decreased in non-Karst areas. Our study indicates that ecosystem conditions in Karst areas had improved because of the application of rocky desertification control policies.

A common management technique for preserving and maintaining biodiversity is the establishment of large refuges and preserves. Although extensive sanctuaries can provide crucial protection for many organisms and ecosystems, they cannot fulfill all the needs of regional conservation. An alternative to a few large refuges is to create many different habitats across the landscape that enhance and improve local and regional biodiversity and provide immediate benefits to nearby communities in the form of ecosystem services. Furthermore, these can all be initiated and achieved by individuals or communities. Some key landscape enhancements can be undertaken on a local level: the creation or expansion of small wooded areas, windbreaks, or hedgerows; the construction of small wetlands; and the release of some lands from heavy pressure for the reestablishment of natural ecological processes, namely, the natural accumulation of woody and other organic materials. Newly created ecosystems can be inoculated at the outset with soil biota such as seed banks, microbes, fungi, and organic material that can accelerate ecological functioning and balance. In addition to increasing much local and regional biodiversity, locally enhanced areas can provide fuel, plant and animal food and medicinal products, and agroforestry products directly to the nearby community. These small ecological oases can serve as nesting and overwintering sites for numerous pollinators that are hugely beneficial to agricultural production. Moreover, several ecosystem enhancements may contribute positively to local and regional hydrologic cycles and prevent prolonged droughts. Enhancements to local landscapes can take on many forms. We believe that any changes that increase structural complexity in natural systems almost certainly lead to increases in local biological complexity. In addition, wider landscape level considerations, such as corridors and connectivity of populations, can be integrated on a broader scale to improve regional biodiversity and ecosystem services. Small landscape enhancements undoubtedly cannot provide for all conservation needs, but they can greatly increase widespread biodiversity, restore local ecosystem services, and can be used to complement the relatively few larger parks.

This paper integrates studies on the natural subtropical montane evergreen broad-leaved forests (EBLFs) and secondary succession of the forests and plantations in Yunnan, to provide a basis for evaluating the sustainability of the forests in the mountain ecosystems of Yunnan, China. The EBLFs include mid-montane moist, monsoon, and semi-humid categories. The monsoon EBLF yielded the highest indices of the Shannon-Wiener H, Equitability J, Simpson D and Fisher’s alpha, followed by the mid-montane moist EBLF, then by the semi-humid forest. Since human uses have varied widely, the plant communities ranged from pioneer deciduous broad-leaved and/or pioneer coniferous stands to late-successional evergreen broad-leaved stands. The secondary succession pathways were from pioneer deciduous stands of Alnus accompanied by stands of pioneer coniferous Pinus and Keteleeria, through broad-leaved and coniferous mixed stands, to late-successional evergreen broad-leaved forests of Cyclobalanopsis and Castanopsis. In Yunnan, the EBLF is commonly replaced by plantations of exotic fast-growing Eucalyptus to produce industrial wood, oil, pulp and fuel. The result has been reduced plant diversity, and great loss of soil nutrients by erosion and runoff, as compared to the EBLF. Seventy-six plant species in the area have been ranked as critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable. Their condition is seen as largely attributable to habitat loss or degradation. A clear understanding of ecological features and succession pathways of the EBLF can lead to more effective conservation and management of these fragile forests and the mountain ecosystems.

Based on the Landsat TM data in 1988 and 2002, the GIS technique and Fragstats software were used to calculate the land use conversion matrix and eight landscape metrics at landscape and patch class levels in upstream, midstream, and downstream regions of Nenjiang River basin. The characteristics of land use and landscape pattern changes in each region during 1988–2002 were analyzed. The results show the followings: 1) During the period from 1988 to 2002, farmland and construction land area increased, while the areas of forestland, grassland, and unutilized land decreased in all three regions. The conversion trends from forestland and grassland to farmland were obvious. The conversion from forestland to farmland mainly occurred in the upstream region, whereas the conversion from grassland to farmland primarily occurred in the midstream and downstream regions. 2) The water area in the upstream and midstream regions enlarged, mainly due to the increase of water impounded area as a result of the construction of reservoirs. Comparatively, the water area in the downstream region decreased, and it mainly occurred in the east part of downstream region with concentrated lakes and swamps. 3) The degree of landscape fragmentation increased in each region. The controlling ability of forestland was weakened, and its patch shape became more complicated. In contrast, the controlling ability of farmland was reinforced, and the connectivity among patches increased. 4) The landscape pattern shows some gradient features. From the upstream to downstream regions, the disturbance of human activities on dominant patches was intensified, and consequently, the landscape fragmentation extent and heterogeneity were enhanced.

The sustainable development of rangeland ecosystems, the vital ecosystems providing many important ecosystem services for millions of people in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region is presently confronted with a number of challenges. A coupled natural and human systems approach is needed to facilitate effective collaboration among social scientists, bio/physical scientists, and management practitioners to better understand how people interact with the environment in which they live. In pursuing this argument, three existing case studies, i.e. Indigenous rangeland management in Himalayan Nepal, Cultivated Grassland Systems in Eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and Grassland Restoration in Central Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau were synthesized in this paper to address the importance of coupled natural and human systems in promoting sustainable rangeland ecosystem management in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) region. It was concluded although the research sites and objectives were very different, that these three case studies had many commonalities that addressed the complex interactions and feedbacks between natural and human systems, and highlighted the integration of various tools and techniques from the ecological and social sciences, as well as other disciplines, in sustainable rangeland management. These case studies have offered unique interdisciplinary insights into complexities that cannot be gained from ecological or social research alone. The results from these case studies can be applied to many other coupled systems at local, national, and global levels.

Estuaries, which lie at the end of rivers, belong to the interlocking area between marine ecosystems and terrestrial ecosystems. In the estuary region, there are plenty of biological resources that carry many important ecosystem services. However, severe degradation of the estuary ecosystem in northern China has been caused by anthropogenic disturbances, including water pollution from upstream area, change of marine environmental dynamics, animal habitat loss, and unreasonable exploitation in the estuary region. In order to provide scientific evidence for restoration and conservation of the estuary ecosystem, we collected data from published literature to analyze the ecological problems in several main estuary regions in northern China, such as the Yellow River estuary, Liaohe River estuary, Haihe River estuary, Yalu River estuary, and some others. The main ecological problems in the estuary region of northern China include the input decrease of fresh water from rivers, the change of the sediment input from rivers, the destruction of the estuary wetland ecosystem, the environmental pollution in the estuary region, the erosion in the estuary region, seawater encroachment, the biodiversity decline of the estuary region, and the depletion of the fish resources in the estuary region. Meanwhile, the driving forces for these ecological problems in the estuary region were also assessed. Based on the analysis of these driving forces, we propose several pieces of advice for integrated estuary management in northern China, including the creation of a management system for estuary conservation, improvement of the means and strength of the environmental law execution, increased investment on scientific research in the estuary ecosystem, improvement of public participation on the conservation for the estuary environment and biodiversity, and construction of a monitoring system for the estuary environment.

Within national and international domestic academic circles, there are increasing calls for enhanced involvement of communities in formulating and implementing grassland management arrangements. In contrast to the current national policy of contracting grasslands to households, many scholars call for support for collective grassland use arrangements. Several reasons are given for increased recognition and support for community-based management of grasslands, including lower costs of exclusion and dispute resolution, economies of scale in herding and marketing, mitigation of environmental risk, and ensuring equitable access to grassland resources. One conclusion from this literature is that devolving authority for designing and implementing grassland management systems to communities would lead to more sustainable grassland use, a position that I term as the ‘myth of community.’ This paper presents the results of a study of grazing systems in two communities in Hongyuan County, Sichuan Province. Each community uses its grasslands collectively. However, the study found evidence of severe overgrazing, especially in winter pastures, suggesting that community-based management of grasslands is not necessarily sustainable. The paper discusses three potential policy innovations required to support sustainable grazing systems in China’s grassland areas: overcoming constraints in labor and land markets, and payments for environmental services that reward sustainable stocking levels.

Global climate change, nonpoint source pollution, watershed and wildlife habitat destruction, and unsustainable development are damaging the natural world, threatening the socio-cultural integrity of communities, and jeopardizing the livelihood security of peoples worldwide. Despite the past 50 years of progress in addressing environmental damage in the United States and elsewhere, intractable problems have arisen that to date have eluded successful technological or policy responses. Solutions have been sought by recognizing that these problems are very complex and demand interdisciplinary approaches that require building effective partnerships among relevant academic institutions, governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and private business, as well as levering various disciplines and traditional knowledge systems. Such thinking has evolved to now consider humans to be an integral part of nature, which is captured in the idea of the ‘human ecosystem’ ,where biophysical, socioeconomic, and cultural systems interact via a complex set of organizational, spatial, and temporal ‘couplings’. Within such a context, environmental problems can be viewed as coupled human and natural systems, which afford unique and novel approaches to their solutions. This paper discusses the development of the coupled systems approach as a scientific methodology, reviews its key characteristics and principles, provides an example of how it has been applied to assess conservation issues in alpine areas of Northwest Yunnan Province, China, and recommends how this scientific approach might be further developed for use in mountainous landscape regions of Central Asia and elsewhere.

Because of slender land and high mountain, steep slope, and rapids of natural environment, the whole regional ecosystem has the changeable terrain and landscape with diverse ecology and species. During the past 300 years, the humanity lives and spreads on this splendid domain, accomplished the complex, fragment and sensitive of nature and humanities ecosystem, and its Landscape ecology texture. This paper finds out that, although the National Parks system in China has been in operation for over 30 years and has achieved the objective of species conservation, it is still facing the a conflicting situation and coordinated demand of its conservation and recreation. With the global tendency of “sustainable development” and “ecotourism”, this paper suggests that National Park system should establish a sustainable development mechanism integrating “conservation, recreation, and research.” Therefore, this paper suggests shifting the traditional planning paradigm of resource benefit guidance and resource valuation framework of Ecological Planning to the “Sustainable Planning” theory and technique that are suitable for sustainable development concept in order to meet the demand for a new conservation concept and technique of sustainable development for the human beings dealing with the environment resources. Also, the texture and model of Landscape ecology and the model and method of Geographic Informational System could be considered as the proper tool. This paper points out that the landscape ecology texture and tendency should represent the secret code of sustainable development. Furthermore, the situation of the sustainable development is dynamic, and the GIS model is necessary for corresponding planning. Finally, this paper develops a suitable sustainable development operation definition and planning methodology to represent the interlacing framework of ecology (conservation) and human being (e.g., recreation, research, life, etc.) system of National Park management.

There is agreement that the most effective response to the unprecedented confluence of issues that face humanity at the dawn of the third millennium, namely, climate change, economic crisis, and growing energy demand is 1) applied interdisciplinary research involving coupled socio-cultural and ecological systems and 2) practical application of knowledge generated by the sciences. Meaningful examination and understanding of coupled-systems emerges from direct engagement with communities that have faced and adapted to dramatic changes. Drawing from a high latitude (Arctic) case and a high altitude (Alpine case), this paper illustrates that the interplay of cultural values, social structures, and ecosystems services facilitate adaptation.

Distribution of grassland vegetation is highly associated with climatic conditions and varied with climatic change. The tendency of climatic changes on Qinghai Plateau was analyzed, based on the meteorological data from 1961 to 2007 collected from 50 meteorological stations distributed throughout the whole plateau. The vegetation distribution of alpine grassland under past and future climatic change was estimated by using the approach of Comprehensive and Sequential Classification system. Results show that the climate varied greatly before and after 1987. The temperature increased 0.16°C/10a before 1987 and 0.64°C/10a after 1987. The precipitation increased 0.14mm/10a before 1987 and 3.92mm/10a after 1987. There were 12 types of grassland vegetation between 1961 and 1987, while there were 11 types of grassland vegetation between 1988 and 2007 on the Plateau. When climatic warming continued with CO₂ doubling in the future, the vegetation of alpine grassland will shrink into nine types.

To restore China’s degraded ecological environment, the government has launched an environmental restoration project named the “Grain for Green Project” (GGP) in 1999. From 1999 to 2010, the government will spend 40 billion dollars to convert 147 million ha of croplands and 173 million ha of wastelands into forestlands and grasslands in 25 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. A primary goal is to replace cropping and livestock grazing in fragile areas with trees and grass. Given the tremendous scale and great number of participants in the project, the attitudes of the affected farmers and the future development in the area where GGP is implemented have a direct influence on the success of the project. To gain a clear idea about the farmers’ attitudes towards the project and put forward the development models for the forestlands converted from croplands, two case sites in the mountain-gorge region in Nujiang River are selected as the study areas, and the methods of field survey and semi-structured interview are adopted to make interviews with more than 100 households in 2002 and 2003 in order to quantify the farmers’ opinions about the GGP and how it has affected their livelihood, socio-cultural and industrial structures, etc. The results are as follows: 1) the project has a certain influence on the farmers with better economic basis and exerts greater influence on the farmers living in the low-elevation regions than on those living in the regions with middle-high elevation; 2) the production models of the local farmers has changed from cultivation and animal husbandry to forestry and sidelines due to the project and the income structure has changed from animal husbandry as main income source to state subsidy and sideline as main income sources; 3) the reduction in the grain income and decrease in the quantity of livestock because of the project have led to the diminution in the total income of the farmers; 4) the project has resulted in changes in the lifestyles and architecture styles of the local farmers, and the traditional “huotang” culture has gone away after the implementation of the project; 5) energy utilization has changed from firewood to methane and electricity in the wake of the implementation of the project. The above-mentioned study results have indicated that the GGP has truly exerted influence on the livelihood and production of the local farmers. Therefore, it is very necessary to make a research into the development models in the forestlands converted from croplands to resolve the problems of the farmers’ livelihood and production. The study results will provide some references for the sustainable development of the mountain-gorge regions.

Water scarcity is a becoming a critical issue globally, driven largely by the demands of an exponentially growing human population and complicated by the impacts of climate change on the amounts and distribution of precipitation. It is also due to mismanagement as scarce water resources are being used simultaneously for irrigation, power generation, public and industrial water supply, flood reduction, and wastewater disposal without consideration of the cumulative impacts to the water resources themselves. This paper outlines eight ecologically based principles and associated guidelines as the basis for integrated and watershed-based management of the world’s water resources.