Integrating biodiversity conservation and local community perspectives in China through human dimensions research

[摘要] 1. Biodiversity in China coexists alongside large ethnically diverse rural humanpopulations within linked ‘biocultural’ social–ecological systems. Cumulativeand changing local anthropogenic pressures linked to human population growthand economic development are driving unsustainable resource exploitation,habitat loss and extensive species declines. However, these pressures vary between species and systems, and efforts to conserve regional biodiversity mayalso have unintended negative impacts on local communities and their long-termrelationship with nature.2. Based on our extensive experience working across China's diverse but vulnerable biocultural landscapes, we showcase a series of case studies that illustratethe differing interactions between biodiversity and local community use of natural resources, and the differing consequences of conservation management onlocal livelihoods.3. We highlight that some social–ecological relationships in China can maintain andsupport biodiversity, and we advocate for management underpinned by interdisciplinary conservation research that engages local communities, associatedwith robust evidence-based assessment and evaluation frameworks to ensureeffective monitoring and optimization of impacts.

[学科分类] 护理学

[关键词] biocultural conservation;capacity building;Hainan;social science;threatened species;Tibetan Plateau;Yangtze River