How to Promote Sustainable Relationships between Heritage Conservation and Community, Based on a Survey

Sustainability

Geoffrey Wall¹  Hui Shi²  Fang Han²  Zhaoping Yang²  Qun Liu² 

[1] Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada;Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China;

关键词: community participation;    heritage conservation;    residents’ perceptions;    World Natural Heritage;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su8090886

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Community residents have a strong stake in a local heritage site and may be an important force in its conservation, management and development. Positive relationships between the heritage site and community residents can promote its protection. A questionnaire survey was conducted with local residents of Bogda World Natural Heritage, Xinjiang, China, to assess their perceptions towards the World Natural Heritage, and their attitudes towards participation in heritage conservation. The local residents have made positive contributions to the conservation of heritage resource in the past several years. However, because of the asymmetry between responsibility for conservation and benefit sharing, the authors recommend that a “Community co-management framework” should be established to mobilize residents to participate in heritage conservation. Furthermore, participatory approaches and communication mechanisms are suggested to promote sustainable relationships between community development and heritage conservation. The empirical study can be used as an input to policy making and management for sustainable conservation, and the study contributes to the literature related to community participation at heritage sites.

【 授权许可】

Unknown