| Biological conservation corridor(BCC) is the referred to a vegetation strip to be restored and, or an existing vegetation strip conserved for connecting habitats of the target species. There are a lot of theoretical discussions available on the structure and quality, function and role, design and planning, efficiency validation and negative influence of BCC; however, few specific researches are so far documented on management of BCC. In this study, we focus on two Asian elephant conservation corridors(AECC) in Xishuangbanna National Reserve, one between Mengyang and Menglun sub-reserve, and the other between Mengla and Shangyong sub-reserve. Based on Landsat TM/ETM imagery of three periods, and finding from participatory rural appraisal(PRA) and contingent valuation method(CVM), we analyze the land use/cover change(LUCC), social and economic impacts, attitudes of local people, transformation of rural agricultural landscape and demands of local communities in AECC. Finally, the co-management model for development of the AECC and local communities is concluded with an intension to accelerate development of wild animal conservation corridors.The main conclusions included:(1) Large area of forest and dry land has been conversed to large-scale rubber plantations in the two AECC, blocking up the passages of Asian elephant and enhancing local communities'dependence on rubber. There were eight main land use types in the two AECC from 1988 to 2007:forest, shrub land, rubber, tea garden, dry land, paddy field, water body, and built-up. The main characteristic was a large decrease of forest and dry land, with a large increase of rubber. Out of the total area of 33007.93hm2 in Mengyang-Menglun AECC,4947.6hm2 of forest and 3049.47hm2 of dry land were lost, and rubber increased by 8264.37hm2. Out of the total area of 2309.93hm2 of Mengla-Shangyong AECC forest reduced by 664.77hm2, and dry land reduced by 106.97hm2, while rubber increased by 790.46hm2. Moreover, forest and dry land were mainly lost to rubber. The rubber was increased at a speed of 98.61% and 46.03% respectively in Mengyang-Menglun and Mengla-Shangyong AECC. Along with the increasing of rubber, fragmentation and isolation of the forest was rising, and aggregation the forest was declining. Overlaid map of LUCC and routes of the Asian elephants in Mengyang-Menglun AECC revealed that interdiction of the Asian elephant routes and fragmentation of the forest were mainly caused by expansion of rubber. Therefore, it is very necessary to establish an AECC between Mengyang and Menglun sub-reserve, and Mengla and Shangyong sub-reserve in order to maintain the habitat and exchange of Asian elephants. In addition, the LUCC brought great profit to local people, and local people become more and dependent on their land and rubber plantations. Thus, it is the primary issue in consolidating the AECC to gain consensus of local people for using their land.(2) Lags in social and economic development constrain the establishment of the AECC. Most of inhabitants in the two AECC were minority. The productivity was low, and income was poor. In Mengyang-Menglun AECC,98% of the inhabitants belong to Jinuo ethnic group. The income per capita was 1000 yuan and mainly from rubber and tea. In Mengla-Shang AECC,86.02% of the inhabitants were Dai. Their income per capita was 2500 yuan, and mainly from rubber. It is a common practice to increase household income with rubber plantation, which was the main source of income for inhabitants in the two AECC. For local people, land was the most important means of production. Being lagging in social and economic development, local people have strong desires for economic development, and their interest in AECC is not high. Thus, a good understanding of the willingness of local people is of great significance for establishment of the AECC.(3) Development of the AECC has a good base of local communities, but they must be treated seriously. Contingent Valuation Method was applied in accessing local community's knowledge of and altitude to the construct of AECC in Xishuangbanna, basing on a questionnaire survey to 196 households in the corridor areas. The assessment shows that 80.61% of the inhabitants would support development of the corridors on conditions. Further causation analysis reveals that the factors including the education level, income per capita, awareness of Asian elephant conservation, man-elephant relationship, utilization of the corridor area, and perception about beneficiaries of the corridor have a significant effect on support willingness of the local inhabitants. Regression model indicates that inhabitants' awareness of Asian elephant conservation, utilization of the corridor areas, and perception about beneficiaries of the corridor have a strong influence on the willingness to support, with a correspondent correlation coefficient of 0.231,0236, and 0.304. Therefore, strengthening awareness building for Asian elephant conservation, exploring sustainable land use patterns, and formulating corresponding support plan for development of local communities will make considerable contribution to development of the Asian elephant conservation corridors proposed in Xishuangbanna.Therefore, the author believes that good implementation of corridor-specific co-management with local communities is the key to a successful configuration and management of the biological conservation corridors. Changes in the rural agricultural landscape caused by LUCC brought out varied environmental problems to local community, including pinch of energy sources, shortage of water for drinking and irrigation, degradation of village environment, and frequent and serious diseases to crops and livestock. Realizing these problems, local people present a strong desire to improve quality of their environment, and interest in environment protection as well as development. Among the demands of local community, road construction and village planning are of the highest priority.88.27% of the villagers interviewed wish to get support to improve access road, and 76.53% of them wish to get support to carry out an overall planning of village construction to improve environment of their villages. |
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