Abstract
Conservation of protected areas is likely to be challenging in the long term if the dependence of local communities on natural resources is not measured appropriately. We investigated forest ecosystem services utilized by communities living around the Bach Ma National Park, Vietnam, and examined their spatial distributions through the integration of data from interviews, participatory mapping, and GIS analysis. The results suggest that provisioning services are crucial to the local livelihoods, and especially for an ethnic minority group. Many respondents confirmed the collection of specific types of forest foods, materials, and water resources mainly used for family consumption. We conducted spatial pattern analysis with land use, administrative units, terrain conditions, and accessibility, and clarified the characteristics of the spatial distribution of ecosystem service collection in relation to these factors, resource abundance, and forest governance. We propose the introduction of community-based tourism as one means to improve the livelihood opportunities of the ethnic minority groups to reduce their forest dependence.
Highlights
The concept of ecosystem services gained general recognition following the publication of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which established four categories of ecosystem services: provisioning, supporting, regulating, and cultural (Alcamo 2003)
It has been shown that forests provide several significant ecosystem services that contribute to human wellbeing (Lakerveld et al 2015)
Our results in this study show that the number and type of ecosystem services increased in proportion to the number of ethnic minority participants in the meetings
Summary
The concept of ecosystem services gained general recognition following the publication of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which established four categories of ecosystem services: provisioning, supporting, regulating, and cultural (Alcamo 2003). Several studies have indicated that economically challenged rural communities living near forests significantly depend on them for provision of ecosystem services for their livelihood as well as for resources, such as food, fiber, and firewood (Alcamo 2003; Vihervaara et al 2012; Langat et al 2016). It is widely recognized that intensive dependence on forest resources causes degradation that may lead to reduction in the provisioning. Unsustainable utilization of ecosystem services by local communities, especially from protected areas and their buffer zones, may lead to ecological problems such as ecological fragmentation (Struhsaker et al 2005). Conservation strategies for protected areas are unlikely to be successful in the long run if the needs of the local communities with regard to natural resources are not quantified and subsequently incorporated in relevant policies (McNeely 1994; Palomo et al 2013)
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