Abstract
Terraced tourism sustainability depends on maintenance for terraced landscape. The effective measures for protecting terraces rest on the cooperation among multi-stakeholders. Therefore, a multi-stakeholder involvement mechanism (MSIM) is very important for terraced landscape conservation. Dazhai village in Longji Terraces, Guangxi Province, Southwest China, explored a MSIM to maintain terraced tourism sustainability in the past 20 years. Based on the statistical data and the data from household interviews, this study analyses the development history of Dazhai tourism. Comparing the changes in different stages in components of MSIM of Dazhai, we revealed the successful key factors of MSIM for maintaining terraces tourism sustainability includes identifying accurately core attractions and stakeholders, an effective communication strategy, a democratic decision-making mechanism, dynamic benefit distribution schemes (BDS) facing terraced conservation, coordination teams with foresight and selflessness, and the effective supervision and management. In the end, we conclude that economic income is the most important driver stimulating villagers in Dazhai to insist on growing rice. It is crucial factor to drive farmers to protect their terraces. but economic income improvement of the households depends on a systemic and dynamic MSIM. The most important causes for Dazhai MSIM success results from the wise coordination teams and the effective communication strategy.
Highlights
Traditional agricultural landscapes (TAL) are the outcome that evolves from the co-adaptation of a community with its environment and its needs and aspirations for sustainable development [1], which usually have more values than modern conventional agriculture due to their aesthetic, historic, and ecological features [2,3]
China based on Globally Important Agricultural Cultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) definition and selection criteria in 2012, and its selection criteria were added the requirement that it has a history with at least 100 years
Evolution process and how it reacted on the terraced maintenance, we interviewed staffs of the tourism bureau of the County, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Longji Tourism
Summary
Traditional agricultural landscapes (TAL) are the outcome that evolves from the co-adaptation of a community with its environment and its needs and aspirations for sustainable development [1], which usually have more values than modern conventional agriculture due to their aesthetic, historic, and ecological features [2,3]. Many protection projects involving TAL have been initiated by international organizations, for example, the World Cultural Heritage and the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural. Organization (UNESCO), the Globally Important Agricultural Cultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) designated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In China, the China-Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (China-NIAHS). The IAHS (including GIAHS and China-NIAHS) are still not more well-known than those conservation projects initiated by UNESCO such as world heritage, man and biosphere, and geopark due to its late starting time, they have been paid attention by more and more countries and researchers due to the relevant ecological, economic, socio-cultural sustainability [8,9]. Protecting TAL is complex work, which needs farmers to participate in farming and social activities. How to make farmers live in their villages to persist in farming remains the key issue
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