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Practice and research progress on ecosystem conservation in transboundary areas

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Abstract

Many ecosystems extend across national or political boundaries. The consistent and effective protection of these ecosystems in transboundary areas (ETAs) is an important global research focus. Previous research on the protection of such areas can be categorized into seven themes: 1) ecological conservation of a single ETA; 2) investigation of the effects of a single conservation measure on a specific ETA; 3) determination of species-level effects due to ETA conservation; 4) comparison of the same protection measures between different ETAs; 5) introduction of a single conservation measure to a specific ETA; 6) understanding the relationship between conservation and sustainable development; and 7) generalization across multiple ETA conservation cases. The protection of ETAs involves various considerations, including funding support, demand and will for collaboration, community and public participation, historical and cultural factors, political backgrounds, uniqueness of biological resources, formulation of laws and regulations, founding of specialized administrative departments, non-governmental organizations, and fairness. Here, we briefly explain the research themes and considerations related to ETA conservation. The most important finding is that most major research themes do not focus on the challenges of ETA conservation. We use two nature reserves located between China and North Korea as examples to identify specific ways to improve ETA conservation on Changbai Mountains. The efficiency of ETA administration still remains low. The study of ETA conservation should focus on concrete regional information and aim to improve existing measures through the accumulation of experience.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Lina Tang, Liuming Gui, Luyan Wang & Longyu Shi

  2. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Guofan Shao

Authors
  1. Lina Tang
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  2. Liuming Gui
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  3. Guofan Shao
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  4. Luyan Wang
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  5. Longyu Shi
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Correspondence to Longyu Shi.

Additional information

Foundation item: Under the auspices of National Science and Technology Support Program (No. 2012BAC10B01), Sci-technology Project of Yunnan Province (No. 2012CA013)

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Tang, L., Gui, L., Shao, G. et al. Practice and research progress on ecosystem conservation in transboundary areas. Chin. Geogr. Sci. 26, 109–116 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-015-0761-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-015-0761-2

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