The Role of Community-Based Ecotourism in Biodiversity Conservation in the Mount Oku Area, Cameroon

Forests are biodiversity hotspots which provide livelihood and act as safety nets for adjacent communities. Increasing dependence on forest is threatening this biodiversity. Ecotourism, a biodiversity conservation strategy has the potential to restore degraded habitat, and create socio-cultural and economic benefits that improve communities’ livelihoods. This study focused on the role of community-based ecotourism in biodiversity conservation in the Mount Oku forest, of the North West region of Cameroon. The study identified and ranked livelihood activities that led to biodiversity destruction, assessed ecotourism potentials and conservation practices, identified ecotourism benefits and assessed household income levels before and after the institution of ecotourism. We randomly selected three communities from the study area. The study was guided by the Forest Management Plan, the Simple Management Plan of the Kilum/Ijim forest project and the concept of Biosphere Reservation. Descriptive statistics were simple percentages presented on tables, while the inferential statistics of Wilcoxon rank test was used to analyze the data collected for the study. Our findings reveal that, the livelihood activities that led to biodiversity destruction include agriculture, logging, fuelwood collection and grazing. Ecotourism potentials/conservation strategies were nature-based, education-based, culture-based, and agriculture-based;value chain was integrated in all these aspects which enhanced livelihood diversification. The benefits include business opportunities, infrastructure development, and forest regeneration. Income level generated after the institution of ecotourism was higher than the level of income before (Z = -1442, p = 0.001). Clear indicators need to be established to measure long-term project effectiveness in biodiversity conservation and livelihood sustainability.

Post-war Sustainability-Driven School Buildings: A Review of the Literature

The Safe Schools Declaration of 2015 is an inter-governmental political agreement signed by several countries designed to protect the schooling of the school-aged population during armed conflicts.Yet,in countries where civil war erupted,schools were demolished.Several school-aged children were either forcibly recruited by governments or coerced by rebel groups to serve in armed fights.As a result,several children were deprived of their education and have remained suffering from deep psychological scars.The central question of the study is:What kind of sustainability-driven school buildings can be initiated in countries that are now enduring peace so that the learning environments are more comfortable and improve the well-being of the war-impacted children and school employees?After reviewing the literature,a strategic conceptual framework that incorporated the synergistic relationship between economic,social,and environmental aspects of sustainability was initiated to map out sustainable school buildings.In short,the conceptual framework proposed to construct school buildings in some of the war-affected developing countries includes assembling cost-efficiency and eco-effectiveness inputs,using renewable energy sources powered by natural sunlight,collecting rainwater in mud cisterns,reducing emissions of carbon oxides,and empowering the local community to be the main actors to design sustainable buildings during the preconstruction,construction,and post-construction stages to serve as learning spaces for the war-affected occupants and their neighborhoods.

Cross-Cultural Comparison of Environmental Education Curriculum Integration Strategies in Different Countries

This study presents an in-depth analysis of the integration of environmental education within various curricula and its effectiveness in fostering critical thinking and environmental awareness among students.Through a comparative approach,the research evaluated the impact of different teaching methods and curriculum designs on students’learning outcomes.Key findings indicate that interdisciplinary environmental education significantly enhances students’understanding of sustainability issues and their ability to engage critically with environmental challenges.The study also highlights the importance of community involvement and governmental policy support for the successful implementation of environmental education programs.Innovative teaching methods,including inquiry-based and project-based learning,were found to be particularly effective in increasing student engagement and learning.The research concludes with recommendations for future studies to expand the scope of investigation,explore long-term impacts,and leverage technology to enhance environmental education.The findings of this study are instrumental for policymakers,educators,and curriculum developers in their efforts to cultivate a more environmentally literate and responsible generation.

Research on the Practical Effects and Challenges of Social-Emotional Learning in Elementary Education

This research investigates the practical effects and challenges of Social-Emotional Learning(SEL)in elementary education through a mixed-methods approach.The study involved a thorough analysis of SEL’s impact on students’emotional development,social skills,academic performance,and behavioral issues across three case study schools.Findings indicate significant positive effects of SEL on students’abilities to recognize and manage emotions,engage in social interactions,and improve academic achievements.However,challenges such as teacher training,curriculum integration,family and community involvement,and resource limitations were identified.The study concludes with recommendations for enhancing SEL practices in elementary education,emphasizing systematic teacher training,curriculum design,and continuous assessment and improvement.Future research directions are suggested to explore the long-term effects of SEL and its adaptation in various educational contexts.

Community-led initiatives for the rehabilitation and management of vernacular settlements in Oman:a phenomenon in the making

Once abandoned for more than three decades,vernacular settlements in Oman are now being progressively reinvested in to foster the country’s heritage tourism sector.The present research focuses on the emerging phenomenon of community-led initiatives for vernacular heritage rehabilitation and adaptive reuse in Oman.Through an examination of three case studies,its aim is to describe this process and its modes of action and discuss its efects on vernacular settlement transformations.A mixed research methodology was designed to include(A)analyses of relevant primary and secondary data,(B)documented onsite observations,(C)interviews with local community representatives and key players in the operations of rehabilitation,and(D)extractions and analyses of quantitative data from a hotel booking website.The research sheds light on unsuspected interrelations within and between the projects being implemented in these settlements and their operating modes.It reveals the focal role of a local community in a kind of‘bottom-up’management of its built heritage,coupled with a‘horizontal cooperation’between the three initiatives studied in this research.Moreover,it shows that a heavily centralised and top-down policy for the feld of heritage conservation and management is among the main obstacles that hinder such initiatives.Furthermore,community-led operations of vernacular heritage rehabilitation are being undertaken under insufcient regulations in terms of land use,building restoration and adaptive reuse.In this context,the paper discusses some of the serious threats and concerns faced by such initiatives and proposes actionable solutions to mitigate these hindrances.

Eco-pesantren: Islamic Education in Forest Conservation Landscapes

This article examines Islamic boarding schools(pesantren)as traditional Indonesian Islamic educational institutions,showing a new face as agents in nature conserva-tion,especially forest conservation and considering Indonesia as a country with the best tropical forest land in the world and pesantren as indigenous Islamic educa-tional institutions owned by Indonesia.This study finds pesantren as the landscape of a forest conservation movement started by the Al-Ittifaq pesantren and the Ecope-santren community.By focusing on the eco-centric paradigm where Islamic teach-ings teach the concept of forest conservation,this concept is rarely taught in tra-ditional Islamic educational institutions such as pesantren.The results found that the eco-pesantren model was created by integrating religious education and ecolog-ical conceptions of dialectical qauliyah and kauniyah verses through the involve-ment of community alliances.Kyai's leadership behaviour is a key factor where all three(meditation,mediation,and reflection)are formed based on the two powers of authority in Weber's tripartite(legal-formal and transformational).This study con-tributes that Islamic education is a religious institution that teaches forest conser-vation movements through an eco-pesantren format.This research contributes that pesantren can synergise religion and forest conservation movements through the eco-pesantrenformat.

The Study on Strategy of Sustainable Development in Coastal Tourism Resources from the Global Change Perspective

Global change is induced by human activities and these changes impact tourism development. The transportation system especial y aviation consumed by tourists and accommodation facilities in coastal destinations release massive greenhouse gases and contribute to global change. The ocean is very important to the society and the economy, and coastal tourism is one of the main human activities in the coastal zone. Coastal tourism resources are rich in China, and coastal tourism plays a decisive role in the marine economy. Here, we analyze problems and chal enges during the development of coastal tourism resources from the global change perspective, and identify key factors for the future and ecologically friendly coastal tourism resource development and management under the framework of sustainable development. Based on our ifndings we recommend changing the pattern and products of coastal tourism to develop low carbon coastal tourism based on the idea of“green thinking”;more attention on developments of creative tourism products such as ecotourism and alternative tourism;changes to coastal tourism resource utilization by developing low carbon coastal tourism, advocating carbon emission reduction, promoting carbon compensation and carbon economy, and encouraging new energy saving technology application. Stakeholders also need to be considered. All these measures should be implemented and optimized during the process of planning-management-monitoring-evaluation in the dynamic model. Due to limited data on coastal tourism resource development and management in the global change perspective, part of our reference data is from whole tourism research results and this is a shortcoming of our approach.