Perceptions of Local People toward Wild Edible Plant Gathering and Consumption:Insights from the Q-method in Hani Terraces

Wild edible plants(WEPs)can provide a variety of provisioning services and cultural services but they are currently under-utilized.Understanding farmers’perceptions of the collection and consumption of wild edible plant resources is essential for promoting local socio-ecological system resilience and local wild plant resource use.This paper uses the Q-method to investigate the main perspectives of farmers toward collecting and consuming wild edible plants in the Honghe Hani Terraces region of Yunnan Province.This analysis identified four main perspective types among the farmers,including market-driven,household user-driven,cultural service seekers,and tradition followers.It revealed the main factors that limit and facilitate farmers’WEP collection and consumption,including limitations due to loss of traditional knowledge,and changes in socioeconomic conditions that negatively affect WEP collection and consumption;while,on the other hand,the demand for WEP-related cultural services and the presence of a strong culture slowed down changes in dietary structure,which in turn have maintained WEP collection and consumption.The Q-method can help in identifying the relationship between community residents and local wild plant resource use in rapidly transitioning areas and in identifying the barriers that affect the resilience of local socio-ecological systems.

Evaluation of water resources conserved by forests in the Hani rice terraces system of Honghe County,Yunnan,China：an application of the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model

The Hani Rice Terraces System, based on gravity-flow irrigation, is one of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems(GIAHS) pilot sites selected by FAO in 2010. The water resource plays an important role in the sustainable development of this system. The value of water conserved by the forest is influenced by natural, economic and social factors. In this paper, the water quality, per capita water resources, per capita GDP and population density are chosen as indices to construct an index system for a comprehensive evaluation of water resources value. The weights of these indices are 0.443, 0.31, 0.141 and 0.106 respectively, which are determined by the analytic hierarchy process(AHP) method. The water resources value has been assessed by the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model. The results show that the water resources value in the Hani Rice Terraces System is 4.25 RMB/m^3. Evaluating the value of water resources in the Hani Rice Terraces System can provide a reference for ecological compensation, for raising public awareness of the importance of protecting the system, and ultimately achieving its sustainable development.

Honghe Hani Rice Terraces

On the south banks of the Honghe River in the mountainous terrain of south Yunnan, the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces cascade down the towering slopes of the Ailao Mountain. Carved out of dense forest over the past 1,300 years by Hani people since they settled here, the irrigated terraces support paddy fields surveying narrow valleys. In some places, there are as many as 3,000 terraces between thelower edges of the forest and the valley floor.

Study on The Ecology System of Hani Terraced Paddy Fields

The ecology system of Hani Terraced Paddy Fields is the typical repre-sentative of the ecological agriculture in the southwestern mountainous areas of our country. After long-term development, Hani ecology system has developed, cored by＂forest-vil age-terrace-river＂, including paddy cultivation system, forests and ecologi-cal maintenance, folk culture and construction of water facilities. This research ex-plored the details of the structure and functions of the ecology system of Hani ter-raced fields. And il ustrates that the system is a new model of agriculture ecological civilization and deserves further study and more applications.

Exploitation Countermeasures of Farming Culture Tourism in the Dabie Mountains: Thinking on the Investigation of Hani Terrace Tourism Development in Yunan Province

Farming culture is the main part of Chinese outstanding traditional culture and also the important spiritual and cultural resources to construct the core values of the Chinese nation. In the new era, fully exploring and making full use of farming culture resources has important practical significance for the protection, inheritance and innovation of Chinese excellent traditional culture. The rapid development and successful brand shaping of Hani terrace tourism could provide experience for the exploration and utilization of farming culture tourism resources in other areas of China. Based on the analysis of development process of Hani terrace tourism as well as the successful experience of other regions for reference, ideas of developing farming culture tourism in the Dabie Mountains were proposed.

Drainage of paddy terraces impacts structures and soil properties in the globally important agricultural heritage of Hani Paddy Terraces,China

Marginalization and abandonment of paddy terraces are widespread,but their effects on the sustainability of subsequent agricultural production are still unknown.Hani Paddy Terraces,included in Globally Important Agriculture Heritage Systems,are threatened by paddy fields drainage.Here,changes in terrace structure,the productivity of topsoil(0-20 cm),and soil water holding capacity at 0-70 cm depth were determined in a case study of Hani Paddy Terraces in Amengkong River Basin in Yuanyang County in Southwestern China,which had been converted into dryland terraces for 2-14 years.Our results showed that:(1)The degree of terrace structures degradation exhibited a U-shaped curve with increasing time since draining,with those drained for 5-9 years having the best structure;(2)Soil productivity index decreased first and then increased with time after conversion;(3)Maximum water holding capacity at 0-70 cm soil depth dramatically decreased after conversion and such trend became increasingly obvious with increasing time since conversion.Our study revealed that drainage of paddy terraces along with associated changes in crop and field management led to an increase in soil productivity,but degradation of terrace structures and a decrease in water holding capacity will inhibit restoration to paddy terraces.These findings enhance the understanding of the biophysical changes due to marginalization in paddy terraces.

Standards of Ecological Compensation for Traditional Ecoagriculture:Taking Rice-Fish System in Hani Terrace as an Example

Traditional eco-agriculture provides many ecosystem services which are important for the local environment, especially in mountain areas. In order to encourage the farmers to engage in coo-agriculture, it is necessary to establish an eco-compensation mechanism for them. As the compensation standard is one of key issues in establishing eeo-compensation mechanism, this paper calculated the standard based on the farmers＇ willingness to accept （WTA） and the input-output analysis of eco-compensation. We took the traditional rice-fish eco-agriculture as the research object, conducting field surveys in Hani Terrace of Honghe County. Through the questionnaires in 2o11, we obtained the farmers＇ willingness to accept government compensation and market compensation. Then, the research evaluated the output of eco-compensation, the economic value of rice-fish paddy ecosystem services. Finally, under different market compensation standards, we compared the input and output of government compensation. The results show that, in 2011 the government should to pay farmers 7462 yuan.ha^-1·a^-1 to meet their willingness, but the output （ecological benefit） was only 7393 yuan.ha^-1·a^-1. However, whenthe rice price increases 1 yuan·kg-1 because of the limited use of chemicals in the next year, the government just has to pay farmers 4062 yuan.ha^-1·a^-1 and the surplus will be 3331 yuan.ha^-1·a^-1.

Elevation and Land Use Types Have Significant Impacts on Spatial Variability of Soil Organic Matter Content in Hani Terraced Field of Yuanyang County,China

Soil organic matter （SOM） content is one of the most important indicators of the sustainability of soil. To maintain sustainable soil utilization and management in fragile Hani terraced field, it is meaningful to investigate the effects of topography and land use type on SOM content. Descriptive statistics and geostatistics were used to analyze the data and the kriging method was applied to map the spatial patterns of SOM content. The results showed that the mean SOM content was 32.76 g/kg, with a variation coefficient of 40%. The SOM content was affected by elevation and land use type. As the increase of elevation, the SOM content in Hani terraced field also increased obviously. The SOM content in tea garden, which is almost at high elevation, was the highest in all six land use types, and the SOM content decreased in a following sequence： tea garden 〉 paddy field 〉 corn field 〉 banana garden 〉 cassava field 〉 sugarcane field. In addition, at the same elevation, the paddy field had the highest SOM content compared with other land use types. All these results demonstrate that paddy field is the most efficient and suitable land use type for SOM conservation at high, middle or low elevations in the fragile Hani terraced field. In order to protect soil quality and maintain the sustainable agricultural development, it is necessary to maintain or even to enlarge the area of paddy field in Yuanyang county, Yunnan Province, China.

Values and Conservation of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces System as a GIAHS Site

Agri-cultural Heritage Systems（AHS） have not only various values but also important enlightening roles for modern agriculture.With agro-scientific and technological progress,the traditional agriculture that has lasted for thousands of years is declining gradually,thus is attached the importance of exploring and protecting our AHS.As a traditional agricultural system for 1300 years,the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces System（HHRTS） has many significant characteristics such as beautiful landscapes,distinctive rice varieties,ecologically clean agricultural production systems,systematic methods of managing water and soil and special ethnic culture.It was designated successively as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System（GIAHS） in 2010 and as a World Heritage（WH） in 2013.In this paper,taking HHRTS as an example,we analyzed the economic,ecological,aesthetic,cultural,and social values,as well as the research values,of the GIAHS.We conclude that the restrictions on increasing peasant earnings and improving their living standards are difficult with the low efficiency of traditional planting patterns and the single-industry structure of farming in rugged terrain.However,these restrictive factors are beneficial for developing some industries like green agriculture,organic agriculture or ecological food production because of the clean farmland environment.In the end,we propose the basic approaches to protect the Hani terraces agriculture system should include the local governments to encourage the development of ecotourism,organic agriculture and featuring agriculture by multi-mode economic compensation.It is very important for protecting terraces to coordinate benefits among corporations,governments and villagers by making reasonable policies of compensation.

Effects of Traditional Ecological Knowledge on the Droughtresistant Mechanisms of the Hani Rice Terraces System

The Hani Rice Terraces System is one of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems（GIAHS） sites which can successfully resist extreme droughts.The reason is not only that the forests and terraces have the important function of water conservation,which provide and conserve adequate water resources for this complex ecosystem,but also that Hani traditional ecological knowledge plays an important role in the drought-resistance process.In this paper,drought-resistant mechanisms of the Hani Rice Terraces System have been analyzed first,then Hani traditional ecological knowledge has been analyzed based on a comprehensive literature review,a questionnaire survey and key informant interviews.The results show that the Hani nationality has developed knowledge of water management techniques,including water conserving construction,water allocation and ditch management.The Hani people are also highly conscious of water resources protection.There is a good deal of forest resource management knowledge and worship of forests,which have effectively helped in protecting the forest ecological system.In the reclamation and maintenance of Hani terraced fields,the Hani people have developed a series of farming systems,which have effectively protected the terrace ecosystem.Through analyzing this knowledge of water management,forest resource management and Hani terraced fields management,our paper confirms the important role that traditional ecological knowledge plays in maintaining stability of the system and realizing the efficient use of water resource.This is not only helpful for preserving cultural heritage,but is vital for protecting the Hani Rice Terraces System as a whole.

Soil Nutrient Distribution in Two Typical Paddy Terrace Wetlands Along an Elevation Gradient During the Fallow Period

Soil nutrient concentrations in the top soils from two paddy terraces were determined in order to investigate spatial distributions of soil nutrients along the elevations on the Yunnan plateau of China during the fallow period.Results showed that soil nutrients in both terraces were higher than the reference concentrations except for SOC,TN,TP and Fe.Soil macronutrients didn't show significant differences in both terraces except for Mg and Ca,so did soil micronutrients except for Mn.Spatial distribution patterns of soil nutrients along the increasing elevations were different in both terraces.However,soil nutrients in both terraces were generally not significantly influenced by the elevations and soil pH values.The findings of this study can contribute to soil fertility management and ecological protection of Hani terraces.

Conceptual Framework for Key Element Identification in Important Agricultural Heritage Systems(IAHS):Case of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces System in China

With the continuous emergence of global development problems,the dynamic conservation and sustainable development of Important Agricultural Heritage Systems(IAHS)have been assigned greater importance.However,due to the complex structure,multi-component,dynamic,and open characteristics of IAHS,there are neglected problems which need to be solved in conservation practice,such as component element ambiguity,obscurity of the conservation redline,etc.This study defined the concept of key elements(KE)of IAHS,put forward a conceptual framework of KE identification,conducted empirical research by taking Honghe County of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces System(HHRTS)as an example and analyzed the level of recognition motivations for different stakeholder groups.The following conclusions were drawn:1)The KE of HHRTS are grain crops,rice species biodiversity,terrace construction and maintenance technique,Hani traditional festivals,Hani traditional foods,and virgin forest;2)The reasons behind the KE priorities of farmers,businessmen and tourists were at the micro level,the reasons of officers were at the middle level and the reasons of researchers were at the macro level.The empirical study conducted in HHRTS showed that the proposed conceptual framework could identify KE of IAHS effectively,and provided a theoretical perspective for the structuring of and essential need for IAHS research.Moreover,the KE recognition levels of different stakeholder groups reflected their potential action strategies.We should focus on the coherence of policies and measures in both the microscale and macroscale to balance the diversified demands of stakeholders,and to stimulate their enthusiasm for participation in the conservation in order to improve the management level of IAHS sites.

A bi-scale assessing framework for aesthetic ecosystem services of villages in a world heritage site

The relative spatial scale relationship of observers and ecosystem and their aesthetic dynamic interaction process are fundamental to evaluation and optimization of aesthetic ecosystem service(AES).A comprehensive and efficient framework for the assessment of AES is lack in the integration of scale relationship and dynamic process.This study took 9 villages in 4 different developmental stages(traditional,folk,rapidly changed,newly built)in Honghe Hani Rice Terraces,a world heritage site,as the research object.From two scales,viewing from inside and outside,the bi-scale assessing framework was established,which includes the three components of interaction process,connection area(as precondition of interaction),quality(as result of interaction),and influencing factors of quality(elements’characteristics of villages).Among them,the connection areas were evaluated with visual and traffic accessibility along the route.The quality and influencing factors were evaluated through participatory preferences methods by expert group.The influencing factors include 9 characteristics,such as,space size,architecture layout,vegetation species richness,color diversity.The results suggested that villages with high AES quality and low accessibility need to be optimized,and the key influencing factors are space size,architecture layout,color harmony and surrounding sanitation.Therefore,the bi-scale assessing framework can provide important references for decision making and visual protection regulations on the villages.

Identifying Landscape Pattern Metrics for the Hani Terrace in Yunnan, China

This study seeks to isolate a select group of landscape metrics particularly well-suited for describing the Hani Terrace in southwest of China.We examined the response of 47 landscape metrics to a large range of imagery grain sizes.Based on a correlation analysis,the original 47 metrics were placed into 21 groups such that all metrics within a group were strongly correlated with each other with a value of more than 0.9,and were represented by a single descriptor.Using these cross-sectional metrics in the context of principal components analysis,we found that five factors explained almost 93％ of the total variation in the landscape pattern.The highest loadings for these five factors were the Splitting index （SPLIT）,Patch area distribution （AREA_CV）,Shannon＇s diversity index （SHDI）,Euclidean nearest neighbor distance distribution （ENN_AM）,and Total core area （TCA）,respectively.Considering the real landscape,we added the Patch fractal dimension distribution （FRAC_MN） as the sixth landscape pattern metric.As the scale effect of landscape pattern metrics we design to investigate how a suite of commonly use landscape metrics respond to changing grain size.Based on the anlasis,we determined that the best domain of scale to characterise the Hani Terrace pattern metrics is between 40m and 45m.Through the fractal method,we found that the characteristic scale of the Hani Terrace is the same as the scale domain of metrics,among the 40m and 45m.We suggest that the majority of the patterns in the Hani Terrace landscapes,indeed for all those in southwest China,can be described effectively with these six metrics.

Transportation Accessibility of Central Towns in Important Agricultural Heritage Systems Sites in Mountainous Areas and Its Impact on Local Economic Development: A Case Study of Honghe Hani Rice Terraced System, Yunnan

Transportation as a means to support industrial development can impact the economic development of important agricultural heritage sites. Because the central towns in mountainous areas have weak economic interactions with each other, an appropriate method is needed to evaluate their transportation accessibility. This paper takes the Honghe Hani Rice Terraced System(HHRTS) as a study area and develops a model to determine shortest time-distances from central towns in the study area to the nearest high-grade city as a way to evaluate transportation accessibility(TA). We then analyze the relationship between the accessibility of these towns and their economies. The study finds that the TA of the central towns in HHRTS is not good as a whole. More than 70% of the towns are more than 1 hour away from their nearest high-grade city. Of the four counties in the study area, Yuanyang County has the best traffic conditions, while Lvchun County has the worst traffic conditions. The central towns in the northern and middle regions have better TA than those in the west, southwest and east margin regions. The small-scale rural economy has little dependence on the transportation network, while secondary industries are obviously impacted by the transportation network. In the future, to support the integrated development of industries in HHRTS, traffic conditions in each town should be improved appropriately according to the industrial orientation of the town, but excessive investments to construct roads irrespective of eco-environmental impacts and economic benefits should be avoided. Especially in the case of ecologically vulnerable towns, the building high-grade roads should be banned.

Vertical characteristics of the Hani terrace paddyfield ecosystem in Yunnan,China

The Hani terrace paddyfield in Yunnan Province,China is categorized as a‘constructed wetland’under the Lamsar Convention classification.The Hani terrace paddyfield ranges from an altitude of 144 to 2000 m above sea level(ASL)in the southern slopes of the Ailao Mountains,angling down at a range of 15°to 75°.In this study,we investigated the ecosystem of the terrace paddyfields in the Mengpin and Quanfuzhuang administrative villages located at the center of the cultural heritage conservation district in the Hani terrace paddy-field.The Hani terrace paddyfield ecosystem structure is"forest-village-terrace paddyfield-river"in the order of descending altitude.Soil and water samples were sequen-tially taken from forests,villages and the terrace paddy-fields to be able to study the vertical characteristics of Hani’s terrace paddyfields.PO_(4)-P and NH_(3)-N in water were measured to test for water contamination.Seven soil nutrient factors were tested,including organic material(OM),char and nitrogen ratio(C/N),pH,total nitrogen(TN),total phosphorus(TP),available phosphorus(AP),and available potassium(AK).Soil quality was also eval-uated using the characteristics of the soil nutrient factors.Vertical changes in the landscape,wetland types,wetland plants,hydrology and soil nutrients were characterized.Results showed that:(1)Hani’s terrace paddyfield can be divided into five types of wetlands;the rice varieties and cultivation patterns vary in each type of wetland.(2)Hani’s terrace paddyfield has a great capacity for water conservation and a strong ability to purify contaminants.The impoundage of Hani’s terrace paddyfield is about 5050 m^(3)/hm^(2).Contaminants in the terrace paddyfield soils decrease exponentially with the decline in altitude.(3)Comparison of soil quality in five different land use types indicates decreasing soil quality from forest to terrace land to terrace paddyfield to water source.Except for headwater soil,single factors such as OM,TN and TP,and the comprehensive soil quality in individual sampling zones tend to increase with altitude elevation.Comprehensive soil quality in the Quanfuzhuang sampling zone is better than in the Mengpin sampling zone.Finally,a comparison of Hani’s terrace paddyfield with plain paddyfields and natural wetlands highlighted the vertical characteristics of Hani’s terrace paddyfield.

Spatial Variability Analysis of Soil Nutrients Based on GIS and Geostatistics:A Case Study of Yisa Township, Yunnan, China

Hani rice terraces system is one of the Globaly Important Agricultural Heritage Systems （GIAHS） pilot sites selected by FAO. Soil nutrients are an important symbol of soil fertility, and play an important role in the sustainable utilization of land. Based on geo-statistics and GIS, the spatial variation of pH, organic matter, total nitrogen, alkaline hydrolyzable nitrogen, available phosphorus and available potassium in the soil in Yisa （a town in Honghe County, Yunnan Province） was studied. The results show that the spatial variability of pH, organic matter, total nitrogen, alkaline hydrolyzable nitrogen and available potassium exhibited medium spatial variability, and the coefficients of variation are 12.54%, 40.14%, 40.00%, 34.89%, and 40.00% respectively. Available phosphorus exhibited strong spatial variability, and the coefifcient of variation is 102.13%. The spatial variation of pH, organic matter, total nitrogen, alkaline hydrolyzable nitrogen and available potassium fit the index mode, however, the spatial variation of available phosphorus ifts the spherical model. Total nitrogen, available phosphorus and available potassium were greatly affected by soil structural factors, while pH, organic matter and alkaline hydrolyzable nitrogen were affected by both structural and random factors. The spatial distribution of soil nutrients in Yisa was intuitively characterized by Kriging interpolation. It is very important to understand the spatial distribution of soil nutrients, which wil provide the guidance for adjusting agricultural management measures such as fertilization.