The role of forest culture in green construction and management of forest parks:merging knowledge-attitude-practice and theory of planned behavior

As a cultural concept refl ecting the relationship between humans and forests,forest culture plays an active role in sustainable forest management.Forest parks provide a wide range of ecosystem services essential for the sustainable development of society,and the relationships between forest culture,green construction and management of forest parks have practical signifi cance.This study aimed to understand the interaction and process of forest culture infl uencing green construction and management in forest parks with the models Knowledge-Attitude-Practice(KAP)and Theory of Planned Behavior(TPB)by proposing a theoretical model.Four hypotheses were tested using data collected from 193 forest park employees in Heilongjiang Province,China.Our results show that forest culture had a signifi cant infl uence on green construction and forest management.In addition,subjective norm and perceived behavioral control directly impacted behavior in green construction and management of the forest park,whereas attitude did not have an impact.Subjective norm had a direct eff ect on attitude.Results between constructs show that forest culture had an indirect eff ect on planning and construction,and on ecological and economic management.Consequently,it supported three of four hypotheses within the proposed model in determining the infl uence of forest culture on green construction and management.

Local perceptions of ecosystem services and protection of culturally protected forests in southeast China

Introduction:Culturally protected forests(CPFs),preserved and managed by local people on the basis of traditional practices and beliefs,have social and ecological functions.Local residents’perceptions were investigated in three types of CPFs(community forests,ancestral temple forests,and cemetery forests)in five villages in southeast China.In semi-structured interviews(232 questionnaires),residents were asked about their perceptions concerning ecosystem services and protection of CPFs.Outcomes:The survey results showed that resource utilizationwasnot high inCPFs than inforests without culturally protected.Important ecosystem services provided by CPFs included air quality improvement,water retention,recreation,and aesthetic value.Respondents were satisfied with different cultural services provided by CPFs,including aesthetic value of community forests,ecotourism of ancestral temple forests,and cultural heritage of cemetery forests.Informal rules and traditional customswere used as themainmeasures to govern forests in daily life;however,the most effective measures,in order of importance,were setting fines or punishment by laws,using informal rules and village regulations,or protection by government agencies.Only half of the respondents were willing to pay for maintaining ecosystem services of CPFs,but 77.8%respondents were willing to spend time on protection.From apolicy perspective,educational programs were as important as traditions,and they are crucial to explain the ecological importance of CPFs.Conclusion:The conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services of CPFs will benefit if government agencies consider incorporating CPFs into policy and legislative frameworks,maintain CPFs as collectively owned forests,and introduce ecological compensation mechanisms.