Social transformations of cultural heritage: from benefaction to sponsoring: Evidence from mountain regions in Greece

The concept of benefaction,as shaped in the pre-industrial society,has been altered and replaced by the modern term of sponsoring.The verbal transformation emerges from a deep cultural shift.Focusing on the dipole of benefactionsponsoring,we examine the cultural transition from the traditional communities of long duration to the modern societies of consumption,taking the Greek mountainous regions as an example.We investigate the cultural shift that generates the metastasis from the communities of benefaction to the modern brandplaces that consume their own cultural heritage,mainly,at the altar of the tourism industry.Modern society has adopted the concept of sponsoring,for the grace of which,culture has to prove evidence of economic value,in order to survive.In the extremely competitive frame of the free-market economy,mountain regions appear vulnerable.The selling and buying of their culture are tempting and attractive under a constantly shrinking welfare-state and narrowing development opportunities.It depends on local and national society to rediscover and regenerate those social mechanisms able to create culture or let the modern consumption-oriented forces prevail.However,authentic principles of benefaction may form an alternative perspective for social reorganization.

The Major Challenges and Strategies for the Development of Green Economy in China's Mountain Regions Based on the Theory of Comparative Advantage

Based on the theory of comparative advantage,this paper analyzes the major challenges facing the development of green economy in China's mountain regions. The results show that in the development of green economy,the mountain regions have factor endowment and development conditions with comparative advantage,but they are also facing more challenges. In the future,the mountain regions need to make favorable development measures based on their own comparative advantages from the following four aspects: at the top design level,it is necessary to ensure green development through institutional innovation; at the regional level,it is necessary to lead green development through the differentiation strategy; at the industrial level,it is necessary to support green development through transformation and innovation; at the social level,it is necessary to focus on protecting vulnerable groups and give full play to the role of women to promote sharing of green development achievements.

Strengthening Children's Education in Mountain Regions

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Green Tourism in Mountain Regions-Reducing Vulnerability and Promoting People and Place Centric Development in the Himalayas

In recent years, mountain regions are attracting great attention to Indian tourists in general and foreign tourists in particular. The potential mountain resources for promoting green tourism are enormous in the form of natural and cultural heritage such as biosphere reserves, flora and fauna, lakes and rivers and traditional rural resources. In order to utilise tourism industry market, uncontrolled numbers of tourists and related haphazard infrastructural facilities in the vulnerable mountain regions pose serious environmental implications. The ecological pressures are threatening land, water and wild life resources through direct and indirect environmental impacts together with generation of solid and liquid wastes, so green tourism is emerging as an important task in order to develop new relationship between communities, government agencies and private sectors. The strategy focuses on ecological understanding, environmental protection and ecodevelopment. The major attributes of the green tourism include environmental conservation and education and distribution of income to local people based on strong partnership. Various knowledge systems go a long way for achieving the goals of the green tourism, which creates awareness about the value of environmental resources. Mountains have ecological, recreational, educational and scientific values, which need to be utilised in sustainable way. Various tourist activities and facilities need to be diversified in order to achieve multiple benefits including scientific field excursion, recreation in natural and cultural areas, community festivals and sport tourisms. Green tourism considers tourism development as an integral part of a national and regional development. The paper discusses the social, economic and environmental dimensions of the green tourism with particular reference to village tourism development programme taking empirical evidences from the Himalaya. Such programme also minimises biophysical and human vulnerability and risks in mountain regions. The environmental consciousness campaign and introduction of code through multi- purpose Tourist Resource Centres are gaining currency in above context.

Surface area processing in GIS for different mountain regions

Surface area is a fundamental parameter derived from terrain analysis in geographical information systems （GIS） for modeling the real world. Therefore, an evaluation of the techniques implemented by GIS models is important in order to obtain reliable area measurements. The study compares two raster-based methods with a TIN-based （triangulated irregular network） method for surface area approximation using a digital elevation model （DEM） with 25 m × 25 m resolution in six mountain regions of Shandong Province, China. Raster-based method I calculates surface-area grids from DEMs directly. Eight 3-dimensional triangles connecting the center point of each cell with the center points of the eight surrounding cells are generated and then the areas of the portions of each triangle that lay within the cell boundary are calculated and summed. Raster-based method Ⅱ produces the surface area of each cell directly from the pixel size and the slope value for the pixel. The results demonstrate that the surface areas calculated by rasterbased method I are equal to those of the TIN-based method. The results of raster-based method Ⅱ are the lowest but the difference in areas between the two raster-based methods decreases with the decrease in terrain complexity. Compared to the method with TINs, raster-based method II can do better because it has some advantages, such as neighborhood analysis, more consistent output and faster processing speed. The results also demonstrate that the difference between surface and horizontal areas should be considered if more than 30% of the area of a region has slopes steeper than 18.2 degrees.

Land use optimization for sustainable development of mountain regions of western Serbia

This study analyses the possibilities for optimal land use structure in mountainous areas of rural Serbia, which is faced with problems such as unfavorable terrain characteristics and inadequate land use patterns causing economic underdevelopment and increasing population migration. In the case of a small privately owned farm in Western Serbia, optimal land use pattern is determined using the linear programming model. The objective function-cost-effectiveness or soil erosion reduction, as well as constraints, are formulated using the benefit-cost ratio(BCR) for a 15-year production period and soil losses data calculated using the Universal Soil Loss Equation(USLE). The best results are achieved using the scenario with the aim to minimize soil erosion, considering the BCR in the constraints. This scenario is proposed since it was registered that the benefit for landowners would increase by five times, while the losses of land would decline about 80%. The sensitivity analysis of investments is performed to check whether the price variation affects the cost-effectiveness of proposed land use. Results show that market changes(nine cases are considered) do not lead to significant changes in land use allocation. Proposed land use pattern improves the environmental condition, strengthens the rural economy and thus offers the greatest potential for sustainable development of mountainous rural areas.

Land degradation in the subtropical hilly andmountain regions of South China

Land degradation, caused by water erosion. closely related to inherent vulnerabilities of itseco-environment in South China. Spatial variation of land degradation from top to foot of a slope wasmainly induced by differentiation of surface materials and their erodibility, nutrient and moisture dueto downslope variation of land erosion. It was showed by comparing maps of land degradationbetween the 1950s and the 1980s that changes of land degradation varied from one area to anotherbecause of differences of human activities, including land reclamation and vegetation depletion.

Trace metal contamination in soils from mountain regions across China:spatial distribution,sources,and potential drivers

Trace metal contamination in soils is a threat with an uncertain limit to maintain planet safety,and the issue of trace metal contamination in mountain soils is still of low concerned.In this study,we assessed the contamination of six trace metals(Cd,Cr,Cu,Ni,Pb,and Zn)in mountain soils across China and deciphered the potential drivers of their spatial distribution.The results showed that concentrations of Cd and Pb decreased significantly with soil depth,and their concentrations were markedly higher in northwest,south,and southwest China than elsewhere.Among the metals,Cd was the priority for control with moderate to heavy contamination,followed by Pb,whereas the other metals did not show evident contamination.The altitudinal pattern and isotopic tracing revealed that the significant enrichment and marked contamination of Cd and Pb in surface soils were primarily attributed to deposition through long-range transboundary atmospheric transport and condensation.Ore mining,nonferrous smelting,and coal and fuel combustion were identified as primary anthropogenic sources of the Cd and Pb.Soil organic matter content,pH,and soil forming processes directly determined the accumulation of trace metals in the soils,and orographic effects,including local climate,vegetation composition,and canopy filtering,regulated the spatial distribution of the metals.This study highlights the significance of soil Cd contamination in mountains,which are considered of low concern,and suggests that long-term monitoring of trace metal contamination is necessary to improve biogeochemical models that evaluate the responses of the mountain critical zone to future human-and climate-induced environmental changes.

Spatial distribution of mountainous regions and classifications of economic development in China

China is a mountainous country with a great diversity of landform and geomorphology.This diversity underlines the need for regionalization and classification.This study defines the mountain terrains and regions with three criteria-elevation,relative height,and slope,and examines the extent of mountainous regions by using county as the basic administrative unit.According to the three parameters of economic base,resident income and development potential,we classified the economic development level in mountainous regions of China.The findings reveal that the extent of the mountainous region accounts for 74.9% of the China's Mainland's total area.The economic development of mountainous regions in China is classified into 4 main types and 23 subtypes.

Effectiveness of farmland transfer in alleviating farmland abandonment in mountain regions

Farmland abandonment is a type of land use change in the mountain region,and this change is under rapid development. Whether farmland transfer can prevent this process and promote the effective allocation of land resources or not is a question worth studying and discussion. With the help of the previous research findings,the objective of this paper was to find out the role of farmland transfer on preventing farmland abandonment,by using the methods of multiple view with two factors,and single factor correlation analysis. The results showed that:(1) At village level,a significant negative correlation between farmland transfer and farmland abandonment existed in the study site,with R2 = 0.7584. This correlation of farmland with high grade farming conditions presented more outstandingly. The fitted curve for the farmland at Level I had the largest R2 at 0.288,while that for the farmland at Level IV had the smallest R2 at 0.103. Which indicated that farmland transfer could prevent the abandonment of farmland with high grade farming conditions?(2) At plot level,the abandonment rate of farmland with high grade farming conditions was significantly lower than that of farmland with poor grade farming conditions. It was the lowest at 10.49% for the farmland with Level I farming conditions,whereas the farmland with Level I farming conditions was 26.21%. Abandoned farmland was mainly contributed by farmland with Level IV farming conditions in the study site.(3) At village level,the role of farming conditions on farmland abandonment was insignificant. The univariate correlation analysis revealed that the abandonment ratio was negatively correlated with the proportions of farmland at Levels I and II and their accumulated proportion; however,their R2 were small at 0.194,0.258,and 0.275,respectively. The abandonment of farmland with high farming conditions still existed. The abandonment ratios of farmland at Levels I and II were high at 9.96% and 10.60%,respectively. This presented that farmland transfer on behalf of the land rental market was still not developed.(4) However,the village possessed the high rate of farmland transfer,and its rate of farmland abandonment with high grade farming conditions was all lower. When the transfer ratios of farmland were over 20%,the abandonment ratios of farmland at Levels I and II were 6.47% and 6.92%,respectively. Farmland abandonment was still controlled by the improvement of land rental market. And the functions of land rental market optimizing the utilization of farmland resources have been presented to a certain degree.(5) To further improve the marketing degree of land rental,the probability of farmland abandonment could be reduced. Especially,their function to farmland with high grade farming conditions was very obvious,and could avoid the waste of farmland resources with high grade farming conditions.

Scattered Rural Settlements and Development of Mountainous Regions in Western Sichuan,China

Making rural settlements of Mountainous Regions in Western Sichuan as the study objects and using symbolic statistical methods, then combining the case study of Daofu County, the paper analyzes the negative impact of the scattered rural settlements on infrastructure construction, farmers＇ income increase and mountain ecological reconstruction in mountainous regions of western Sichuan. The results indicate that economic density is positively related to both rural settlements density （R^2=0.73） and rural population density （R^2=0.77）, and it is the same for relationship between towns density and rural settlements density （R^2=0.88） and between towns density and economic density （R^2=0.71）, and the scattered distribution pattern of the rural settlements and shortage of economic centers is a major factor to the lagged socioeconomic development. On the eco-economic zoning to Daofu County, the paper indicates the spatial distribution model and the industrial development model of the rural settlements need to be changed, and rural population should be concentrated in larger rural settlements with development of off-farm industries while infrastructure construction is to reinforced.

Hydrochemical characteristics of surface water in Hengduan mountain region of Eastern Tibet and its response to human activities:A case study of Duoqu Basin,Jinsha River

The analysis of hydrochemical characteristics and influencing factors of surface river on plateau is helpful to study water hydrological cycle and environmental evolution,which can scientifically guide rational development and utilization of water resources and planning of ecological environment protection.With the expansion and diversification of human activities,the quality of surface rivers will be more directly affected.Therefore,it is of great significance to pay attention to the hydrochemical characteristics of plateau surface rivers and the influence of human activities on their circulation and evolution.In this study,surface water in the Duoqu basin of Jinsha River located in Hengduan mountain region of Eastern Tibet was selected as the representative case.Twenty-three groups of surface water samples were collected to analyze the hydrochemical characteristics and ion sources based on correlation analysis,piper trigram,gibbs model,hydrogen and oxygen isotopic techniques.The results suggest the following:(1)The pH showed slight alkalinity with the value ranged from 7.25 to 8.62.Ca^(2+),Mg^(2+)and HCO_(3)^(–)were the main cations and anions.HCO_(3)^(-)Ca and HCO_(3)^(-)Ca·Mg were the primary hydrochemical types for the surface water of Duoqu River.The correlation analysis showed that TDS had the most significant correlation with Ca^(2+),Mg^(2+)and HCO_(3)^(–).Analysis on hydrogen and oxygen isotopes indicated that the surface rivers were mainly recharged by atmospheric precipitation and glacial melt water in this study area.(2)The surface water had a certain reverse cation alternating adsorption,and surface water ions were mainly derived from rock weathering,mainly controlled by weathering and dissolution of carbonates,and secondly by silicates and sodium rocks.(3)The influence of human activities was weak,while the development of cinnabar minerals had a certain impact on the hydrochemistry characteristics,which was the main factor for causing the increase of SO_(4)^(2–).The densely populated county towns and temples with frequent incense burning activities may cause some anomalies of surface water quality.At present,the Duoqu River watershed had gone through a certain influence of mineral exploitation,so the hydrological cycle and river eco-environment at watershed scale will still bound to be change.The results could provide basic support for better understanding water balance evolution as well as the ecological protection of Duoqu River watershed.

Research on Structure Innovation of Agricultural Organization in China's Southwestern Mountainous Regions

Taking agricultural organization in China's southwestern mountainous regions as research object,on the basis of analysis of the status quo of agricultural organization development in China's southwestern mountainous regions,we use related theoretical knowledge on economics and organization science,we probe into the process of innovation and mechanism of action concerning the structure of agricultural organization in China's southwestern mountainous regions over the past 30 years.Finally we draw several general conclusions regarding structure innovation of agricultural organization in China's southwestern mountainous regions as follows:first,the structure innovation of agricultural organization,a gradual process,proceeds ceaselessly along with ongoing progress and development of agriculture,and in this process,farmers always play a fundamental role;second,the structure innovation of agricultural organization is affected by many factors,and government institutional arrangement and change in market conditions is undoubtedly the most critical factor;third,the probable evolving direction of structure innovation of agricultural organization includes internal differentiation of the same form of agricultural organization,association of different forms of agricultural organization,and emergence of other forms of agricultural organization.

Working in Remote Areas Services are scarce in mountainous regions

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Influencing Factors and Prediction of Risk of Returning to Ecological Poverty in Liupan Mountain Region,China

China has resolved its overall regional poverty in 2020 by attaining moderate societal prosperity.The country has entered a new development stage designed to achieve its second centenary goal.However,ecological fragility and risk susceptibility have increased the risk of returning to ecological poverty.In this paper,the Liupan Mountain Region of China was used as a case study,and the counties were used as the scale to reveal the spatiotempora differentiation and influcing factors of the risk of returning to poverty in study area.The indicator data for returning to ecological poverty from 2011-2020 were collected and summarized in three dimensions:ecological,economic and social.The autoregressive integrated moving average model(ARIMA)time series and exponential smoothing method(ES)were used to predict the multidimensional indicators of returning to ecological poverty for 61 counties(districts)in the Liupan Mountain Region for 2021-2030.The back propagation neural network(BPNN)and geographic information system(GIS)were used to generate the spatial distribution and time variation for the index of the risk of returning to ecological poverty(RREP index).The results show that 1)ecological factors were the main factors in the risk of returning to ecological poverty in Liupan Mountain Region.2)The RREP index for the 61 counties(districts)exhibited a downward trend from 2021-2030.The RREP index declined more in medium-and high-risk areas than in low-risk areas.From 2021 to 2025,the RREP index exhibited a slight downward trend.From 2026 to2030,the RREP index was expected to decline faster,especially from 2029-2030.3)Based on the RREP index,it can be roughly divided into three types,namely,the high-risk areas,the medium-risk areas,and the low-risk areas.The natural resource conditions in lowrisk areas of returning to ecological poverty,were better than those in medium-and high-risk areas.

Impacts of land use change on landscape patterns in mountain human settlement:The case study of Hantai District(Shaanxi,China)

Mountain area is an important geographical unit of land,and its ecology is sensitive and fragile.Over the past few decades,human activities have caused dramatic changes in land use in mountainous areas,which caused changes in landscape patterns and impacts on the ecological environment.It is unknown how the mechanism of land use affects the landscape pattern at different scales.The Hantai District,a typical human settlement in the mountain area in Shaanxi,China,was chosen as the study area.Based on the remote sensing images,the mathematical models and landscape indexes were adopted to evaluate the impact of land use change from 1998 to 2017 on the landscape pattern at different scales,and its main driving forces were analyzed.The results showed that the urbanized land expanded largest from 15.39%to 24.30%,and cultivated land experienced the largest decline from 43.54%to 35.35%.Changes in land use have made the patch morphology of most land types developed from a natural random to a sawtooth shape,and its spatial pattern evolved from a ruleset to a fragmented expansion.This reflects the continuous strengthening of human intervention in the process of regional development.Under the jurisdiction of Hantai District,the biggest change in landscape pattern is in Hanzhong City and Qili Town.The improved economy and increasing population and urbanization rate were the main factors that cause these changes.This research could provide necessary information for understanding the evolution mechanism of land resources in mountainous human settlements for mountainous areas with significant geomorphic differentiation.

Mountain ground movement prediction caused by mining based on BP-neural network

Six main influencing factors： slope, aspect, distance, angle, angle of coal seam, and the ratio of depth and thickness, were selected by Grey correlation theory and Grey relational analysis procedure programmed by the MATLAB software package to select the surface movement and deformation parameters. On this basis, the paper built a BP neural network model that takes the six main influencing factors as input data and corresponding value of ground subsidence as output data. Ground subsidence of the 3406 mining face in Haoyu Coal was predicted by the trained BP neural network. By comparing the prediction and the practices, the research shows that it is feasible to use the 13P neural network to predict mountain mining subsidence.

Spatial assessment of forest cover and land-use changes in the Hindu-Kush mountain ranges of northern Pakistan

Anthropogenic activities and natural processes are continuously altering the mountainous environment through deforestation, forest degradation and other land-use changes. It is highly important to assess, monitor and forecast forest cover and other land-use changes for the protection and conservation of mountainous environment. The present study deals with the assessment of forest cover and other land-use changes in the mountain ranges of Dir Kohistan in northern Pakistan, using high resolution multi-temporal SPOT-5 satellite images. The SPOT-5 satellite images of years 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013 were acquired and classified into land-cover units. In addition, forest cover and land-use change detection map was developed using the classified maps of 2004 and 2013. The classified maps were verified through random field samples and Google Earth imagery(Quick birds and SPOT-5). The results showed that during the period 2004 to 2013 the area of forest land decreased by 6.4%, however, area of range land and agriculture land have increased by 22.1% and 2.9%, respectively. Similarly, barren land increased by 1.1%, whereas, area of snow cover/glacier is significantly decreased by 21.3%. The findings from the study will be useful for forestry and landscape planning and can be utilized by the local, provincial and national forest departments; and REDD+ policy makers in Pakistan.

Mountain Commons: Changing Space and Status at Community Levels in the Himalayas

This paper deals with the imperatives of nature-society interaction in the Himalayas as seen through CPR (Common Property Resources). It specifically looks at the process and factors that characterize the dynamics of the above interactions, with particular reference to the changing status and governance of CPRs at community levels. The paper puts together the synthesis of observations and inferences of different studies by ICIMOD and others in mountain regions, particularly in different parts of Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan. Rural CPRs (providing sustenance supplies and services) as an important component of a community’s natural resource base, manifest the institutional arrangements evolved by the communities to facilitate their adaptations to nature. The above process can be more clearly illustrated with reference to specific characteristics of mountain areas, called mountain specificities. However, over time, the situation of CPRs in terms of their extent and status, governance and management as well as contributions to community sustenance, has changed. The paper attempts toindicate potential lead lines for searching options for rehabilitation of CPRs, based on a closer under- standing of the factors contributing to their decline.

Spatial-temporal Pattern and Population Driving Force of Land Use Change in Liupan Mountains Region, Southern Ningxia, China

The Liupan Mountains is located in the southern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China, which forms an important dividing line between landforms and bio-geographic regions. The populated part of the Liupan Mountains region has suffered tremendous ecological damages over time due to population pressure, excessive demand and inappropriate use of agricultural land resources. In this paper, datasets of land use between 1990 and 2000 were obtained from Landsat TM imagery, and then spatial models were used to characterize landscape conditions. Also, the relationship between the population density and land use/cover change (LUCC) was analyzed. Results indicate that cropland, forestland, and urban areas have increased by 44,186ha, 9001ha and 1550ha, respectively while the grassland area has appreciably decreased by 54,025ha in the study period. The decrease in grassland was most notable. Of the grassland lost, 49.4% was converted into cropland. The largest annual land conversion rate in the study area was less than 2%. These changes are attributed to industrial and agricultural development and population growth. To improve the eco-economic conditions in the study region, population control, urbanization and development of an ecological friendly agriculture were suggested.