Protected Areas in Azerbaijan: Landscape-Ecological Diversity and Sustainability (original) (raw)
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A’WOT analysis for sustaınability of biodiversity and tourism in Shahdagh Natıonal Park, Azerbaijan
Journal of geology, geography and geoecology, 2022
Shahdag National Park is the largest protected area in Azerbaijan, as well as in the South Caucasus. The article examines the sustainable development of tourism and biodiversity in the national park and surrounding areas. For this purpose, SWOT analysis was conducted using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) tools to implement planning. The study identified internal and external environmental factors influencing the national park and presented specific strategies for sustainability. Interviews and surveys were conducted with the management of the national park, as well as visitors, to identify the factors affecting the development of the park. During the analysis of the survey results, factors affecting biodiversity and tourism were taken into account, such as ecological sustainability, economic efficiency, and social responsibility, which are key indicators of sustainable development. Thus, the initial SWOT analysis identified the strengths and weaknesses of the park as internal factors, as well as the opportunities and challenges related to external factors. For each category, 5 factors were selected according to their importance and evaluated in terms of effectiveness by establishing a hierarchy. Based on the assessment, local and global weights of factors were calculated. Mountain ecosystems and the biodiversity of the national park received the highest rating value as an internal factor. Among the external factors, reducing the impact on ecosystems and opportunities to increase tourism revenues received a high score for its effectiveness. For the sustainable development of the research area, factors covering various aspects of society and the envi ronment were comprehensively analyzed, and strategies were proposed that incorporate more scientifically effective and systematic attributes. The results showed that the main condition is to increase the protection regime of ecosystems identified as a priority in the national park and to raise public awareness of environmental issues. In addition, the use of the park's tourism potential by local communities and the creation of stimulating business opportunities for entrepreneurs can make a positive contribution to sustainable development at the regional level.
Over the last 15 years, Azerbaijan doubled its protected areas territory to almost 10% of the countries territory. Although the daily management of the existing strictly protected areas continues to be challenging, the establishment of nine national parks has been a remarkable achievement. Yet, is Azerbaijan ready for a second wave of spatial conservation, in particular the UNESCO MAB concept? The designation of biosphere reserves (BR), with its focus on integrated sustainable development and conservation, are the expressed political will of the government. History, traditions, rural lifestyle, high biodiversity value and local identity would all qualify for the establishment of BRs in many regions of the country and for a participation in the World Network of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves. Yet, in a political context and in relation to governance and civil society engagement, which is a baseline for a 'model region of sustainable development', gaps are immanent. Nomination and designation of a biosphere reserve might be possible in the current autocratic governance scheme. Yet we find, that the implementation the UNESCO MAB philosophy, which is based on inter alia participation of administration, local communities and rural stakeholder, is hampered by this present day political reality.
This study analyses landscape components and human activities, in two different protected landscapes. The main purpose of this work is to measure landscape elements, mainly land cover patches within tourism zones. Outputs of the landscape quantification are numerical values, which is possible to interpret toward to the quality of an ongoing ecologic process in landscape. The interpretation of the quantified data will be used to determine ecologic signification of landscape in selected study areas. This research examines land cover patches in the protected areas by a set of landscape metrics for area, size, density, shape and diversity (Number of patches-NP, Patch's density-PD, Mean patch size-MPS, Patch's size standard deviation – PSSD, Mean shape index – MSI, and Shannon's Diversity Index-SHDI). First landscape is represented by Protected Landscape Area of Štiavnica Mountains, located in Slovakia, and second landscape is represented by Special purpose area of " Fruška Gora " National Park in Serbia. The classification of land cover patches was based on Corine Land Cover 2000 (CLC2000) seamless vector data. The result of the tourism impact on the landscape in protected area (Slovakia and Serbia) is the fragmentation of land cover patches. Recreational activities are the main reason of disruptions the integrity of the landscape in researched tourism zones. The increase of the landscape fragmentation may lead to the decreasing of biodiversity in future.
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Bosnia and Herzegovina's Nature Protection Law complies with significant European directives and conventions intended to safeguard habitat and biodiversity. The objectives of the paper are to investigate Bosnia and Herzegovina's legal framework for managing natural resources and to identify protected areas as the spots of sustainable tourism. Bosnia and Herzegovina is home to a wide range of biodiversity due to its three distinct geographical zones, the Mediterranean, Euro Siberian-Bore American, and Alpine-Nordic Highlands. As a result, more protected areas are being established, with Sarajevo creating the first protected area that adheres to IUCN guidelines. Recently, new protected areas have been added to Bosnia and Herzegovina's tourism supply to meet the rising demand for natural places. Bosnia and Herzegovina is perceived as an ecotourism destination by the majority of its citizens, hence the trend toward protected areas is seen as favorable.
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This paper is one of the results of three years research (2016-2019) of specific habitats of salinesteppes and forest steppes along the Mostonga River, in the northern part of Serbia (Autonomous Province of Vojvodina), with the aim of their valorization and protection in the future. Here is also situated a natural areain the process of protection known as "Middle Mostonga".An integral part of protection declaration procedure is the creation of so-called "Protection study", as a basic document for the planning of protection guidelines for certain natural areas, buttt also includes tourism development analysis. Therefore, the working group, composed of representatives of the Institute for Nature Conservation of Vojvodina Province in Novi Sad and the University of Novi Sad (Faculty of Sciences - Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management), examined the opportunities for ecotourism development in the area of "Middle Mostonga". The main objective ...
Assessing the effectiveness of protected area management in the Turkish Caucasus
Despite expected benefits such as conservation, recreation or sustainable development, most protected areas (PAs) have serious problems in implementing basic management functions such as planning, organizing, coordination or control. In order to maximize management effectiveness, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has developed the rapid assessment and prioritization of protected area management (RAPPAM) methodology for assessment of protected area management at system level based on planning, pressure and threats, inputs, processes and outputs. The RAPPAM assessment was implemented in the Turkish part of the West Lesser Caucasus for 11 PAs with 3 different categories. Two meetings were conducted with the participation of 70 people in possession of the best local knowledge about the PAs in the region. The results show that management assessment scores in all areas were rather low and this finding was similar throughout Turkey. In general, policy environment scores were remarkably below the average, showing that the importance and priority of conservation among public policies is rather low. Threats in the region were high in areas with high biological diversity. Further, semi natural processes, pollution, conversion and tourism appeared to be the greatest threat and pressure elements for the PAs in the region. . Tel: +90 462 377 2836.
RUDN Journal of Ecology and Life Safety
The high growth rate of consumption of natural resources by people in the last century have seriously and negatively affected ecosystems and led to the loss of biodiversity. At present, it is important to take the necessary measures to ensure sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. Ecological networks play an important role in maintaining and controlling the stability and balance of communication between ecosystem complexes. For this purpose, the possibility of creating an ecological network that includes core areas, buffer zones, ecological corridors and restoration areas in the section of Shamakhi district of the Shahdagh National Park was explored. The designated buffer zone of the national park includes 14 villages and 1 settlement type administrative unit. Mountainous landscapes predominate in the area, and the absolute height ranges from 500-200 m. Riverbeds, intermountain depression, mountain passes, trails and forests which should be planted in the areas we of...
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Identifying various geomorphologic units with ecotourism attraction and determining the high-quality landscape are important steps in order to improve the quality and protecting natural ecosystems. The present study aims to achieve a more appropriate landscape pattern in the framework of ecotourism development in the geo-tourism region of Bishe Waterfall, in Iran taking into account the landscape quality assessment and landscape ecological indicators. Appropriate ways are proposed to develop ecotourism for achieving sustainable ecotourism. For data analysis, Arc GIS, Idrisi and Fragstats software were used. Also, The area of the study was determined using google earth software, and LAND SAT and NDVI images were used to produce vegetation type and density maps. The landscape quality units were evaluated by the development of landforms, and then 18 areas were selected as scenic landscapes and verified by using questionnaires. To evaluate the visual aspect, the area was divi...
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Ecotourism in protected areas facilitates responsible travel to natural places that conserve the environment, deliver economic benefits to local communities, and offer interpretation and education to visitors. Proper planning and sufficient monitoring of ecotourism sustainability indicators is needed to manage visitor activities in protected areas. Therefore, identifying the major impacts and mitigating them in the early stages of ecotourism development could contribute significantly to the achievement of sustainable development. There is a current gap between the situation in the field and academic contributions to this problem in protected areas of Iran. In the present study, we evaluated ecotourism sustainability levels in four different types of protected areas in Iran, including Lar National Park, Jajrud Protected Area with Sustainable Use of Natural Resource Areas, Tangeh Vashi National Natural Monument, and Kavdeh Wildlife Refuge. We developed a comprehensive list of ecotouri...