An ecotourism system that is based on wildlife habitats in ecological systems is considered a social-ecological system that has a feedback relationship with social systems. Increases in socioeconomic activities and tourism infrastructure construction are not conducive to the resilience of wildlife habitats, thereby stressing the ecological system and threatening sustainable ecotourism. Managing resilient wildlife habitats by developing transformation plans that can be used to construct new systems through self-organization and the absorption of stress is paramount to perpetuating sustainable ecotourism systems. This study aims to establish transformation plans to enhance the resilience of systems thinking regarding wildlife habitats. Such thinking involves the sequential application of dynamic thinking, causal thinking, closed-loop thinking, and the discovery of strategies. This study examines the case study of Eulsukdo Island in South Korea, and the following transformation plans are derived: (1) high-quality eco-education programs to help tourists become hard ecotourists; (2) subsidies for foraging area restoration; (3) ecosystem services of wildlife habitats; and (4) governance organization led by multiple actors. The results of this study can provide guidelines for the effective use of natural resources at ecotourism destinations and for the ecotourism development of damaged wildlife habitats.
The dynamics of land-use transitions decrease the coastal resilience of the social-ecological landscape (SEL), particularly in light of the fact that it is necessary to analyze the causal relationship between the two systems because operations of the social system and the ecological system are correlated. The purpose of this study is to analyze the dynamics of the coastal SEL and create a sustainable land-use planning (SLUP) strategy to enhance coastal resilience. The selected study site was Shindu-ri, South Korea, where land-use transitions are increasing and coastal resilience is therefore decreasing. Systems thinking was used to analyze the study, which was performed in four steps. First, the issues affecting the coastal area in Shindu-ri were defined as coastal landscape management, the agricultural structure, and the tourism industry structure. Second, the main variables for each issue were defined, and causal relationships between the main variables were created. Third, a holistic causal loop diagram was built based on both dynamic thinking and causal thinking. Fourth, five land-uses, including those of the coastal forest, the coastal grassland, the coastal dune, the agricultural area, and developed sites, were selected as leverage points for developing SLUP strategies to increase coastal resilience. The results show that "decrease in the size of the coastal forest", "decrease in the size of the coastal dune", and "increase in the size of the coastal grasslands" were considered parts of a land-use plan to enhance the resilience of the Shindu-ri SEL. This study developed integrated coastal land-use planning strategies that may provide effective solutions for complex and dynamic issues in the coastal SEL. Additionally, the results may be utilized as basic data to build and implement coastal land-use planning strategies.
<p>Coastal cities are facing unexpected repercussions due to climate change. Thus, it is urgent and necessary to introduce nature-based solutions to enhance ecosystem services. However, since most coastal cities are highly urbanized and fully densified, it is difficult to find spaces to apply nature-based solutions. In this context, this study focused on vacant lands as alternative spaces, abandoned and remnant areas with high biodiversity and ecological values. This study aimed to evaluate how adopting nature-based solutions in vacant lands might improve ecosystem services including carbon storage, flood control, air quality control, and building energy saving. This study selected Seoguipo-si of Jeju-do as a study site because this city is considered as one of the cities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in South Korea. First, this study investigated the social-ecological characteristics of vacant lands, such as geographical data, specification of trees and shrubs, vegetation composition, and land-use patterns. Then, this study determined that the study area had six types of vacant lands including (1) unmanaged vegetation with no grass, (2) single tree with grass cover, (3) street trees, (4) multi-layered vegetation, (5) single-layered vegetation, and (6) mini-lot vegetation. Second, this study assessed and simulated the improvement of ecosystem services according to types of vacant lands, planting strategies, and budget levels of nature-based solutions. The results show that prioritizing the introduction of multi-layered vegetation in areas vulnerable to climate change helped improve ecosystem services. Also, it was found that the higher the budget, the better the ecosystem services in vacant lands of the study area. Based on the results, this study suggested specific restoration strategies for applying nature-based solutions to vacant lands in the coastal city. The findings of this study can contribute to a deeper understanding of the novel role that vacant lands play in building coastal resilience. Also, the evidence-based design for adopting nature-based solutions conducted in this study may provide the basis for climate adaptive urban planning with limited budget and spaces.</p> <p>Funding: This research was suported by Basic Science Research Program through the&#160;National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education(NRF-2022R1A6A3A01087632).</p> <p>&#160;</p>
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