Assessing the health of the ecosystem based on the landscape pattern of national parks can facilitate policy makers in formulating more targeted conservation policies to better manage national park ecosystems. To analyze the landscape patterns and characteristics of the national park, the ecosystem health evaluation index system of the national park was constructed using the vigor-organization-resilience (VOR) model to evaluate the health status. In this study, the Shennongjia National Park in China was selected as a case study area to be assessed using the index system. The results revealed that the patches of construction land and farmland are the largest in number and the most complex in shape, reflecting the obvious fragmentation of construction land and farmland patches. All patch types in this national park were evenly distributed. The results of the analysis showed that the comprehensive index of national park heath, according to the VOR model, is 0.74, indicating that the ecosystems in this study area were in a good state of health. Ecosystems in strictly protected areas of this park had the highest ecosystem health index levels, while the traditional utilization areas had the lowest. Ecosystem health levels were characterized by significant spatial agglomeration characteristics, with high-high aggregation distribution areas, mainly clustered in strictly protected areas, and low-low aggregation distribution, mainly clustered in traditional utilization areas and marginal areas. This study provided a set of ecosystem health assessment systems and their practical use in China’s newly established national parks.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau plays an essential role in national to regional ecological security, biodiversity conservation, and sustaining livelihood. An array of natural resource management, environmental conservation, and ecological restoration projects have been trialed and implemented in recent years in the vast Sanjiangyuan region of the central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, aiming especially to ensure socio-ecologically appropriate and sustainable development of animal husbandry in the alpine grasslands. Novel approaches in China have included the introduction of more collaborative approaches in protected area management and the development and formal establishment of a new multi-purpose national park system. Many milestones have been achieved. However, such developments are driven largely by national and global goals and very little has been heard to date directly from the people most affected: those residing within the protected landscapes, i.e. the community stakeholders themselves. This empirical, perceptions-based study aims to partially fill this gap, drawing on the results of focus group discussions with community representatives supplemented by key informant interviews and a targeted review of the literature, to provide synthesized feedback and priority recommendations for improving “community co-management” collaborations for the joint benefit of Tibetan herders and protected areas. The mixed-method approach employed in this study was based on a conceptual model derived from Elinor Ostrom’s social–ecological systems framework, calibrated to local residents’ self-assessments of their household well-being. Results highlight how the most recent configuration of China’s national park model (i.e., its form and the approaches it utilizes) is generally deemed successful by community stakeholders, albeit with some notable perceived limitations mainly relating to a sense of lack of fairness and inclusiveness in the “one household, one post” co-management mechanism. The paper closes with discussion and recommendations around fundamental issues of equity, empowerment, and gender, finally pointing to the significance and, ultimately, the need to move even beyond co-management per se and to adopt a model of inclusive governance for conservation wherein joint deliberations and decision-making amongst diverse stakeholders are prioritized over the simple implementation of externally developed programs and management plans.

Environmental protection in China has progressed significantly in the past decades, including introduction of more collaborative approaches in the management of protected areas and the establishment of a new national park system, and many milestones have been achieved. While such developments are driven largely by national and global goals, the people who are most affected are those who reside in the protected landscapes. A range of strategies have been proposed and tried in relation to local development, with many important lessons learned, yet little has been heard to date directly from the community stakeholders themselves. In this study we report on feedback and recommendations received from focus group discussions in vicinity of China’s first national park, Sanjiangyuan, regarding lived experiences of “community co-management” by Tibetan herders and local officials. Overall, the most recent National Park model is deemed successful, albeit with some notable perceived limitations. Focus group discussions' participants recommend more balanced compensation opportunities including for communities living outside but in close proximity to the park, eased restrictions on ecotourism, provision of public services for communities in the park (especially waste management and health care) and establishing a more effective compensation or insurance system to offset economic losses due to wildlife damage.

Conservationists recognize that protected areas (PAs) have limited prospects without the involvement and support of local people. As a governance strategy, community participation is to implement the coordinated development of communities and PAs. However, the effects of community participation on national park governance have rarely been tested. Therefore, the present study used a mixed-method approach that is derived from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) green list of protected and conserved areas (PCA) conservation outcomes framework, calibrated to the indigenous peoples and local communities’ (IPLCs) self-assessments about the outcomes of community participation on national park governance to explore the community participation effects. Our results show that management efficiency controls governance outcomes. Potatso National Park’s transformation from the tourism development model to national park is still ongoing, and there exists quite a few problems. We conclude that a successful national park governance as envisaged by the “ecological civilization” paradigm requires a balance of government regulation, participation of various stakeholders in decision-making and discussion, compensation, as well as sustainable access to environmental resources by the affected populations.

Willingness to Pay (WTP), Willingness to Work (WTW) and Willingness to Accept Compensation (WTA) are the three quantitative criteria for assessing local ecological asset values for the social aspects of ecosystem services and residents' willingness to contribute to and receive compensation for tourism ecology. The objectives of this study are to estimate the residents' willingness to pay, work and accept compensation for conservation at Sanjiangyuan National Park, and to analyze the relationship between residents' attitude towards tourism ecology and the ecological assets of the National Park based on a standard questionnaire survey. The dichotomous choice Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was employed to determine the willingness. The survey conducted in 2018 collected WTP, WTW, WTA, socio-demFographical information, social trust and resident perceptions toward tourism impacts and relevant management strategies from 244 residents in two counties. Based on generalized linear modeling, income and education level are important for residents' WTP and WTA, but other social characteristics, such as gender and age, do not have significant effects. The social trust is found to be a significant factor on residents' willingness, despite the limitation on education level. Also, government funding is associated with residents' inclination to WTP, WTW and WTA, but the support levels differ among the two counties due to geographical and social heterogeneities. The estimated WTP, WTW and WTA for the Sanjiangyuan National Park in 2018 were 1.2448×107 yuan, 1.247×106 hours and 2.3232×107 yuan yr–1 based on the survey and published demographics. This study, for the first time, estimates the WTP, WTW and WTA for the Sanjiangyuan National Park and informs ecological conservation managers and policy makers. Ultimately, to maintain the long-term benefits arising from sustainable development, compensation should be specifically tailored and site-dependent, and development measures based on local resources should be adopted by governments to actively support eco-tourism activities.