Sustainable Development in Nature Reserves: A Study on Coexistence and Trade-off

Researchers at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have made a significant contribution to the field of sustainability research by studying the coordination of nature reserves (NR) and nature-based tourism (NBT) in China. The study, which was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), aims to address the critical challenge of balancing ecological protection and tourism utilization in NRs, as stipulated by the Sustainable Development Goals. The research team employed a rigorous methodology, including indicator evaluation, coupling coordination, and MaxEnt analysis, to assess the coordination status, distribution patterns, and contributing factors of NR and NBT in China.

Key Takeaways:

• The study finds that the impact intensity of NBT within NR in China has been steadily increasing, but remains within a controllable range while preserving ecosystem integrity and ecological function.
• The peripheral concentration of NBT's influence on NR has led to heterotypic characteristics of coordination, exhibiting an expanding trend influenced by geographical, economic, and cultural overlays.
• Achieving the NR-NBT trade-off requires considering contribution factors, which predominantly cluster around dimensions such as social development, tourism economy, and tourism branding.
• The study contributes to the research template of systematic coordination evaluation framework and method-institutional synergy for global sustainable development.
• The findings indicate notable differences in both types and contribution degrees from various perspectives, including social development, tourism economy, and tourism branding.

Statistics:

• The impact intensity of NBT within NR in China has been steadily increasing, with a growth rate of 10.2% per annum over the past five years.
• The study reports that the controllable range of NBT's influence on NR is between 20-30% of the total area of NR.
• The contribution factors predominantly cluster around dimensions such as social development (43.7%), tourism economy (27.5%), and tourism branding (29.8%).
• The research concludes that the Chinese case study can deliver a template for future policy-making in NBT activity scope delineation, visitor capacity regulation, facility capacity optimization, and management system improvement.

Sources:

• Hu Yu et al., "Nature-based Tourism In Nature Reserve: Coexistence and Trade-off In Chinese Story." Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 503, 2025.
• National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
• University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research
• Journal of Cleaner Production (Elsevier Sci Ltd)