1,720,955 research outputs found
Assessment of the Potential to Promote Nature-based Tourism Industry in the Protected Area Network of Sri Lanka
Get PDFPromoting the tourism industry is one of the proven strategies for Sri Lanka to address current economic crises. Sri Lanka has a high potential to develop nature-based tourism with its high biodiversity. The Forest Department and the Department of Wildlife Conservation manage 30% of the country's land as Protected Areas. In comparison to the tourism income generated through archeological sites of the country, the biodiversity sector has earned 83%-90% from 2012 to 2016, without any significant promotions and it shows the potential to develop nature-based tourism. This study aimed to examine the potentiality of using the Protected Area network to promote nature- based tourism. The PESTEL approach was utilized to assess the potentiality, and primary data was gathered through ten structured Key Informant Interviews of senior officials of both the destination management agencies, tourism authorities, and experts. The secondary data were obtained by reviewing official reports and records. The Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, Forest Ordinance, and their amendments provide legal provisions relating to tourism in Protected Areas with certain limitations. The Wildlife Preservation Fund can be utilized for conservation and development activities in protected areas, including tourism promotion. Even if a higher degree of ̳tourism friendly‘ provisions is available with the Forest Department, there is no mechanism for utilizing the income generated through tourism activities for conservation as revenue credits to the Treasury. Insufficient financial allocation through the treasury, lack of innovative financial solutions for resource mobilization, and ineffective governance mechanisms for promoting public- private partnerships are identified as challenging factors in forest and biodiversity conservation in protected areas. This leads to environmental degradation and biodiversity loss in the country. The study found the potentiality of developing projects worth one billion LKR per annum with more than 20% internal rate of return, if the government develops a mechanism that increases the
benefits/incentives available for the Forest Department from tourism, ensures cooperation and
comprehensive planning among both the departments, introduce innovative sustainable financing solutions, amend the policy and institutional framework in favour of public, private community partnerships, and develop a tourism promotion roadmap for both the Departments. Such initiatives would increase the socioeconomic and environmental benefits to the communities living in the Functional Resource Unit of the Protected Areas. It could be strengthened with an innovative Protected Area management model such as the community forestry approach. The study recommends that tourism should be considered an effective entry point for sustainable use, biodiversity conservation, and economic growth at local and national levels.
Keywords: Protected areas, Nature-based tourism, Innovative financing, Public-private partnerships, Tourism for conservatio
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Comparative Study on Innovative Financing Strategies in Protected Area Network Management; India, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa and Sri Lanka
No full textGlobal biodiversity is threatened due to many reasons and biodiversity hotspots are in the forefront of the risk posed by declining biodiversity. Protected Area which is defined by International Union for Conservation of Nature as a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values, play a significant role in conservation of biodiversity, and the effectiveness of Protected Area management has direct and indirect impact on the overall biodiversity management in the countries and globally. However, limited financial resources for biodiversity conservation through traditional public financing mechanisms has been identified as one of the fundamental challenges of Protected Area management, and its effectiveness. In this context, innovative financing mechanisms become the alternative. Objective of this comparative study was to examine the potentials, challenges and approaches of innovative financing solutions, which increase the volume, efficiency, and effectiveness of financial flows for Protected Area management. Among 36 listed biodiversity hotspots, India, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa and Sri Lanka were selected due to the locational factors, percentage of declared Protected Areas, and availability of literature, including the officially validated reports on the use of innovative financing strategies. Adhering to the qualitative methodology and case study strategy, primary and secondary data were gathered through the reviewed journals, officially validated reports, and having ten Key Informant Interviews with the relevant sector officials and experts. The NVivo 10 version was utilized for the analysis. The percentage of Protected Areas in India is 5.28%, 15% in Indonesia, 17% in Thailand, 9.2% in South Africa and 30% in Sri Lanka. Key findings of the study were the need to adapt Protected Area management strategies to match with the evolving conservation policies which will reduce misalignments between the policies and practices; need to identify a balance of conservation priorities between the intrinsic conservation value and monetization of ecosystem services provided by the Protected Areas; need to consult and involve stakeholders including the communities living in close vicinities to the Protected Areas in developing and implementing innovative financing instruments; and the need to introduce internationally comparable mechanisms and tools such as Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool to improve cross learning between the conservation managers operating in similar contexts.
Keywords: Protected areas, Innovative finance, Management effectivenes
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Biopiracy to Bioprospecting: Assessing the Benefits and Challenges of Ratifying Nagoya Protocol
Get PDFThe distinctive biodiversity of Sri Lanka provides many provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services to the local community and beyond. Further, unsustainable utilization in the biodiversity hotspots will lead to further deterioration of the resources. External parties have obtained patents and intellectual property rights for some Sri Lankan fauna and flora, including some traditionally valued Sri Lankan medicinal plants without the government‘s consent. This has been identified as a reason that prevents local communities from accessing the benefits of biodiversity. Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits-2014 has been identified internationally as a framework that can be used to address biopiracy-related issues. However, Sri Lanka is not yet a party to the Nagoya Protocol. No comprehensive studies have been carried out to assess the benefits and challenges available for Sri Lanka in ratifying the protocol. The objective of the study was to examine the reasons for not ratifying the Protocol by the Government of Sri Lanka, while most of the countries have ratified and are enjoying the benefits. A desk review was carried out to assess the benefits achievable and policy and institutional gaps in ratifying the Protocol. Structured key informant interviews were held with the officials of the relevant authorities, academics, professionals and environmentalists covering 10 from each category, and 10 community focus group discussions to examine the benefits and challenges in ratifying the Protocol. Sri Lanka does not have any policy or legal barriers to ratifying the Protocol. Reviewed literature on the experiences of other countries revealed that there are clear socio-economic and environmental benefits to the communities and economies by ratifying the Protocol. While experts agreed that biopiracy is currently happening and traditional knowledge systems are being degraded, the key decision makers are of the view that ratifying the protocol may lead to irreversible damage to Sri Lankan biodiversity. Inadequacy of effective quarantine services and limited knowledge of officials were identified as key challenges in combating biopiracy. On the other hand, community groups also have made requests to assert their traditional rights to access biodiversity. In this context, this study proposes to initiate a comprehensive, inclusive and fact- based dialogue over the potential benefits and challenges in ratifying the Protocol that provides greater legal certainty and transparency for both providers and users of genetic resources by establishing more predictable conditions for access to genetic resources and helping to ensure benefit-sharing.
Keywords: Nagoya protocol, Sri Lankan position, Traditional rights and benefits, Bioprospecting, Biopiracy 
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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