1. Introduction
Traditional agricultural landscapes are rapidly disappearing in Asia and elsewhere in the world as a result of accelerated industrialization and urbanization over recent decades. The implication of this trend for the environment and food security is enormous. Policymakers at the international and national levels have recently come to terms with this pressing issue. For instance, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) project in 2002, with the aim of mobilizing global awareness and support for dynamic conservation and adaptive management of ingenious agricultural systems and their resulting landscapes (Koohafkan and Cruz, 2011). Similarly, the Ministry of the Environment of Japan and the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies jointly launched the Satoyama Initiative in 2010, with the objective of promoting and supporting the conservation of socio-ecological production landscapes that have been shaped over time by mutually beneficial interactions between human and nature. The GIAHS project and the Satoyama Initiative represent positive steps towards harmonizing the relationship between conservation and development ( Takeuchi, 2010). At the local level, however, the balance is difficult to maintain as rapid socio-economic changes could easily disrupt the functional links between culture and agro-biodiversity before a new level of resilience has been reached ( Xu et al., 2009). It is thus important to develop policy measures to enhance the socio-ecological resilience of traditional agricultural landscapes, which is of particular relevance to the rapidly industrializing countries of Asia.
This study aims to contribute to improved policy making by analyzing the challenges and opportunities for sustainable rural development in Asia, with an empirical focus on the Hani Rice Terraces in China's southwestern Yunnan Province. Terraced paddy fields adjacent to forest-fringed villages form part of the traditional agricultural landscapes in Asia. The mosaic composition of woodlands, grasslands, wetlands (ponds and wet rice fields), upland swidden fields and human settlements helps sustain biological and cultural diversity in the mountainous areas of South and Southeast Asia, and many of these agroecosystems are undergoing rapid transitions (Persha et al., 2010, Rerkasem and Rerkasem, 1995 and Xu et al., 2006).
Located along the southern slopes of the Ailao Mountains in Yunnan, the Hani Rice Terraces are home to several ethnic minorities dominated by the Hani and the Yi. The Hani Rice Terraces have become a popular tourist destination since the early 2000s when the local government submitted a bid for UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site status (Jiao et al., 2012). This study examines the current issues pertaining to tourism development and its impact on the relationship between the Hani Rice Terraces and their custodian communities. To better illustrate the problems and their possible solutions, a comparison is made with the Ifugao Rice Terraces of the Philippines. The Ifugao Rice Terraces have suffered from uncontrolled tourism since the mid-1970s and the landscape was added to the World Heritage in Danger List in 2001. Drawing lessons from the Ifugao case, this paper proposes an endogenous development strategy aiming at harnessing tourism for poverty alleviation and enhancing custodianship of the Hani Rice Terraces.
1. บทนำTraditional agricultural landscapes are rapidly disappearing in Asia and elsewhere in the world as a result of accelerated industrialization and urbanization over recent decades. The implication of this trend for the environment and food security is enormous. Policymakers at the international and national levels have recently come to terms with this pressing issue. For instance, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) project in 2002, with the aim of mobilizing global awareness and support for dynamic conservation and adaptive management of ingenious agricultural systems and their resulting landscapes (Koohafkan and Cruz, 2011). Similarly, the Ministry of the Environment of Japan and the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies jointly launched the Satoyama Initiative in 2010, with the objective of promoting and supporting the conservation of socio-ecological production landscapes that have been shaped over time by mutually beneficial interactions between human and nature. The GIAHS project and the Satoyama Initiative represent positive steps towards harmonizing the relationship between conservation and development ( Takeuchi, 2010). At the local level, however, the balance is difficult to maintain as rapid socio-economic changes could easily disrupt the functional links between culture and agro-biodiversity before a new level of resilience has been reached ( Xu et al., 2009). It is thus important to develop policy measures to enhance the socio-ecological resilience of traditional agricultural landscapes, which is of particular relevance to the rapidly industrializing countries of Asia.This study aims to contribute to improved policy making by analyzing the challenges and opportunities for sustainable rural development in Asia, with an empirical focus on the Hani Rice Terraces in China's southwestern Yunnan Province. Terraced paddy fields adjacent to forest-fringed villages form part of the traditional agricultural landscapes in Asia. The mosaic composition of woodlands, grasslands, wetlands (ponds and wet rice fields), upland swidden fields and human settlements helps sustain biological and cultural diversity in the mountainous areas of South and Southeast Asia, and many of these agroecosystems are undergoing rapid transitions (Persha et al., 2010, Rerkasem and Rerkasem, 1995 and Xu et al., 2006).Located along the southern slopes of the Ailao Mountains in Yunnan, the Hani Rice Terraces are home to several ethnic minorities dominated by the Hani and the Yi. The Hani Rice Terraces have become a popular tourist destination since the early 2000s when the local government submitted a bid for UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site status (Jiao et al., 2012). This study examines the current issues pertaining to tourism development and its impact on the relationship between the Hani Rice Terraces and their custodian communities. To better illustrate the problems and their possible solutions, a comparison is made with the Ifugao Rice Terraces of the Philippines. The Ifugao Rice Terraces have suffered from uncontrolled tourism since the mid-1970s and the landscape was added to the World Heritage in Danger List in 2001. Drawing lessons from the Ifugao case, this paper proposes an endogenous development strategy aiming at harnessing tourism for poverty alleviation and enhancing custodianship of the Hani Rice Terraces.
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