Increased challenges for world heritage protection as a result of urbanisation in Lijiang City

World cultural and natural heritage sites are an important part of the wealth of humankind, but their protection is threatened by rapid urbanisation. In this paper, we assessed urbanisation-related pressures on the Old Town of Lijiang, using an integrated method based on the analytic network process (ANP). In addition to the data from the governmental census, we also employed satellite images, ecosystem services and sewage treatment data. The results of quantitative assessment of 16 indicators demonstrated that the pressure on the Old Town of Lijiang from 1978 to 2009 has increased with urbanisation and economic development, with the highest pressure occurring in 2009 and the lowest in 1978. The pressure more than doubled between 2000 and 2009, and there was an exponential relationship between urbanisation rate and pressure, suggesting that a small increase in urbanisation rate can trigger a large increase in urbanisation-related pressure. It was found that increases in population and tourism are the most crucial of the pressure indicators. The findings have significant implications for promoting the protection of the Old Town of Lijiang and other world heritage sites under similar pressures.

[1]  M. Nursey-Bray,et al.  Co-management and protected area management: Achieving effective management of a contested site, lessons from the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA) , 2009 .

[2]  Francisco Moreira,et al.  Restoration principles applied to cultural landscapes , 2006 .

[3]  Ross Cullen,et al.  Application of the pressure-state-response framework to perceptions reporting of the state of the New Zealand environment. , 2004, Journal of Environmental Management.

[4]  Cevat Tosun,et al.  Environmental performance of tourism accommodations in the protected areas: Case of Goreme Historical National Park , 2009 .

[5]  H. Vacik,et al.  Evaluating sustainable forest management strategies with the Analytic Network Process in a Pressure-State-Response framework. , 2008, Journal of environmental management.

[6]  T. L. Saaty.  A Scaling Method for Priorities in Hierarchical Structures , 1977 .

[7]  S. Nautiyal,et al.  Conservation policy–people conflicts: a case study from Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (a World Heritage Site), India , 2001 .

[8]  Jill L. Caviglia-Harris,et al.  Taking the "U" out of Kuznets: a comprehensive analysis of the EKC and environmental degradation. , 2009 .

[9]  Massimiliano Mazzanti,et al.  Valuing cultural heritage in a multi-attribute framework microeconomic perspectives and policy implications , 2003 .

[10]  S. D. S. Salazar,et al.  Valuing cultural heritage: the social benefits of restoring and old Arab tower , 2005 .

[11]  Kevin K. F. Wong,et al.  Assessing the economic value of a world heritage site and willingness-to-pay determinants: A case of Changdeok Palace , 2007 .

[12]  X. Xue,et al.  Analysis of Coastal Wetland Changes Using the “DPSIR” Model: A Case Study in Xiamen, China , 2007 .

[13]  Jiunn-Der Duh,et al.  Rates of urbanisation and the resiliency of air and water quality. , 2008, The Science of the total environment.

[14]  Thomas L. Saaty,et al.  Rank from comparisons and from ratings in the analytic hierarchy/network processes , 2006, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[15]  R. O'Neill,et al.  The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital , 1997, Nature.

[16]  Ángel Borja,et al.  Assessing the environmental quality status in estuarine and coastal systems: Comparing methodologies and indices , 2008 .

[17]  D. Stern.  The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve , 2004 .

[18]  Chih-Hai Yang,et al.  Analysis of international tourist arrivals worldwide : The role of world heritage sites , 2013 .

[19]  Xiao Yu.  Supply,Consumption and Valuation of Ecosystem Services in China , 2008 .

[20]  Liangjun Da,et al.  Temporal variations of surface water quality in urban, suburban and rural areas during rapid urbanization in Shanghai, China. , 2008, Environmental pollution.

[21]  J. C. van den Bergh,et al.  Economic growth and emissions: reconsidering the empirical basis of environmental Kuznets curves , 1998 .

[22]  Tran Huu Tuan,et al.  Capturing the benefits of preserving cultural heritage , 2008 .

[23]  Hemamala Hettige,et al.  Industrial pollution in economic development: the environmental Kuznets curve revisited , 2000 .

[24]  R. Buckley,et al.  Cultural landscape in mongolian tourism , 2008 .

[25]  L. Pennington-Gray,et al.  Public sector perspectives and policy implications for the Pitons Management Area World Heritage Site, St. Lucia , 2009 .

[26]  Guillermo A. Mendoza,et al.  Evaluating multi-stakeholder perceptions of project impacts: a participatory value-based multi-criteria approach , 2009 .