Assessment of losses to the local population due to restrictions on their ownership rights to land and property assets: The case of the Tunkinsky National Park, Russia.

The impact of protected areas on local communities is the subject of intense discussions as part of the implementation of the global ecosystem protection agenda. Conflicts between the interests of environmental protection and the needs of socio-economic development become particularly acute when large areas of land are taken out of economic circulation as a result of organizing protected areas. In this case, there is an urgent need for detailed and reliable information about the social impacts of such land withdrawal on the well-being of the local population. An analysis of the methodological approaches widely presented in the literature, used to assess the social impact of protected areas, testifies to the insufficiency of completed and practically applicable methodological guidelines for the areas with significant restrictions for people who form part of the protected landscape. In this study, we understand the cost estimate of the social impact of national parks on the local population as a quantitative calculation of the losses due to restrictions on their ownership rights to land and property assets. The methodological approach consists in considering the category of losses as a sum total of the actual damage and lost profits. The assessment algorithm includes three stages: systematization of social impacts on citizens, development of indicators and data collection, and calculation of actual damage to the population and lost profits. The assessment is performed using the example of the Tunkinsky National Park located in the Tunkinsky municipal district of the Republic of Buryatia, a region of the Russian Federation, where there are 14 rural settlements with a population of more than 20,000 people. The results of the calculations show that the losses of the rural population due to legal restrictions on the registration of land dealings amount to 170.4 million USD. Taking into account the potential amount of administrative fines and the value of property subject to demolition, the losses amount to 239.2 million USD. It is more than an order of magnitude greater than the amount of own revenues of the Tunkinsky municipal district in 2011-2019. The results obtained demonstrate the real picture of the impact of restrictions on the rights of local people to land within the boundaries of national parks and are useful for developing measures to account for their interests and include protected areas in the socio-economic development of regions. The methodological approach developed by the authors can be used in other national parks, where it is necessary to optimize the policy of improving land use for local residents.

Impact of a Half Dome Cable Permitting Process on Search and Rescue Activity, Hiker Mortality Rates, and Operational Costs Above Little Yosemite Valley.

INTRODUCTION: The summit of Yosemite's Half Dome is reached using cable handrails for the final 146 m (480 ft). Access to these cables was restricted to users with permits in 2010. The authors aim to describe the impact of permitting on search and rescue (SAR) in the region of the park most affected by permitting. METHODS: An observational study from 2005 to 2009 and 2011 to 2015 comparing the number of incidents, major incidents (exceeding $500), victims, and fatalities before and after permitting the use of cable handrails on Half Dome in the area above Little Yosemite Valley (LYV) and parkwide. Each year was analyzed separately with t tests and Mann-Whitney U tests. Data are presented as mean±SD. RESULT: The number of hikers in the study area was reduced by up to 66% by permitting. Above LYV from 2005 to 2009, there were 85 SAR incidents, 134 victims, 8 fatalities, 38 major incidents, and annual SAR costs of $44,582±28,972. From 2011 to 2015, the same area saw 54 SAR incidents, 156 victims, 4 fatalities, 35 major incidents, and annual SAR costs of $27,027±19,586. No parameter showed statistical significance. Parkwide SAR incidents decreased from 232 to 198 annual incidents (P=0.013) during the same time period, with parkwide mortality increasing from 8 to 12 deaths annually (P=0.045). CONCLUSIONS: SAR incidents, victims, fatalities, or costs above LYV did not decrease after cable handrail permitting. Parkwide SAR activity decreased during the same intervals. This strongly suggests that overcrowding is not the key factor influencing safety on Half Dome. This discordant trend warrants close observation over 5 to 10 y.

Patterns of satellite tagged hen harrier disappearances suggest widespread illegal killing on British grouse moors.

Identifying patterns of wildlife crime is a major conservation challenge. Here, we test whether deaths or disappearances of a protected species, the hen harrier, are associated with grouse moors, which are areas managed for the production of red grouse for recreational shooting. Using data from 58 satellite tracked hen harriers, we show high rates of unexpected tag failure and low first year survival compared to other harrier populations. The likelihood of harriers dying or disappearing increased as their use of grouse moors increased. Similarly, at the landscape scale, satellite fixes from the last week of life were distributed disproportionately on grouse moors in comparison to the overall use of such areas. This pattern was also apparent in protected areas in northern England. We conclude that hen harriers in Britain suffer elevated levels of mortality on grouse moors, which is most likely the result of illegal killing.

Implementation phase of the Tobacco-Free Parks Ordinance: a policy evaluation using photographic data.

OBJECTIVE: Mecklenburg County (Charlotte, North Carolina) Board of County Commissioners took the unique step of passing a Tobacco-Free Parks Ordinance designating most county parks as tobacco-free including all smoking products, smokeless tobacco, and e-cigarettes. The objective of the baseline phase of the Ordinance evaluation sought to assess whether signage in the parks was associated with the presence of tobacco-use litter. STUDY DESIGN: A qualitative study was conducted with photography as the method of observation across Mecklenburg County parks in North Carolina. METHODS: A representative sample of 42 parks was selected from the 186 county park properties. Photographs were taken at a list of specific types of locations within each park, with attention to signage and tobacco-use litter (butts, e-cigarette). RESULTS: Tobacco-use evidence was mostly found in parks' picnic areas (67%) and walking trails (67%), with least found in parks' athletic courts (23%). At least 80% of parks have some tobacco litter. Evidence of tobacco use was not significantly associated with signage. CONCLUSION: Little research has focused on the effect of local public policies limiting tobacco use in public outdoor spaces. Findings from this evaluation have potential to inform policy implementation efforts regarding efforts to limit tobacco use in public spaces.

Inequities in coverage of smokefree outdoor space policies within the United States: school grounds and playgrounds.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have found extensive geographic and demographic differences in tobacco use. These differences have been found to be reduced by effective public policies, including banning smoking in public spaces. Smokefree outdoor spaces reduce secondhand smoke exposure and de-normalize smoking. METHODS: After previously publishing a study of smokefree indoor and outdoor space policies, it was brought to the authors' attention that the dataset used in analyses was incomplete (Lowrie et al., BMC Public Health 17:456, 2017). The current manuscript is a corrected version. Here, we include analyses for outdoor space policies. We evaluated regional and demographic differences in the proportion of the population (both adult and child) covered by smokefree outdoor space policies for school grounds and playgrounds enacted in the United States prior to 2014. RESULTS: Children had a low level of protection in playgrounds and schools (8% covered nationwide in both settings). Significant differences in coverage were found by ethnicity, region, income, and education (p < 0.001). The odds of having a smokefree playgrounds policy was lower for jurisdictions with higher proportions of poor households, households with no high school diploma, whites and the Alaska/Hawaii region. Increased ethnic heterogeneity was found to be a significant predictor of increased odds of having a smokefree playgrounds policy, meaning that diversity is protective, with differential effect by region (p < 0.001) - which may relate to urbanicity. CONCLUSIONS: Disparities in smokefree outdoor space policies have potential to exacerbate existing health inequities. A national increase in smokefree outdoor space policies to protect children in playgrounds and schools is a crucial intervention to reduce such inequities.

National and State-Specific Attitudes toward Smoke-Free Parks among U.S. Adults.

Outdoor places, such as parks, remain a source of secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure. We assessed attitudes toward smoke-free parks among U.S. adults. Data came from the 2009-2010 National Adult Tobacco Survey, a landline and cellular telephone survey of noninstitutionalized adults aged ≥18 in the 50 U.S. states and D.C. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to assess the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of attitudes toward smoke-free parks, overall and by current tobacco use. Overall, 38.5% of adults reported favorable attitudes toward complete smoke-free parks; prevalence ranged from 29.2% in Kentucky to 48.2% in Maine. Prevalence of favorable attitudes toward smoke-free parks was higher among nonusers of tobacco (44.6%) and noncombustible-only users (30.0%) than any combustible users (21.3%). The adjusted odds of having a favorable attitude were higher among: women; Hispanics and Black non-Hispanics, American Indian and Alaska Native non-Hispanics, and other non-Hispanics; those with an unspecified sexual orientation; and those with children aged ≤17 in the household, relative to each characteristics respective referent group. Odds were lower among: any combustible tobacco and noncombustible-only tobacco users; adults aged 45-64; and those with some college or an undergraduate degree. Opportunities exist to educate the public about the benefits of smoke-free outdoor environments.

Nutrition Policy Decreases Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in Municipal Parks: Lessons Learned From Carson, California.

In light of the childhood obesity epidemic, many cities are adopting healthy park vending policies, but the evidence on the effectiveness of these policies is scant. This study examines how implementation of a healthy vending policy in Carson, California, changes the types of beverages that are available in park vending machines. The study design is a pre-posttest with post-only comparison group. The main outcome is proportion of beverages in vending machines that is consistent with caloric and sugar content guidelines for children as defined by the Nutrition Environment Measures-Vending (NEMS-V) tool. This study finds that prior to implementation of the vending policy, 70% of the beverages did not meet NEMS-V guidelines, on average. After implementation of the vending policy, this number declined to 7%. This study suggests that healthy vending policies can have an impact on the types of beverages that are available in city parks.

The Measurement of Subjective Value and Its Relation to Contingent Valuation and Environmental Public Goods.

Environmental public goods--including national parks, clean air/water, and ecosystem services--provide substantial benefits on a global scale. These goods have unique characteristics in that they are typically "nonmarket" goods, with values from both use and passive use that accrue to a large number of individuals both in current and future generations. In this study, we test the hypothesis that neural signals in areas correlated with subjective valuations for essentially all other previously studied categories of goods (ventromedial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum) also correlate with environmental valuations. We use contingent valuation (CV) as our behavioral tool for measuring valuations of environmental public goods. CV is a standard stated preference approach that presents survey respondents with information on an issue and asks questions that help policymakers determine how much citizens are willing to pay for a public good or policy. We scanned human subjects while they viewed environmental proposals, along with three other classes of goods. The presentation of all four classes of goods yielded robust and similar patterns of temporally synchronized brain activation within attentional networks. The activations associated with the traditional classes of goods replicate previous correlations between neural activity in valuation areas and behavioral preferences. In contrast, CV-elicited values for environmental proposals did not correlate with brain activity at either the individual or population level. For a sub-population of participants, CV-elicited values were correlated with activity within the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, a region associated with cognitive control and shifting decision strategies. The results show that neural activity associated with the subjective valuation of environmental proposals differs profoundly from the neural activity associated with previously examined goods and preference measures.