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This study investigated the willingness of residents to pay for ecosystem services in a hillside forest in the Lanyang River Basin, which is among the most vulnerable watersheds in Taiwan. The economic value of provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting ecosystem services was evaluated. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was applied for economic analysis of public welfare. The determinants of the economic values were identified. A total of 444 respondents completed the questionnaire. The results revealed that the four ecosystem services had high economic value, indicating that conserving hillside forests can ensure the welfare of nearby residents. The findings of this study can serve as reference for regional land planning and social and economic system development policies. In addition, this study addressed policy implementation from the perspective of ecological economics to contribute to an improved Anthropocene.

In this paper, we present a case study of community heritage resources investigation and management, which was a collaborative project conducted by researchers and participants from rural communities. Geotagged photos were obtained using smart phones, and 360-degree panoramas were acquired using a robotic camera system. These images were then uploaded to a web-based GIS (WebGIS) developed using Arches-Heritage Inventory Package (HIP), an open-source geospatial software system for cultural heritage inventory and management. By providing various tools for resources annotation, data exploration, mapping, geovisualization, and spatial analysis, the WebGIS not only serves as a platform for heritage resources database management, but also empowers the community residents to acquire, share, interpret, and analyze the data. The results show that this type of collaborative working model between researcher and community can promote public awareness of the importance of heritage conservation and achieve the research goal more effectively and efficiently.

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