Ecotourism Disturbance on an Endemic Endangered Primate in the Huangshan Man and the Biosphere Reserve of China: A Way to Move Forward

Abstract

The primary purpose of the Man and the Biosphere Program is the sustainable development of both the economy and nature conservation activities. Although the effectiveness of eco-tourism to reach this goal has been proposed, due to the lack of long-term monitoring data and a model species, there has been no obvious mechanism to evaluate the effectiveness of this policy. This study explored the effectiveness of the sustainable development policy of HMBR based on 30 years data of monitoring the Tibetan macaque, local human population, visitors, and annual ecotourism income in Huangshan by estimating species habitat suitability and the impact of ecotourism. The results showed increases in the income for the local human population, the number of visitors, and annual eco-tourism. Simultaneously, the reserve’s Tibetan macaque population size and suitable habitat areas increased. The macaques expanded their habitat to the low-altitude buffer zone (400–800 m), an area with lower eco-tourism disturbance. Scenic spots had a significant negative impact on habitat suitability (the substantially increased contributions of scenic spots from 0.71% to 32.88%). Our results and methods provide a suitable evaluation framework for monitoring the sustainable development and effectiveness of eco-tourism and wildlife conservation in Man and the Biosphere reserves.

Human activity and climate change accelerate the extinction risk to non‐human primates in China

“…For example, a recent study reported that 16 of the 104 groups of critically endangered western black crested gibbons (Nomascus concolor) are located nearby but outside of the Wuliangshan National Nature Reserve in Yunnan, China (Fan et al, 2022). A similar situation exists for species such as François' Langurs (Endangered) (Zhou & Huang, 2021), golden snub-nosed monkeys (Endangered) (Yu et al, 2022), and Tibetan macaques (Near Threatened) (Li, Yang, et al, 2022), with many populations ranging outside of PAs. Thus, there is an imperative to expand the national system of PAs in China to safeguard threatened populations and species (Li et al, 2018).…”