Using Blockchain Technology and Sharing Culture to Promote Sustainable Forest Management in Tribal Communities

Abstract

Forest protection is crucial to ensuring the balance between human beings and ecology. This study explores the key role played by communities that originally lived in forest-protected areas in implementing the traditional management of forests. The unified management mode previously used by the state power can no longer meet the demands of modern times; hence, multiple types of management systems should be implemented to enable adaption to the original ecology of forest areas. A multimodal management mode should be adopted to restore the original ecology of forest areas. The adoption of this management system can restore a forest to its original state (i.e., the state that existed prior to the entry of state power). The forest has been in a state of ecological balance involving numerous species since ancient times. However, in the modern field of science, the passive restoration of a community’s self-governance ability could be unsustainable and unstable. To improve this situation, blockchain technology can first be used to improve the community management of a forest, such that the capabilities of the original local community can be improved; second, tourism promotion benefits both the community and the forest. When a community in a forest develops the tourism industry with the support of blockchain technology, the information and resources of all parties can be widely connected with the larger world, and this considerably increases success rates; finally, the traditional spiritual culture of a community, such as the culture of sharing, should be promoted. In addition to the skillful utilization of technology, culture can improve the traditional forest management ability of tribal communities who live in native forest areas in terms of their personality traits. Overall, we conclude that: against the evolution history of the over one hundred years, the adoption of new technology for forest management is inherently a creative innovation for the tribal community’s entrepreneurial development.

Blockchain revolution in the tourism industry: A semi-systematic literature review

“…Current research on blockchain in tourism has focused primarily on (1) cultural heritage conservation, integration, and government enhancement forest management (Peng & Huang, 2022;Trcek, 2022), tourism integration (Qin, 2022), and its effect on sustainability (Viano et al, 2022) solving economic, social and environmental problems, and establish sustainable tourism globally (Erol et al, 2022;Zhou, 2022). Some of the work has focused on (2) the user role, optimising the production of the tourism service, improving the perception of individual and collective travellers (Strebinger & Treiblmaier, 2022a) or solving the problems secure digital transactions (Narayan et al, 2022;Syed et al, 2022).…”

Biocultural innovation: Innovating at the intersection of the biosphere and ethnosphere

“…With regards to the “FPVI shared traits” framework, this involves reducing the vulnerability of both the ethnosphere and biosphere to save their functionality (the provision of services) and potentiality (by keeping options open). For example, to combat the roughly 75% of genetic diversity lost since the early 1900s, blockchain technologies are being developed and trialed to provide incentives and financial support for Indigenous communities to continue their important work—for example, safeguarding biodiversity from generation to generation—while maintaining their unique cultures (see Kochupillai et al, 2021; Peng & Huang, 2022). These biocultural innovations that blur the boundaries between traditional notions of innovation and conservation have immense value given that over one million of the earth's eight million or so plant and animal species are threatened with extinction (IPBES, 2019), with the ecosystem services provided to humanity by terrestrial species alone worth $75 trillion (IPCC, 2019) and Indigenous people protecting the vast majority of this biodiversity (Sobrevila, 2008).…”

The Impact of Technological Dynamics and Fiscal Decentralization on Forest Resource Efficiency in China: The Mediating Role of Digital Economy

“…Moreover, the digital platform facilitates a wide range of advanced functionalities, including but not limited to big data analysis and storage, online computing, shared user platforms, timber tracking, certification, monitoring, artificial intelligence, Additionally, digitalization is the most powerful instrument because it extends the range and timescale of remote sensing beyond what is possible with other observation techniques. Moreover, the digital platform facilitates a wide range of advanced functionalities, including but not limited to big data analysis and storage, online computing, shared user platforms, timber tracking, certification, monitoring, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital twin replication [24,25]. The features are of utmost importance in the improvement of forest resource management, the facilitation of data-driven decision-making, and the promotion of sustainable practices.…”