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Abstract
People living within and around nature reserves are highly dependent on the natural resources so that understanding the perceptions and attitudes of local residents, especially the people who live in the core area, is essential for conserving biodiversity. Baimaxueshan National Nature Reserve (BNNR), adjacent to Shangri-La County, plays an important role in its regional ecological protection, and it attracts more and more tourists as a regional eco-tourist destination. Thus, the study on BNNR can be used as a starting point to improve its regional development. In this study, the perceptions and attitudes of local residents in three adjacent villages, i.e., Sisuogua, Luozhua, and Lamianmian, which are located in a valley at different elevations in the core area of BNNR, were surveyed, and factors influencing the perceptions and attitudes were analyzed based on a total of 36 questionnaires from 36 randomly selected households situated in the core area of the reserve. The results showed that most residents had positive attitudes towards the nature reserve and recognized that its condition was improving due to management activities, and they were supportive of the reserve. The scores of residents’ perceptions and attitudes on the reserve tended to decrease from Sisuogua to Luozhua, to Lamianmian, and there were significant differences between Sisuogua and Lamianmian. Correlation analysis revealed that the major factors influencing residents’ perceptions and attitudes were groups, whether family members worked in the reserve or not, and gender of the interviewees. By exploring differences among the three villages, we found that in addition to family working in the reserve, there were other important factors leading to the different attitudes among three villages. Proximity to the reserve border might also affect residents’ attitudes towards the reserve because convenient traffic might make it easier for local residents to get more job opportunities and have less dependence on the resources of the reserve. The differences among the villages also revealed the local characteristics and the heterogeneity between villages even in the same nature reserves, which should be taken into consideration during management activities. Finally, some management strategies were recommended to improve biodiversity conservation of the nature reserve.