Territorial Governance, Market Integration and Indigenous Citizens in China’s State-led Eco-tourism: Developing the Xixi National Wetland Park

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the structural limits of state-led eco-tourism and calls for balancing ecological transformation and socioeconomic sustainability in China’s recent rhetoric of ecological civilization. Through the conceptual lens of political ecology, the paper examines the issues of environmental justice and ecological advancement confronting local communities and the indigenous population in the Xixi National Wetland Park development in Hangzhou. Based on policy and plan audits and interviews, the study reveals how territorial governance and market integration have impacted conservation approaches, property ownership changes, employment, displacement and resettlement in a capital-driven and politically centered eco-tourism development. It advocates a balanced and integrated approach to natural resource conservation through multi-scalar and inclusive ecological governance at the local level.

摘要

本文检视政府主导型生态旅游建设的制度结构局限并提出在中国当前的生态文明建设中应重视平衡生态环境转变和社会经济可持续性。基于政治生态学的理论观点, 文章阐述了杭州西溪国家湿地公园开发过程中原住民及其社区在环境正义和生态面貌提升等方面所面临的问题和挑战。研究通过对政策和规划文献的分析以及对相关人士的深度访谈揭示了地域管治和市场一体化是如何在资本驱动并富有政治意味的生态旅游建设环境下影响生态保护方法, 产权变更, 就业, 和拆迁安置。研究提出通过地方性, 多层级和包容性生态环境管治建立兼具平衡和融合的自然资源保护途径。

KEYWORDS:

• Territorial governance
• ecological civilization
• eco-city
• eco-tourism

关键词:

• 地域管治
• 生态文明
• 生态城市
• 生态旅游

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zhu Qian

Zhu Qian is Associate Professor in School of Planning at University of Waterloo, Canada. His primary research interest lies in heritage conservation and planning, urban land use reform, urban restructuring, land use planning and urban form in Chinese cities. He has published extensively on urban planning and development issues in China (E-mail: [email protected]).