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Chebby F, Mmbaga N, Ngongolo K. Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on tourism, income of local communities and biodiversity conservation: Evidence from Burunge wildlife management area, Tanzania. Heliyon 2024; 10:e24327. [PMID: 38293385 PMCID: PMC10826724 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/07/2024] [Indexed: 02/01/2024] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in various negative repercussions worldwide in terms of biological conservation, the tourism sector and socio-economic welfare. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on socio-economic activities, income from the tourism sector, alternative sources of income adapted by the local communities adjacent to the Burunge Wildlife Management Area (WMA) as a means of survival, and its implications for biodiversity conservation. To assess tourism status, socio-economic activities and alternative livelihoods, interviews, semi-structured questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs), and key informants' consultations were conducted on 264 respondents, of whom 53 % (n = 140) were men and 47 % (n = 124) were women. Secondary data were obtained from soft and hard copy reports through an extensive literature search in order to comprehend the implications of COVID-19 and alternative livelihoods in biodiversity conservation. 90.5 % (239) of respondents reported being seriously affected by the emergence of COVID-19, while 9.5 % (n = 25) were not affected by it. Some of the impacts of the COVID-19 as pointed out by the respondents included deflation (91.7 %, n = 242), a decline in the number of customers (91.7 %, n = 242), whereas others lost jobs (5.7 %, n = 15). In the case of the Burunge WMA authority, revenue collection (mainly from the tourism sector) declined by 32.5 % and 76.4 % for the years 2019/20 and 2020/21, respectively, as compared to the revenue obtained in the year 2018/19 before COVID-19. During the pandemic, local communities adapted to several alternative sources of income while others intensified their former ones mainly being agriculture, fishing and livestock keeping. It is important for local communities, especially those adjacent to protected areas, to have diversified means of income that are environmentally and socially sustainable, such as fish farming and beekeeping, to reduce the impacts of unanticipated crises such as COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francis Chebby
- The University of Dodoma, College of Natural and Mathematical Science, Department of Biology, Box 338, Dodoma, Tanzania
| | - Naza Mmbaga
- The University of Dodoma, College of Natural and Mathematical Science, Department of Biology, Box 338, Dodoma, Tanzania
| | - Kelvin Ngongolo
- The University of Dodoma, College of Natural and Mathematical Science, Department of Biology, Box 338, Dodoma, Tanzania
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Zhang WB, Ge Y, Liu M, Atkinson PM, Wang J, Zhang X, Tian Z. Risk assessment of the step-by-step return-to-work policy in Beijing following the COVID-19 epidemic peak. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 2020; 35:481-498. [PMID: 33223954 PMCID: PMC7664171 DOI: 10.1007/s00477-020-01929-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/30/2020] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a new strain of coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, China. As the virus spread worldwide causing a global pandemic, China reduced transmission at considerable social and economic cost. Post-lockdown, resuming work safely, that is, while avoiding a second epidemic outbreak, is a major challenge. Exacerbating this challenge, Beijing hosts many residents and workers with origins elsewhere, making it a relatively high-risk region in which to resume work. Nevertheless, the step-by-step approach taken by Beijing appears to have been effective so far. To learn from the epidemic progression and return-to-work measures undertaken in Beijing, and to inform efforts to avoid a second outbreak of COVID-19, we simulated the epidemiological progression of COVID-19 in Beijing under the real scenario of multiple stages of resuming work. A new epidemic transmission model was developed from a modified SEIR model for SARS, tailored to the situation of Beijing and fitted using multi-source data. Because of strong spatial heterogeneity amongst the population, socio-economic factors and medical capacity of Beijing, the risk assessment was undertaken spatiotemporally with respect to each district of Beijing. The epidemic simulation confirmed that the policy of resuming work step-by step, as implemented in Beijing, was sufficient to avoid a recurrence of the epidemic. Moreover, because of the structure of the model, the simulation provided insights into the specific factors at play at different stages of resuming work, allowing district-specific recommendations to be made with respect to monitoring at different stages of resuming work . As such, this research provides important lessons for other cities and regions dealing with outbreaks of COVID-19 and implementing return-to-work policies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wen-bin Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Systems, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101 China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China
| | - Yong Ge
- State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Systems, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101 China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China
| | - Mengxiao Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Systems, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101 China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China
| | - Peter M. Atkinson
- State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Systems, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101 China
- Lancaster Environment Center, Faculty of Science and Technology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YR UK
| | - Jinfeng Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Systems, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101 China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China
| | - Xining Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Systems, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101 China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China
| | - Zhaoxing Tian
- Emergency Department of Peking, University International Hospital, Beijing, China
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