Natural Resource Management for the World’s Highest Park: Community Attitudes on Sustainability for Central Karakoram National Park, Pakistan

Talib Hussain, Jaffar Abbas, Benqian Li, Jaffar Aman and Sajjad Ali
Additional contact information
Talib Hussain: School of Media and Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800, Dongchuan Rd. Minhang-District, Shanghai 200240, China
Jaffar Abbas: Glorious Sun School of Business and Management, Donghua University, 1882, West Yan’an Road, Shanghai 200051, China
Benqian Li: School of Media and Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800, Dongchuan Rd. Minhang-District, Shanghai 200240, China
Jaffar Aman: School of Sociology and Political Science, Shanghai University, 99 Shangda Road, Baoshan District, Shanghai 200444, China
Sajjad Ali: School of Media and Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800, Dongchuan Rd. Minhang-District, Shanghai 200240, China

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 6, 1-10

Abstract: The management of natural resources has become a crucial agenda item at the community level of every country, due to the importance of a community’s direct involvement in the stewardship of these resources. The sustainable management of natural resources is not easy without the involvement of the community. To know the attitudes of residents in the communities in close proximity to Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP) towards natural resource sustainable management policy, a study of CKNP in northern Pakistan was conducted. This is the first community study for this park. It is difficult to overstate the economic and geographic importance of this national resource to the Pakistani people at local and national levels, as well as at the international level. This is the world’s highest public park; as a natural resource it is not only important to the local community, it also has great relevance internationally. The study attempted to gauge the attitudes of the local community towards the sustainable management practices of CKNP. The results of this study showed generally positive attitudes towards the park. The majority of respondents revealed that the park’s primary appeal is its geographic location. Households were afraid that pollution in the park will gradually destroy the park’s natural resources. For sustainable management of the CKNP, community members expressed willingness to contribute to the betterment of park through volunteerism. Community members praised the government’s supportive actions, including budgetary support and public-awareness campaigns. As such, the positive attitude of the community towards the CKNP also revealed new insights for the community-centered sustainable management of natural resources in developing countries. This study also provides a research gap for future work relating to the sustainable management of community-based natural resources to consider more factors beside the factors used in this study.

Keywords: community sustainability; natural resource sustainable management; community impacts; community attitude; Central Karakoram National Park (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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