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Historic districts are integral components of urban space, possessing diverse ecosystems that can offer various cultural services to the public. Urbanization and tourism development have led to the degradation of the ecological landscapes within historic districts, impacting sustainable development. Incorporating Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) into the environmental research of historic districts can meet people's spiritual needs, enhance intangible benefits for humanity, and promote the conservation of the ecological environment within historic districts. Therefore, this study conducted perceptual quantification research on CES in four typical historic districts in Fuzhou City, crawling the online comment data through Python, mined its potential themes using Biterm Topic Model (BTM), and extracted and categorized the indicators of CES of historic districts by combining with expert consultation; meanwhile, the satisfaction of CES of historic districts is further explored with the help of two methods, namely, sentiment analysis and Importance-Performance analysis (IPA), and summarized the public perception of CES of historic districts. The results of the study show that: (1) the dimensions of public perception of CES in urban historic districts include Cultural Heritage, Leisure Tourism, Aesthetic Enjoyment, Spiritual Fulfillment, Inspiration, and Science Education six indicators, of which Leisure Tourism is most easily perceived by the public, but its satisfaction is not high; (2) the public's perception of positive emotions towards the CES of historic districts in Fuzhou is greater than negative emotions, with positive emotions accounting for 80.61%; (3) the public's overall satisfaction with the CES of Fuzhou's historic districts is high, and according to the final analysis results of the IPA, the four historic districts of Fuzhou are respectively proposed to improve the opinions. Based on big data, this study explores the public perception characteristics of CES in Fuzhou historic districts to promote its sustainable development and improve public well-being, which is of great significance to protecting the ecological environment of historic districts and improving the quality of cultural services.

Understanding stakeholders’ perceptions is crucial for balancing tourism growth with ecological sustainability in island destinations characterized by fragile environments and limited resources. This study intends to update and synthesize knowledge through a systematic review and meta-analysis on stakeholders’ perceived ecological impacts of island tourism. Both thematic analysis and content analysis were conducted to categorize and synthesize themes in the selected literature. The findings reveal that key stakeholders—including residents, tourists, operators, and officials—express concerns about the environmental impacts of tourism, with negative perceptions outweighing positive ones. They note negative effects such as pollution, resource depletion, and species destruction, as well as positive outcomes like increased environmental awareness and improved infrastructure. Additionally, the study further outlines three key management strategies: Enhancing stakeholder participation, adopting adaptive strategies and regulations, and strengthening long-term monitoring and evaluation systems. Finally, this study presents a conceptual framework that connects stakeholder perceptions with management responses, aiming to assess the ecological impacts of tourism on island environments. By integrating diverse stakeholder perspectives, this study advances the discourse on insular ecological conservation and tourism governance, providing valuable insights for more effective and sustainable development strategies.

Protected areas in Malaysia have always been managed using top-down approach that often exclude the local communities, who are the main users of ecosystem services, from the planning and management. However, a newly established multiple-use marine park in Malaysia, Tun Mustapha Park (TMP), aims for inclusivity in managing the park. This research explores different participatory approaches (i.e. participatory mapping and Photovoice) to understand the ecosystem services and the dynamics surrounding the services in TMP. Community-based organisations and a mariculture farm in TMP were invited to participate in this work. The participants mapped the ecosystem services and provided in-depth qualitative data that supported the maps, besides highlighting ecological, sociocultural and economic issues surrounding the ecosystem services. Furthermore, the participants provided suggestions and recommendations that carry political effects. Therefore, the participatory approaches employed here had provided rich visual and spatial data to enhance the ecosystem-based management of TMP besides empowering the participants to voice out for their communities. The results generated from this work were also further utilised to fill in the gaps of knowledge in a separate ecosystem service assessment matrix. However, the output from participatory approaches should not be considered as the ultimate outcome but rather as supplement to the planning and management of TMP due to potential human errors and biases. Although the participatory approaches came with limitations and challenges that may have affected the findings here, these nonetheless had provided support to the capability of local communities to provide information crucial for management of protected areas as well as room for improvement for further work.

Social identity plays a crucial role on the participation of community in tourism development; however, this importance is rarely emphasized. To fill the gap, this study examines the role of social identity on the relationship between community motivation and intention to participate in tourism development. To this end, a quantitative approach via questionnaire survey method was adopted to collect data from 382 respondents from the six districts of Langkawi in Malaysia. The data were subsequently analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The study's results established the mediating effect of social identity on the association between motivation, attitude, expectation of benefit, knowledge, opportunity for the community and the intention to participate in sustainable tourism development. It was also observed that factors such as attitude, opportunity, knowledge, expected benefit and motivation influence the community's participation intention in tourism development. The study also emphasized the need for the government to encourage community participation, neutralize participation constraints and promote community collaboration by organizing training for the community and defining policies that will inspire community participation. The results of this study contribute to the existing literature on community participation and tourism development.

Background The mental health of migrants living in the post-migration urban environment poses a significant public health challenge in both developed and developing economies. Few empirical studies attempted to disentangle the influence pathways that acculturation might produce the link between the residential environment and health effects. Methods Data from 385 migrants was collected using a multi-stage stratified sampling method from 25 communities in Yiwu, China. We used a multi-level regression model and conditional process analysis to examine the health effects of the perceived neighbourhood environment and influence pathways of acculturation. Results The results found that participants’ mental health was moderate (mean = 15.9 out of 24). Migrants residing in relocation neighbourhoods and factory dormitories exhibit significantly lower mental health. The neighbourhood effects of migrant-dominated, local-dominated, and mixed residential neighbourhoods contribute positively to migrants’ mental health. Neighbourhood physical environment positively affects mental health, whereas the neighbourhood social environment negatively affects mental health. Moreover, EGS (β indirect =-0.04, BootLLCI=-0.096, BootULCI=-0.002) and NSC (β indirect =-0.038, BootLLCI=-0.081, BootULCI=-0.007) impact migrants’ mental health through the mechanism of acculturative stress. Migrants in the assimilation group experienced reduced acculturative stress as the NFA (β=-0.377, p  = 0.035) improved. In contrast, those in the separation group faced increased acculturative stress as the improvements of NFA (β = 0.392, p  = 0.05) and EGS (β = 0.809, p  = 0.027). Conclusions These findings suggest that future public health intervention strategies should be considered for improved neighbourhood environments, promoted residential integration, alleviated acculturative stress and prioritised acculturation strategies to enhance rural migrants’ mental health.

Ecotourism makes a significant contribution to long-term development. However, a spatial analysis-based multi-criteria process has been widely used in ecotourism development planning. Batticaloa district is one of the tourism hotspots in the country which distinctive views play a significant role in fostering the potential for ecotourism. However, no specific study or planning has been carried out to identify appropriate zones for ecotourism development. This study attempts to identify suitable zones for ecotourism development in Batticaloa District. In this research AHP method was used in GIS environment. Five thematic layers such as landscape, protected area, topography, accessibility, and community characteristics were given appropriate weights and integrated into the GIS through the weighted overlay analysis. Accordingly, five potential ecotourism zones were identified in the study area. The research revealed that the area very suitable for ecotourism development is largely distributed in the northern, western, and south-western parts of the Batticaloa district. Finally, 12.53% of the land area of the District falls under the “very suitable to extremely suitable\" area for ecotourism development. The findings of this study can assist tourism planners and the government in precisely selecting locations for ecotourism development and relieving pressures on the region's tourism demand.

Effective monitoring is necessary to conserve mangroves from further loss in Malaysia. In this context, remote sensing is capable of providing information on mangrove status and changes over a large spatial extent and in a continuous manner. In this study we used Landsat satellite images to analyze the changes over a period of 25 years of mangrove areas in Iskandar Malaysia (IM), the fastest growing national special economic region located in southern Johor, Malaysia. We tested the use of two widely used digital classification techniques to classify mangrove areas. The Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) technique provided significantly higher user, producer and overall accuracies and less “salt and pepper effects” compared to the Support Vector Machine (SVM) technique. The classified satellite images using the MLC technique showed that IM lost 6740 ha of mangrove areas from 1989 to 2014. Nevertheless, a gain of 710 ha of mangroves was observed in this region, resulting in a net loss of 6030 ha or 33%. The loss of about 241 ha per year of mangroves was associated with a steady increase in urban land use (1225 ha per year) from 1989 until 2014. Action is necessary to protect the existing mangrove cover from further loss. Gazetting of the remaining mangrove sites as protected areas or forest reserves and introducing tourism activities in mangrove areas can ensure the continued survival of mangroves in IM.

Transport can significantly contribute to independent and healthy ageing, but in Pakistan—as in various other countries across the globe—many older adults are dependent on others. Age-sensitive transport environments are crucial for generating positive experiences among older adults. Notably, psychosocial experiences significantly impact public transport use. Thus, a thorough understanding of these psychological influences on public transport accessibility can encourage walkability and independent mobility. In the present research, we combine different data into a mixed-method study to investigate the psychosocial barriers to public transport use by older adults for daily travel in Lahore, Pakistan. The data include a questionnaire survey (319 older adults), semi-structured interviews (11 older adults), structured interviews with four experts and an analysis of relevant national-, provincial-, and district-level strategies and transport plans. The findings show how poorly perceived social norms, negative emotional responses, and perceived difficulty are significant barriers to using public transport services among older adults. Moreover, the existing transport plans and documents do not favour and cater to such psychosocial issues. Several strategic interventions that could promote walkability and public transport use are suggested. It includes activating social norms, raising awareness and information, providing social support, improving walking infrastructure and public transport services, pricing mechanisms, and offering specialised services. These initiatives, however, necessitate coordination among government authorities at the national, provincial, and district levels.

Several of the coastal zones in Sabah, Malaysia, are isolated and inaccessible. This study aimed to review the published literature on the health status of the coastal communities in Sabah. The following four main health issues were found: (i) malaria, (ii) tuberculosis (TB), (iii) seafood poisoning, and (iv) antenatal problems. Factors associated with the risk of acquiring malarial infection in the studied coastal area were advanced age, male sex, farming as an occupation, history of travel outside the village, and rainy seasons. TB infection was primarily observed in adult men. Seafood poisoning was significantly common in Sabah. Studies have reported that tetrodotoxin and paralytic shellfish poisoning were commonly reported (30–60 cases annually). Several pregnant women in the coastal community had insufficient knowledge of the national antenatal care programme. Nonetheless, 99% of them received antenatal care at public healthcare facilities with 92% of them undergoing safe delivery. Nevertheless, a majority of the pregnant women had iodine deficiency due to low iodised salt intake. Findings from this review highlighted that the coastal communities in Sabah are experiencing significant health problems. Specific attention is required to significantly enhance the health and well-being of the individuals living in the coastal communities in Sabah.

Mangrove forests in Southeast Asia are continuously declining as a result of unsustainable practices, partly due to limited recognition of the value of mangrove services in land use decision making. Valuation practitioners have assumed that monetary valuation should inform local and national decision makers to ensure sustainable management of mangrove resources. For ecosystem service valuation to be of use to decision makers, best practices should be adhered to such as having straightforward policy questions and strong stakeholder engagement from the onset of valuation studies, suitable choice of valuation methodologies, and the ability to effectively demonstrate causal links between drivers of ecosystem health, change, and resource users. This study, focusing on the Malaysian case study, assessed the effectiveness and challenges of local ecosystem service valuation studies in informing mangrove management decisions against a set of global best practices. A systematic review approach was undertaken to identify relevant Malaysian mangrove ecosystem service valuation studies. Of 184 studies identified, only 17 provided monetary values for mangrove ecosystem services. These studies valued nine different mangrove ecosystem services, with the cultural ecosystem services of tourism being the most frequently valued. Most of the valuation studies were designed to raise awareness of the value of ecosystems (64.7%). Other intended uses included determining appropriate charging rates for mangrove uses (17.6%), comparing the costs and benefits of different environmental uses (11.8%), and providing a justification and support for certain decision making (5.9%). Overall, mangrove valuation studies in Malaysia were characterized by weak multi-stakeholder engagement, non-standardized valuation units across the whole country, limited dissemination of the valuation outcome, and cursory references to the potential use of mangrove ecosystem services. Most of the studies did not exert apparent influence on mangrove management. Future valuation studies in Malaysia and the Southeast Asian region should aim to build more robust engagement between valuation practitioners and key stakeholder groups, especially decision makers, at all stages of the study process and incorporate a clear dissemination strategy for sharing results.