The Positive Effect of Geological Relic Monitoring and Early Warning System on Geological Landform Protection

Wudalianchi Administration Committee
Published: 10 May 2022
Last edited: 10 May 2022
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Summary

Wudalianchi is a national park in northeastern China. In recent years, Wudalianchi has gradually attracted people's attention. Now it is not only an ideal learning place for geology scholars, but also a popular holiday resort.

 

Due to the increase of tourists and traffic flow, the protection capacity of the geological relics reached its limits, which also risked visitors’ safety. In the past, only some monitoring points were arranged in the densely populated areas of park, which was far from enough to monitor other non-densely populated geological sites and monitor the tourists flow. 

 

This solution describes how the management committee of Wudalianchi increases the monitoring capacity by upgrading monitoring system and educating the public. Wudalianchi has developed 12 sightseeing areas. This program has greatly reduced the cost of management and the number of security personnel required, allowing quickly response in face of emergency.

Classifications

Region
East Asia
Scale of implementation
Local
Ecosystem
Agro-ecosystem
Agroforestry
Cropland
Forest ecosystems
Freshwater ecosystems
Green spaces (parks, gardens, urban forests)
Pool, lake, pond
River, stream
Temperate deciduous forest
Urban ecosystem and build environment
Wetland (swamp, marsh, peatland)
Theme
Geodiversity and Geoconservation
Protected and conserved areas governance
Restoration
Species Conservation and One Health Interventions
Species Monitoring and Research
Risk communication, community engagement and behaviour change
One Health
Good governance of landscapes
Challenges
Land and Forest degradation
Loss of Biodiversity
Ecosystem loss
Inefficient management of financial resources
Lack of access to long-term funding
Lack of public and decision maker’s awareness
Lack of technical capacity
Sustainable development goals
SDG 17 – Partnerships for the goals
Aichi targets
Target 1: Awareness of biodiversity increased
Target 7: Sustainable agriculture, aquaculture and forestry
Target 11: Protected and conserved areas
Target 19: Sharing information and knowledge
Business engagement approach
Direct engagement with associations
Indirect through consumers

Location

Wudalianchi, Heihe, Heilongjiang, People's Republic of China | NA
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Challenges

  • Lack of standards for geological disaster monitoring
  • The old geological disaster monitoring and early warning sensor network were not compatible with big data and cloud platform and had serious technical problems
  • Limited funding 
  • Insufficient staff

Beneficiaries

This project protects geological heritage and benefits 14,223 local residents. Tourists have also enjoyed higher qualitied and safer tours. In 2018, the annual tourist number was 1 million. We expect more in 2022. 

How do the building blocks interact?

Geological remains are the precious heritage for human nature. Thus, we should not only use monitoring system to protect non-renewable natural resources, but also increase awareness of scientific management and the values of these precious heritage. It has made the park an important place for leisure and a popular science education park. The administration committee and staff have developed and utilized the park in a scientific way to promote the sustainable development of the park.

Impacts

1.     Monitoring system compensates for the lack of staff in charge of monitoring and greatly reduces the cost of management

There are 237 scenic area staff in the park (114 formal and 12 temporary), responsible for the maintenance and inspections of geological remains. But only 5 people are in charge of monitoring, far from the requirement of good geological relics protection and monitoring work. With the new monitoring system installed in the park, monitoring staff could check the overall situation of the park sitting in the monitoring center, which is much more efficient compared to the past.

 

2.     Monitoring system allows rapid intervention on the ground

The monitoring and early warning system also allows rapid intervention when there are sudden weather changes(freeze-thaw effect), disasters(earthquakes or volcanic eruptions) or destructions (man-made or caused by extreme weather). Since the important geological sites are monitored, the Management Department could track real-time and inform the security and emergency team on duty quickly in case of disasters. We could also evacuate visitors in a short time when the number of visitors reaches the limit.

Story

Wudalianchi Administration Committee

All the current safety management work was completed by Tourist Area Management Team. The problem of insufficient staff and heavy workload could not be solved in a short time. For example,  there was no monitoring system for the destruction of geological relics made by tourists. So the Administration Committee adopted monitoring systems. When tourists are trying to destruct the geological relics, one of the staff of the committee can obtain monitoring information and timely inform the patrol staff of the scenic spot to warn the tourists. In the event of landslides and other dangerous situation, we can also timely monitor and notify tourists to evacuate to protect the safety of people’s property. Scientific and modern management can be carried out, and sudden events can be quickly and effectively prohibited or dealt with. 

Contributed by

wdlc.zoe@163.com's picture

Zhang Jiabo Wudalianchi National Park