Improving City of Saint John's_ Term Paper

Total Length: 2971 words ( 10 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 8

Page 1 of 10

, 2003).

Eggleston, W. (1961). The Queen's Choice. Ottawa, Ontario: The National Capital Commission.

The city of St. John's can also borrow a leaf from the City of Ottawa's Greenbelt that was put in place to avoid urban sprawl and provide open space for future development of natural areas. According to Eggleston (1961), the Greenbelt currently covers forests, wetland, and fields used for recreation conservation, farming, research, and forestry. The greenbelt has a variety of wildlife that fall under the category of mammals, birds, insects, reptiles and amphibians. Wildlife is a source of revenue especially when tourists come to watch them. The revenue earned from such activities can be used in bettering service delivery to the city residents. This is an economic benefit that the authorities of the City of St. John's stand to benefit from if they put in place nature and wildlife reserves within the city's vicinity. The Greenbelt boasts Green's Creek Conservation area which is a nature reserve of a small tributary of the Ottawa River, Mer Bleue Conservation area, pine groove forest, and Ottawa Municipal Campground (Eggleston, 1961). The City of St. John's Newfoundland can also consider investing in such areas.

Gubbay, S. (1995). Marine Protected Areas-past, present and future. Conservation Biology Series, 5, 1-14.

Samoa and Japan have raised concerns over mangrove development. This according to Gubbay (1995) underscores the importance of protecting marine life. All conservation activities are nowadays done in the marine protected areas. In fact, marine wildlife and habitat are taken care of in marine protected areas. Marine wildlife and habitats can be a source of revenue to both the residents and the authorities of the St. John's City especially when tourists come to visit such sites. Earnings gotten from occupying beds pace in tourist resorts built by the locals can be used in bettering their lives (Gubbay, 1995). The revenue the authorities can be used to erect social amenities and building road networks. The locals can also be employed in the tourism sector and ease dependency in the population. However, these cannot be achieved when environmental sustainability is not given the first priority. Marine protected areas have to be built to act as a reservoir for species.

Maller, C., Townsend, M., Pryor, a., Brown, P., & St. Ledger, L. (2006). Healthy nature healthy people: 'contact with nature' as an upstream health promotion intervention for populations. Health Promotion International, 21 (1), 45-54.

City of St. John's can benefit socially and economically from putting in place nature and wildlife reserves. When city residents access natural setting within their vicinity they get some level of satisfaction. Maller, Townsend, Pryor, Brown & Ledger (2006) are certain that natural reserves serve as recreational centers. They therefore help in reducing crime, social unrests, and disease incidence. Individuals who go to nature reserve get to view natural scenes as well as getting chance to be in natural environment. By seeing nature one gets to relieve stress. This generally improves their well-being. This is extremely important to patients who studies show that recover faster when granted an opportunity to view natural environment (Maller, et al., 2006). Being in natural environment restores the harmony to the functions of the brain. In fact, being in natural environment fosters recovery from mental fatigue. Nature parks that have community gardens offer rare opportunity for socialization among city residents. This enhances community cohesion, reduces violence, and increases positive attitudes among city residents. This leads to personal and neighborhood transformation. For migrants, visiting the nature reserve increases their sense of identity and ownership of the city they live in, a sense of integration rather than isolation, and sense of re-union with nature. They also get to participate in caring for the environment.

Pearce, D.W. & Turner, R.K., (1990). Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

Research shows that nature improves ones moods and outlook. Without necessarily visiting wild places urban residents can go to a nature park. Trees reduce stress and skin cancer as well as reducing patient recovery time. This is a social and an economic benefit.
According to Pearce & Turner (1990), natural environments are primary tourism destinations. Tourists get to watch the wildlife in such places. This is very important because tourism is a major revenue earner for different cities and towns across the universe. It is imperative that the resource that the nature provides for tourism is used sustainably by such cities. In the United Kingdom tourisms visits involve trips to environmental attractions. Natural nature reserves can be used for walks, school outings, settings for sculptures, photography, painting classes among other activities. Royal Society for Protection of Birds received 11,802,000 pounds in revenue in the 1997/1998 financial year (Pearce & Turner, 1990). This revenue was earned from tourists who visited Titchwell, Norfolk, Leighton Moss, Lancashire, Bempton Cliffs, East Yorkshire, the Lodge, Bedfordshire, and Radipole Lake, Dorset. Particular landscapes, habitats, and species found in natural reserves have huge significance in people. This can be attributed to cultural or personal association bearing in mind that nature has spiritual significance to many people.

Mbaiwa, J.E. (2005). Wildlife resource utilization at Moremi Game Reserve and Khwai community area in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Journal of Environmental Management, 77(2), 144-156.

As evidenced by Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana, the City of St. John's stands to gain enormously when it considers having a wildlife reserve within its vicinity. It is evident that at formative stages of the reserve, which is located in the Okavango Delta in Botswana among the Khwai community, there were problems that were occasioned by displacement of the local community from their land (Mbaiwa, 2005). This community solely relied on hunting for their livelihood. Obviously there were resource conflicts between the local community and the wildlife managers. However, with the institution of Community-Based Natural Resource Management program, local participation in natural resource management was enhanced. Just like the Khwai community the residents and administrative authorities of St. John's both stand to benefit from putting in place a wildlife reserve. Such facility can generate revenue for the authorities. It can also be a source of income for local residents who can take up different responsibilities. The wildlife reserve can tap into the human resource that is locally available especially if the city residents are conversant with matters pertaining to wildlife conservancy. The locals can also be involved in wildlife management. They will therefore have positive attitude towards environmental conservation and tourism development. This can help minimize human-wildlife conflict and promote sustainable wildlife use.

Collier, a., & Brocx, B. (2004). Tourism Industry Management. Auckland: Pearson Educational

Wildlife reserves built in cold cities with a population of less than 200,000 people do not reach their full economic potential. Migration data is very important in tourism. Having a wildlife reserve in a city with a population of less than 200,000 will not make the facility realize its full potential. Cold climates may also deter tourists from coming to City of St. John's because that may cause them a lot of inconveniences (Collier & Brocx, 2004).

Conclusion

The movement of people from the rural areas to the town set ups has made them loose touch with nature. Building of nature and wildlife reserves within the city provides the people with a rare opportunity to reconnect with nature. Building of nature reserve within the cities makes young people who are known to be less concerned with the nature develop some interest in environment thus become more aware about the natural world. Children who are taught about environmental education are more likely to grow into responsible adults who pay a lot of attention to sustainability. The building of wildlife and natural reserves within or in outskirts of cities can be a source of revenue for such cities. The revenue earned from tourism can be used by authorities in bettering the livelihoods of the city residents. Nature has to be conserved at all costs for sustainability. Failure to do this can be so detrimental to the livelihoods of the people who depend on it.

Nature reserves act as recreational facilities. These facilities can enhance integration.....

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