Quantifying Ecological, Economic, Social, and Governance Attributes for Urban Forest Eco-Tourism Using MDS-RAPFISH Approach

Urban forests play a crucial role in ecological conservation and environmental preservation in urban environments.Their sustainability is vital given the mounting ecological and environmental pressures they face.This study aims to identify factors influencing the sustainability of forest management in terms of ecological conservation and eco-tourism, with a focus on Dumai's urban forest.We employed a Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) approach using the RAPFISH (Rapid Assessment Technique for Fisheries) program for our analysis.The results indicate that the Dumai forest ecosystem falls into the moderate category, while its sustainability level is considered less sustainable across four dimensions: ecological, social, economic, and governance.Leverage analysis identified several sensitive attributes for the sustainability of forest management, including three ecological attributes (vegetal diversity, tree species density, animal diversity), four economic attributes (job and business opportunities, multiplier effect, non-tax revenue, community income), five social attributes (level of education, society participation, conflict, community perception, public communications), and four governance attributes (regional information database, monitoring and evaluation system, human resources, infrastructure).These findings underscore the necessity of balancing the ecological and socio-economic functions of the Dumai urban forest for ecological conservation and eco-tourism.By employing the Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) approach, this study offers new insights into the comprehensive understanding of the factors affecting the sustainability of forest management practices, and their impacts on ecological conservation and eco-tourism within an urban context.