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The Shangri-La County and its surrounding areas lie within the Hengduan Mountains system at the southwestern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, and belong to the core zone of Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas. There are numerous snow mountains of special ecological and cultural significance. The investigation of snow cover dynamics is important for understanding how snow cover responds in the context of climate change. In this study, the spatial and temporal dynamics of snow cover in the entire area were analysed using 28-scene Landsat images from 1974–2012. Snow cover variability of different altitudinal zones and orientations was also discussed. Then, we explored the relationship between snow cover dynamics and both climate change and local tourism activities. The results show that snow cover area in the Shangri-La region continued a clear decreasing trend in the last 40 years, declining from 4188 km2in 1974 to 901 km2in 2012. The decrease of snow cover generally occurred from low to high altitude and was most pronounced at altitudes of 4000–5000 metres, with a reduction of 2800 km2since 1974. Snow cover decreased more significantly in the northwest part of the area than in the southeast. The primary driving force for this decrease was attributed to the increase in air temperature (+0.22°C per decade in the area). Compared with a similar decreasing trend in the Meili Snow Mountains, a dramatic reduction of snow cover in the southeastern Yulong Snow Mountains is attributed partially to local tourism activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The county-governed administrative area considered in this study is a unit with wide distributed basic geographical characteristics in China. In addition, the area is the basic organizer and manager of the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system of the natural resources and environment (NRE) of China. To enhance the reliability and sustainability of the M&E system subjected to the NRE, the researchers should focus on the data sources and emphasize the data qualities that are of concern to various stakeholders. In this paper, an in-depth metadata analysis, based on the M&E indicator system of the NRE, is composed of two approaches and a typical practical case: (1) metadata tracking approach – generate the core parameters of each indicator, such as the publisher, the creator, the coverage, the update cycle and type; (2) questionnaire survey approach – invite some scholars, consultants and citizens to evaluate the feasibility and the accessibility of the data sources of the 22 preset M&E indicators and (3) practical case – acquire the data sources of the dynamic monitoring of NRE in Shangri-La County, Yunnan Province, China, including a backward economy and imperfect statistical systems. The goal of this research is to explore the basic status of M&E data of one vast county-governed area in China, with the hope to improve the stability of the M&E system of the NRE at the county level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]