ECO-EQUITY
Our Ideal
The planet which mankind relies on for its existence is
imperiled. We have been living beyond our means, and a culture of
mass consumption and ceaseless economic growth can be maintained
now only with increasing difficulty. Mankind has been passionately
engaged in the process of constructing modern life, but a sense of
gratitude has not grown in proportion to our accumulating wealth.
This asymmetry is cause for deep anxiety. Mankind, relying on the
conveniences of industrial civilization and constant improvements in
technology, has allowed a fundamental truth to fade from view:
without the planet, there is no existence.
Our goal is to re-establish ecological harmony within the
process of modern development itself. This requires recognizing the
full value of natural ecosystems, searching for the essence of
traditional cultures, adjusting the relationship of man to nature, and
making directed use of modern technology, the modern economy, the
market mechanism, and wise governance. We must ensure that our
natural ecosystem is accorded more value; and we want local
populations to become the masters and beneficiaries of a new kind of
conservation, enabling them to respond voluntarily to the climate,
environment, and development crises they face.
China and the other nations of the world, in order to develop
soundly and sustainably, will need to establish themselves on a base
of ecological harmony. This is what we stand for at Shan Shui.
山 – Mountain 水 – Water
The wise find pleasure in water;
The virtuous find pleasure in mountains.
-The Analects
The expression “Shan Shui,” which means “Mountain and Water,” has
its origins in the Analects of Confucius. The phrase is used widely in
traditional Chinese literature and paintings to refer to a well-balanced
and harmonious landscape. The words today evoke the geography and
animal, plant, and human life that together make up a natural ecosystem.
We at Shan Shui strive for the harmonization of all living things. This
harmony is the spring and guarantee of human survival and spiritual,
cultural and emotional growth - past, present and future.
Shan Shui Conservation Center is a Chinese NGO based at Peking
University in Beijing, where it was founded in 2007 with support from
Conservation International.
Our Method
Action: In rural areas of China, we unite the forces of the
government, market, traditional culture, and modern science to
implement Special Ecological Zones. A blend of our own global
outlook and traditional Chinese wisdom, these zones promote
planning for the future in ecologically vital areas and acting on
climate change.
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Shan Shui’s Origins
Dialogue: We develop and refine an experience of ecologicallyoriented livelihood, building the self-confidence of local
communities and encouraging cultural continuity; and we advocate
policies on the national and local levels that will lead to eco-equity.
It was the middle of the nineteen-eighties, and China’s natural
conservation movement has only just taken its first steps. I was hardly
twenty years old, and I had followed Professor Pan Wenshi of Peking
University to Qinling Mountain in Shaanxi Province to conduct research
on the Giant Panda. One day, I saw a pregnant tufted deer accidentally
spring into a local village. Before my eyes, the villagers gleefully chased
down the doe until she collapsed, froth spilling from her mouth to the
ground. I considered intervening, but as I hesitated one of the rustics
turned to me and said with sincerity: “You’ve got some luck to have
meat the moment you walk into town!” That day’s events shook me to
my core. The conservation movement cannot succeed without the
support of local populations. If a conservation plan does not allow rural
populations to benefit from it, then it will not work.
So what’s to be done? This remains a very difficult question,
and it will require an optimistic spirit, perseverance, and constant
experimentation with new methods until there is a genuine answer.
In the mid-nineties I joined the World Wildlife Fund (WWF),
where I searched for a way to reconcile conservation work with local
development. From launching the Sichuan Wanglang Nature Reserve
eco-tourism program to encouraging the Baima Tibetan community to
participate in conservation, and from initiating the Chiangtang Plateau
conservation program to studying the local culture at the Medog “Sacred
Mountain,” in the nation’s only county without road access, I have seen
that simple approaches to solving complicated environmental problems
are bound to fail; at the same time, I have taken deep inspiration from
traditional cultures while putting conservation principles based in
science into practice. In 2002 I joined Conservation International (CI)
and became CI’s Country Representative in China. My team and I
immersed ourselves in the problem of obtaining broad support for
conservation work and making it a subject of public discussion, even as
China’s economy developed rapidly. We discovered local activists and
laid the roots for a new way of thinking and strategy on the ground level,
Unification: We unify man and nature, the traditional and modern,
the local and the world abroad.
Our Culture
A Love for Nature: We love nature deeply, and we draw from our
inspiration and our enthusiasm.
Equality and Respect: We respect nature and life, and we value all
different cultures.
Local Sensitivity: We believe local populations are the natural guardians
of their own environment; we respect the necessity of local
development; and we admire, study, and cherish the
interdependence of nature and indigenous cultures.
Global Awareness: We have a global outlook, and study examples and
experiences from around the world as we assist China’s
social development.
Spirit of Professionalism: We go about our work with a spirit of
professionalism, no matter if we are conducting scientific
work, recruiting local expertise, or co-operating with the
government, private industry, or the media.
Sincere and Straightforward: Our precise approach to interacting with
the public, our sincere attitude towards our work, and our
record of highly effective projects will reward the
confidence of our investors and supporters.
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while promoting better governance techniques and more scientific work
among our partners. We introduced a Carbon Sequestration program and
a Watershed Conservation Fund, drawing investment from the open
market to conservation; and we worked together with the government to
give more authority to village communities, making local populations an
integral part of conservation efforts. The results of these efforts have
allowed a real faith to take root: a kind of “Eco-equity” really is possible!
In 2007, “Shan Shui Conservation Center” was established in
Beijing with the support of Conservation International. Shan Shui’s
ambition is to become the most outstanding conservation group in China.
In an era of social development, we aspire to unite the government, the
market, traditional society, local populations, as well as resources from
groups inside and outside the country, to put “Eco-Equity” into practice
on the ground level. We proudly showcase our Special Ecological Zones
in the highest-value ecosystems in China’s Southwest and the QinghaiTibetan Plateau; and we hope to continue applying traditional Chinese
wisdom to the universal dream of reconciling man and nature.
After many years of steady work, we have laid the foundations
for dozens of Special Ecological Zones in a network of villages and
conservation areas spanning Sichuan, Tibet, Gansu, Qinghai and other
provinces. This adds up to a total area of hundreds of thousands of
square kilometers where we have carried out our experiment. Our
working partners in these places have included rural communities,
established conservation organizations, local government, individual
researchers, and grass-roots organizations; and at the same time we have
reached across to co-ordinate with government ministries, NGOs, and
educational, cultural, and business institutions in order to secure support
for our special ecological zones from as many fields and jurisdictions as
possible.
I welcome you to become a friend of Shan Shui! You can join
the Shan Shui Community, or to participate in a Shan Shui activity, and
feel how by adding your knowledge and strength to ours we can move
the earth; you can enroll in the “Young Green Leaders” program, or give
your support to our ecological forums. Let us work together for a more
beautiful China and a more beautiful world!
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Lu Zhi
Director of Shan Shui Conservation Center
Professor, Peking University
Special Ecological Zones: Our Work
Special Ecological Zones (“SEZ”), located in areas of particular
ecological importance, unify local leadership, government policy,
science, traditional culture, and the eco-services market in a dynamic
that blends conservation and development. They embody our notion of
“eco-equity.”
Our SEZs are located in the western provinces of China. We
have established a network in the Giant Panda habitat in the
southwestern mountain provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu;
around the Qinghai Lake region, and in the mountainous source of the
Yellow, Yangtze, and Mekong Rivers in Qinghai and Tibet, where we
use the snow leopard to promote our work.
Our work is based in a network of 25 government-designated
Nature Reserves and more than 120 villages that spread across Sichuan,
Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, and Tibet.
The Basis for SEZ’s:
Well-Defined Goals and Methods
The success of our SEZs depends on well-defined goals and procedures.
Our methodology is to “stand on the shoulders of giants” and unite
scientific and local expertise. We on the one hand utilize the best
available technology, and on the other respect, study, and learn from
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local traditions, harmonizing traditional know-how, conservation biology,
economics, sociology, and other scientific disciplines. Working together
with Beijing University, Shan Shui’s has been able to establish longterm conservation programs in Western China that are tailored to the
particular relationship between village communities and the local flora
and fauna – which can include the giant panda, Przewalski’s gazelle, the
snow leopard, and several other endangered animal and plant species.
The goal of the SEZ program is to establish a detailed and
flexible system for carrying out national-level priorities for species
conservation, forest, grassland and watershed protection, as well as for
responding to climate change, and integrating sustainable economic and
social development. These programs have to produce results which can
be quantified, verified, and reported. Our design takes into particular
account the uncertainties implied byclimate change, applies different
technologies to different areas, and showcases a bottom-up approach to
rural low-carbon development.
and de jure conservationist) to sign an agreement handing authority over
to the community to shoulder a set of responsibility defined by both
parties. The community’s livelihood and culture receive the support of
government policy in multiple areas. To date the Shan Shui conservation
incentive agreement program has been introduced in 16 locations.
Signing a conservation agreement allows the government to align its
own social welfare, development, and conservation agenda with the
priorities of conservation work. These agreements are the foundation for
Special Ecological Zones. At the same time, the experiment in Special
Ecological Zones serves as a concrete case study for regional policy
planning and development and large-scale infrastructure projects, and as
a standard for government review of its own ecological conservation
programs.
Lasting Returns for Compensated Ecological Services
SEZs need to receive sustainable economic support for the ecological
value they preserve and the services they provide. We support using the
market mechanism, and not allocating government funds, to inspire
conservation activity. SEZs will build on the foundation of the inherited
traditional livelihoods in an area, developing sources of income that
derive from environmentally-oriented industries, including (but not
limited to) tourism, forest carbon sequestration, freshwater conservation,
and community-based production of traditional goods – making use, in
other words, of the ever-larger market for ecological services. With
support from Conservation International, Shan Shui has to date
harnessed the market for carbon sequestration in forests and water
conservation to generate long-term income for local conservationists
producing eco-services. Our forest sequestration program in has already
restored several thousand hectares of degraded forest in Sichuan and
Yunnan, which will absorb hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon
dioxide that can be traded to offset emissions, while at the same time
providing a habitat for local wildlife and a livelihood for local
populations. A freshwater conservation program which we have
designed for Lijiang City, Yunnan, uses revenue from popular tourist
destinations in the vicinity to support cleanup and conservation of water
Recruiting Local Leadership
Only when local community members guide conservation work can
it really have vitality. In the areas where we work, there are already
people with insights and courage on the ground. Shan Shui’s goal is to
foster leaders and organizations that have an entrepreneurial spirit. To
date, Shan Shui’s community fund has already provided support to more
than 100 rural green leaders, offering them starting capital, training, and
support from our rural network; and by using publications and films to
record the lives and activities of these local leaders, Shan Shui’s SEZ
program encourages the maintenance and continuity of local culture.
Obtaining Government Approval and Authorization
On the national and local level, China has already developed
policies which address necessary testing and verification issues. Special
Ecological Zones have to receive government approval and support in
order to fit into this larger framework. Shan Shui’s “Conservation
Incentive Agreements” allow local communities (local resource users
and the actual conservationists) and the government (the resource owner
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source agriculture areas. In Sichuan’s Pingwu County, we have designed
a program in which the municipal water fee is directed back towards
villages conserving forests in local watershed areas.
who are absolutely dependent on the grassland for their way of life,
and ultimately, the lives of the one billion people downstream who
depend on the Yangtze, Mekong, and Yellow rivers for their life and
livelihood.
We also focus our attention on the mountains of southwest
China, which is the most ecologically diverse temperate region in the
world. The mountains, valleys, and steep inclines of this region act to
isolate species, but the extreme local diversity and species
specialization puts this high altitude area at a high risk of mass species
extinction. Furthermore, the rivers, lakes, and freshwater wetlands in
northwest and southwest China have a very high ecological service
value. But at the same time, because of the the influence of glacial
meltwater, this ecosystem is vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
These mountainous areas will therefore be priority regions for
establishing Special Ecological Zones in the future.
Our forest carbon sequestration project in Sichuan and Yunnan,
which has already restored thousands of acres of degraded forest, is
also part of a broader climate change mitigation strategy. We already
monitor the effects of climate change in many of our project sites, and
adapting to climate change will remain a long-term priority of our
organization.
RESPONDING TO CLIMATE CHANGE – OUR WORK
Climate change has the potential to deal a catastrophic blow to
environmental conservation work and to the Special Ecological Zones
in particular. Yet China still has not drawn up an effective plan for
adapting to climate change. The western parts of China, especially the
high plateau of Qinghai and Tibet and the southwest mountain
ecosystem are all extremely vulnerable to the effect of climate change,
and designing a response to climate change for these areas is our
priority. Our SEZs are designed with the joint goals of responding to
climate change, halting species extinction, and maintaining a system of
exchangeable eco-services. An ecosystem with rich and intact species
diversity will have a greater ability to adapt to changes in climate.
We have been drawing bottom-up, workable plans for responding
to climate change. We have already restored thousands of hectares of
degraded forest in Sichuan and Yunnan, which will absorb carbon
dioxide and whose services can be placed on the global market. At the
same time, Shan Shui already has initiated many climate change
monitoring and research programs. Responding to climate change will
remain one of our long-term priorities.
(图片)
The geographic distributions of the 600 species currently
protected under Chinese law are displayed on this map. Darker regions
on the map indicate areas where the species distributions overlap.
When overlaid with a map of climate change impacts, it becomes clear
that the ecologically vulnerable areas in the West and North are
susceptible to climate change as well.
Our first priority is to draft a response to climate change plan
for the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. The area’s vulnerability to climate
change derives from the effect that glacial meltwater has on local water
resources and the grassland ecosystem. At stake are the continued
existence of the area’s unique species, the culture of the local herdsmen,
MAKING CHINESE DEVELOPMENT ECOEQUITABLE
Ecological Forums
Our ecological forums function as a platform for discussing government
policy and implementation; we invite local activists, and policy,
scientific, and market experts to discuss crucial problems of
conservation and new directions for research. We use current case
studies to refine the experience of participants, share techniques, ensure
a support network is in place, and promote deeper and wider
implementation of ecological policy.
Encouraging Participation from Different Social Groups
The Shan Shui Community organizes city-based art exhibitions,
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lectures, and field trips in the outdoors. In April 2009, we joined with
Last Descents River Expeditions to lead a group of scientists,
entrepreneurs and community representatives down 140 kilometers of
the Yangtze River. The trip was the basis of the forthcoming book, “A
Vanishing River.” From September to November 2009, the Beijing
Center for the Arts will host “ShanShui: Nature on the Horizon of Art,” a
large, multidisciplinary exhibition. During the exhibition, we will host a
“Shan Shui Forum” and invite scholars from different fields to discuss
the environment, contemporary society and mankind’s plan for solving
its crisis. In December, 2009, Shan Shui will participate in the UN
climate change conference in Copenhagen in the capacity of a Chinese
NGO. Our members will lead a group of Chinese entrepreneurs in
consultations with global businessmen, government figures, and
specialists as they study how to respond to the climate change crisis.
If our common environmental crisis has awakened your concern
and you wish to join our circle of conservationists, we invite you to
contact us. Among Shan Shui’s friends are young people and students,
professionals, entrepreneurs, and leaders of public opinion. The more
than twenty staff members in Shan Shui are brimming with vitality, and
skillfully work along with Chinese policy as they publicize their mission
abroad and recruit like-minded professionals for careers in conservation.
Fostering Young Green Leaders
Beginning in 2010, Shan Shui will join with Caijing (Fortune) Magazine
to recruit outstanding graduates from the best universities in cities across
China. We will foster the next generation of “green leaders” by inviting
influential public figures in China to serve as their mentors, providing
the graduates with training, and bringing them to our participating rural
communities to gain experience. We hope that the graduates will finish
our program with a unified set of abilities and perspectives, the character
of leaders, and the spirit of entrepreneurs in order to help draw the
attention of Chinese society to nature conservation.
Publishing the “China Conservation in Practice” Series
“China Conservation in Practice” is a publication aimed at
correcting the shortcomings in China’s record on conservation. It records,
publicizes, and shares conservation experience, supporting donors and
government offices involved with conservation, and supplying social
actors with reliable reference information.
BECOME A FRIEND OF SHAN SHUI
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Strategy: Community-based small-scale investment and the Rural Green
Leaders training program
Program Details: Located in the north-west of Yunnan province, on the
eastern side of the Lancang river canyon, the Tibetan village of
Shuonong has a population of 29 families. The village’s inaccessibility
makes the inhabitants extremely reliant on the resources of the forest.
The villagers are also illiterate, and, lacking much sense of community,
competition for a highly valuable local mushroom often broke out into
violence. Ciliwudi, the only young person in the village who had
ventured beyond the mountains, heard about the Shan Shui team from
the Kawakarpo Mountain Cultural Association. He approached Shan
Shui leadership and suggested that by using the traditional Tibetan line
dance, it might be possible to rebuild the harmony of man with nature,
and also of man with man. In 2006, Ciliwudi’s proposal was approved,
and he received 10,000 yuan to proceed. He immediately traveled to
Tibet and invited a local “Reincarnated Buddhas” of Tibetan Buddhism
to come to the village and deliver a sermon. Over 90% of the villagers
pledged before the monk that they would abandon hunting and fell no
more trees. The village then set up two “literacy squads” to ensure that
everyone understood the words to the line dance. The village’s ability to
line up and dance gradually improved, and before long they had a
remarkable new style. In 2007, the Living Buddha returned to dedicate a
new holy district around the village’s sacred mountain. The new-growth
forest by then totaled roughly 6,000 hectares, and it contained several
species endangered at the national level. Similar small-scale grant
programs, encouraging communities to combine traditional culture and
local knowledge to plan conservation programs, are now in place in over
100 villages in Gansu, Qinghai, Yunnan, Tibet, and Sichuan.
With Co-operation From: Kawakarpo Cultural Association, L’Oreal, Inc.,
Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Conservation International.
山水故事
Shan Shui Stories
Recruiting Village Communities for Conservation Work
Location: Gansu Province, Wenxian County, Liziba Village and
Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve; Area: 65 km2
Strategy: Conservation Incentive Agreements
Program Program Details: The villagers of Liziba village, living hard on
the fringe of the forest, were originally conservationists. Over the past
decades, however, they cut down a considerable amount of their forest
for energy and quick cash. This badly damaged the quality of the tea
leaves that were actually the villagers’ main livelihood. With the support
of Conservation International’s Conservation Stewards Program (CSP),
Shan Shui held multiple rounds of negotiations in Liziba, and the
villagers signed an agreement with Baishuijiang National Nature
Reserve, a local government-established conservation program. The
Nature Reserve authorized the village to patrol the forest and at set
intervals evaluate the success of the conservation program. Shan Shui’s
Agreement made ecological conservation profitable to the village,
restored its confidence and strengthened its sense of culture. The damage
to the forest has since been largely undone, and the Liziba forest patrol
unit won the “Most Outstanding” prize in the 2009 SEE TNC ecology
awards contest. The Liziba case has inspired other conservation areas in
the Giant Panda habitat area, and has become an established model that
Shan Shui has applied to 17 more areas like Liziba.
With Cooperation From: Liziba Village; Baishuijiang National Nature
Reserve; Conservation International’s Conservation Stewardship
Program; Lanzhou University Wildlife Biodiversity Conservation Center.
Training Local Scientists
Location: Qinghai Province, Guoluo Prefecture, Jintai county, Guoluo
White Jade Monastery, and Suorima Village; divide between the Yellow
River and Yangtze Watersheds; Area: 2000 km2.
Bringing Traditional Culture into Conservation Work
Location: Yunnan Province, Diqing Prefecture, Deqin County, Shuonong
Village, Lancang (Mekong) River Canyon; Total Area: 100 km2.
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Strategy: Community Conservation Fund; Green Leaders Training
Program; “Through Their Eyes” – villager participatory documentary
project; Rural Pastureland Research and Monitoring.
Program Details: Tashi Sang-e is a higher-education teacher and
religious leader at the White Jade Buddhist monastery in the Guoluo
prefecture of Qinghai. He has had an abiding love for nature since
childhood, and at age 13 he took up amateur ornithology. In 2007 he
established the Nianbaoyuze Conservation Center in his hometown; in
2008, he received a community grant to support conservation work on
the Tibetan Bunting, a small, sparrow-like endangered species that lives
only near Bayakala mountan. Tashi then seized an opportunity to travel
to Xining, the capital of Qinghai, and attend a workshop on conservation
techniques. By featuring in Shan Shui’s documentary film, “Through
Their Eyes,”and traveling to Kunming, Yunnan, to attend a local film
festival, Tashi met like-minded leaders from local conservation
movements. He returned home inspired, and began to coordinate
conservation work on the White-Eared Pheasant, inspection tours of the
flora and fauna of the Tibetan plateau, and elementary-school birdwatching trips. At the end of 2008, Professor Lu Zhi and Dr. George
Schaller visited Tashi’s village to see his work on the Tibetan Bunting.
They also invited him to attend the international conference of the
Society of Conservation Biology in July 2009 in Beijing, where he
presented his work to an audience of international scientists and
conservation workers.
By the summer of 2009, Shan Shui had already provided grants
to more than 50 individual leaders like Tashi Sang-e. Participating in
scientific work allows individuals to study and better understand their
own environment and adopt a perspective on conservation and climate
change issues so they can steer the process of local development with
confidence and pride.
With Co-operation From: White Jade Township Nianbaoyuze
Environment Conservation Society, Qinghai Forestry Office, Y. L. Yang
Education Foundation
Conserving the Three Rivers Source Area
Location: Qinghai Province, Yushu prefecture, Qumalai County, Cuochi
Village; Total Area: 2,500 square kilometers
Strategy: Conservation Incentive Agreements, Community Monitoring,
Community Conservation Fund; Rural Green Leaders Training Program;
“Through Their Eyes” – villager participatory documentary project.
Program Details: Conservation programs in the ecologically sensitive
Three Rivers Source Area, where the Mekong, Yangtze, and Yellow
Rivers stream down from the mountains, did not develop systematically.
This has made much-needed conservation work in the area impracticable.
Located in the heart of this 150,000 km2 area, Cuochi is a village with an
outstanding tradition of conservation, but without scientific techniques,
equipment, or a modern management structure. After drafting a list of
scientific benchmarks and holding multiple rounds of talks under Shan
Shui’s sponsorship, the Three River Source National Nature Reserve and
Cuochi signed came to an agreement in which the Reserve handed both
new authority and responsibilities to the “Friends of Wild Yaks,” the
village’s environmental association. Cuochi would be asked to monitor
several species of wildlife and six climate change indicators, and in
return would receive equipment, training in ecological monitoring and
management, and a database for recording the data. Cuochi has since
become the regional authority on ecological monitoring, and has greatly
enriched available ecological data on the Three Rivers Source Area The
villagers, who depend on animal husbandry for their livelihood, also
have acquired a deeper understanding of their relationship with the yak.
In 2007, Cuochi hosted a week of horse races and an “ecological culture
festival,” which drew officials from the local, county, and province level
to the village. The Qinghai provincial government has already
incorporated elements of the Cuoshi project in its own development
planning. By uniting scientific technology and local expertise and
enthusiasm, this project has strengthened the dream that the one billion
people living along the Three Rivers can come closer to an ecological
optimum, village populations can take pride in themselves and their
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work, and that local culture can be handed down intact to future
generations.
In co-operation with: Changqing Nature Reserve; Conservation
International; The Hong Kong Banking Foundation (HSBC); The Peking
University Center for Nature and Society.
With Co-operation From: Cuochi village; the Friends of Wild Yaks; the
Peking University Center for Nature and Society; the Three River
Source National Nature Reserve; the Qinghai Province Forestry
Department; the Qinghai Three River Source Conservation Association;
Conservation International.
Slowing Climate Change, Protecting Endangered Species, Benefitting
Rural Communities – Multi-Purpose Reforestation
Location: Yunnan Province, Gaoligong Mountain National Nature
Reserve (Yunnan’s largest forest and wildlife nature reserve); Total Area:
4055 km2.
Strategy: Payment for Ecosystem Services; Multiple-Benefit
Reforestation; Carbon Sequestration
Program Details: Every year, continued destruction of woodlands
releases more greenhouse and particulate emissions than all the world’s
traffic and transportation combined. The Chinese government has
invested heavily in reforestation programs, but one administrative input
is not necessarily the best way to realize all the possible benefits of this
activity. Shan Shui has been planting forests inside and on the fringes of
national nature reserves in order to slow climate change, protect local
species diversity, and use the carbon-sequestration markets created by
the Kyoto Protocol and other international agreements to create new
channels of investment for rural populations. Together with CI and other
organizations, Shan Shui planted 467 hectares of forest on the western
slopes of Gaoligong Mountain in Tengchong county, Yunnan. Through
2009, it has already created 50,000 tons of reduced emissions credit on
international carbon markets, generating more than $500,000 for local
business owners and communities. In 2007 the program received thirdparty verification, and in acknowledgment of its “multiple-benefit”
model, won a Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance Gold
Standard award. The Northern Sichuan Five County Sequestration
Program, which employs a similar model, was verified and approved by
China’s National Development and Reform Commission, and after
receiving DOE inspection, became the third program in the world to
receive investment on the global market. Together with Conservation
International, Shan Shui has accumulated and provided support for more
than 5000 hectares of land under forest reclamation programs, and
“Checking out the Attic”- Improving the Effectiveness of Conservation
Work
Location: Shaanxi Province, Yang County, the Changqing National
Nature Reserve (Giant Panda Habitat), upstream of the Hanjiang River;
Total Area: 300 km2.
Strategy: Professional Training; Adoption of Infra-red Cameras for
Monitoring
Program Details: The Changqing National Nature Reserve was
established in 1996 to conserve the habitat of the Giant Panda in a
region that had been commercially deforested. The most important tasks
at Changqing are daily patrols and wildlife monitoring. Many employees
were formerly lumberjacks, and lacked training in wildlife monitoring.
The park was also divided into sectors, where individual workers
tracked animals in their own designated area. Consequently the quality
of the data collected was heavily dependent on the abilities and sense of
responsibility of the individual workers. Beginning in March 2008, we
introduced infra-red camera monitoring technology to the Changqing
Nature Reserve, and conducted several training workshops for the
reserve’s employees. In the remaining 9 months of 2008, 139 employees
gathered more than 4,307 days’ worth of footage on IR cameras. More
than 2000 species of animal were captured in the recordings, including
21 species of large mammal and 13 bird species. There was rare highquality footage of leopards, and a species of eagle never witnessed in the
park before. Based on the successes of 2008, the Nature Reserve
expanded the of range of its monitoring activities for 2009.
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anticipates that these will provide more than 1,500,000 tons of emissions
credit within 30 years.
In Co-Operation With: Conservation International; the State Forestry
Administration; the Yunnan Forestry Department; The Nature
Conservancy; 3M, Inc.; United Technologies, Inc.
developed into market-based eco-service sites.
With Cooperation From: Sichuan Province Research Bureau; Sichuan
Forestry Department; Pingwu County Government; Pingwu County
Forestry Department; Yujiashan Community Nature Reserve;
Conservation International; 3M, Inc.; Alcoa, Inc.
Using the Water Conservation Market to Profit Pandas
Location: Sichuan Province, Mianyang City, Pingwu County, Yujiashan
Mountain County Nature Reserve; Total Area: 10 km2.
Strategy: Payment for Ecosystem Services; Freshwater Conservation
Fund; private conservation areas.
Program Details: Over the past few years, China has experimented with
a series of Ecological Compensation programs in different watershed
areas. By adjusting the relationship between providers and beneficiaries
of ecological services, the central government is attempting to embody a
principle of “whoever begins, conserves; whoever destroys, restores;
whoever benefits, compensates; whoever pollutes, pays.” The
government’s tendency to “sweep all before it,” however, may obscure
the real relationship between ecological benefits, i.e., “the product,” and
the actual return on the investment. Many of these programs are
underwritten by the government, and while they cannot fail, they may
not be self-sustaining. We want to bring the market into play, ensuring
that ecological service providers receive sustained benefits for their
services. Shan Shui is helping Pingwu County government in Sichuan
establish the world’s first individually-managed conservation areas in
the Yujiashan Mountain watershed and Giant Panda habitat area. This
model uses part of the county’s water utility income to support an
alternative livelihood for communities on Yujiashan Mountain. They
will conduct conservation activities based on a scientific survey of the
current threats to the watershed. Pingwu County’s government has
already implemented the first stages of this plan. Shan Shui and C.I.
have also instituted a similar eco-services program in Lijiang City,
Yunnan, that uses income from nearby tourist sites. Shan Shui has
furthermore cooperated with the Sichuan Province Research Bureau to
investigate ten cities and prefectures within the province that might be
BACKGROUND AND APPENDIX
Chinese Traditional Philosophy: In Chinese traditional culture, man is
united with the universe around him. The uncomplicated Taoist idea that
man must harmonize with nature is embodied in every aspect of Chinese
customs, art, and medicine. In an era when the entire world is searching
far and wide for way to develop sustainably and conserve the
environment, the wisdom of the Chinese ancients is a bright light that
promises to solve many of the paradoxes of modern social development.
At the heart of this wisdom lies a tolerant attitude that incorporates
diverse elements, and that can harmonize international considerations
and experience.
Conservation Intervention in Rural Areas: The term “rural” encompasses
non-urban ecosystems, agricultural villages, pasturing communities, and
the system of conservation areas established at the national, local, and
non-governmental level. There are more than 2,500 nature reserves in
China at the present, occupying roughly 15% of the nation’s territory,
but there are still many ecologically vital areas that lie outside the
system. The system also suffers from serious shortages of capital and
manpower because its components are so scattered. In short, the
conservation system in China has not yet lived up to its potential. Any
solution must create an incentive structure for village societies to
participate in conservation, as well as enlarge the scope of conservation
activities and encourage society at large to participate. We have many
successful examples of conservation programs in village societies and in
local conservation areas, such as the individual and group recipients of
Community Conservation Fund grants; the beneficiaries the
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Updated 2009-06
Conservation Incentive Agreements, who secure basic authority to
conserve their local ecosystem; beneficiaries of the “Payment for
Ecosystem Services” compensation system; and more.
means developing a concrete system of standards that can be monitored,
measured, and reported on, as well as fostering tech-savvy local teams.
SEZ’s need to treat local communities cautiously, and we need to
employ economic and sociological insight to ensure that we respect,
unearth, and employ local expertise and traditions, as well as promote
local education and the passage of culture. Finally, the SEZ’s need to
develop and embody ecologically-oriented values of a new livelihood on
the foundation of inherited traditions and traditional livelihood. This
means encouraging activities like eco-tourism, carbon sequestration,
water conservation, and communal industries. Special Ecological Zones
must put the increasing market for eco-products to good use, and foster
an entrepreneurial spirit among spirit local leaders, grassroots
organizations and social enterprises.
Ecologically Important Areas: These regions contain diverse forms of
life with broad ecological functions. The Giant Panda habitat that
stretches over Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi, or the Three Rivers
Watershed with its wetlands and pastures, are both good examples.
These two regions already contain a several government-established
reserves, like Wanglang and Wolong National Nature Reserves in
Sichuan and the Qinghai Three River Source National Nature Reserve.
But the current system suffers from capacity shortfalls, and there are still
ecologically high-value areas outside the system. And because nature
reserves do not contribute directly to economic development,
enthusiasm for establishing conservation areas at the local level is
diminishing. Any program for preserving ecologically important areas
needs to take into account both national considerations as well as local
development requirements in order to arrive at a reasonable plan. Our
Conservation Intervention in Rural Areas therefore represents a muchneeded pilot program.
Special Ecological Zones: In ecologically important areas, we unite
government policy, scientific methodology, traditional culture and
market investment to create a new model to unite conservation and
development. SEZ’s have to help the government fight poverty, foster
development, protect and restore the environment, and pay for these
changes by directing the market to the government’s support. They also
must strive for the development of centrally-directed “macro”
government policy suitable for conservation work, and for increased
sensitivity, perfection, and inspection standards in large scale
engineering projects. In terms of scientific methodology, SEZ’s must
carefully diagnose local situations, and adopt precise goals for the
conservation of national and local animal and plant species, habitat areas,
forests, plateaus, water sources, as well as for responding to climate
change, and generating sustainable income and social development. This
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Our Donors and Supporters (in alphabetical order)
China Environmental Awareness Program (UNDP and China’s
Ministry of Environment), China Vanke Co. Ltd., Columbia
University, Conservation International Foundation, Esquel
Group, The Forbidden City Concert Hall, Dr. George Schaller,
Leader's Quest Foundation, The Hong Kong Bank Foundation
(HSBC), Lenovo, L’Oreal China and Garnier, Mr. Lu Dezhi of
Huamin Charity Foundation, Narada Foundation, Michelin
China (through MeetExpo (China) Inc.), Shanghai Shrine Co.,
Travel TV “Absolute Fashion” auction bidders; Y.L. Yang
Education Foundation, Qinghai Forestry Bureau.
We sincerely thank all supporters, volunteers and friends of
Shan Shui!
联系 CONTACT
Shan Shui Conservation Center
Conservation Biology Building
Updated 2009-06
College of Life Sciences
Peking University, 100871, China
山水自然保护中心
北京大学保护生物学楼
Tel + 86-10-62761034 Fax + 86-10-62761035
http://www.shanshui.org
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Updated 2009-06