Final Report - Asian Development Bank

TA 4721-PRC: Preparing the Shaanxi-Qinling Mountains Integrated Ecosystem Management Project
Final Report Appendix 5
195. The most recent publication under the same leadership (Dr. Jianguo Liu, Michigan State
University) provided a model that enables prediction of the effects on panda habitats of changes in
demographic and socioeconomic factors of villagers in Wolong Nature Reserve 63 . Habitats preferred
by pandas were often the same as those used by people for firewood collection, thus the impacts to
pandas from firewood collection threatened panda survival. Recommended strategies for
conservation of panda habitat included provision of cheaper and more reliable electricity to reduce
firewood collection, provision of off-site educational opportunities to encourage emigration of young
people (17-25 year age group), delaying age of marriage, and prolonging interbirth intervals to reduce
birth rates. Significantly, no change was recommended in the family planning policy that currently
permits more than one child per family among the cultural minorities.
3. Unresolved Conservation Issues
a. Institutions
i. Communication – Qinling Stakeholder Association
196. The Qinling protected area system is outstanding in terms of its coverage of critically
important habitats for Giant Panda and many other, often globally threatened, species. This
represents many years of difficult and painstaking yet innovative work by many stakeholders to plan
and establish various types of protected areas in one ecosystem. SFD and WWF have led this effort
and deserve recognition for their successes.
197. One detractor from the effectiveness of the protected area system is the limited frequency of
interaction between the many stakeholders. WWF has worked hard to involve more stakeholders in
management of the Qinling and these efforts have achieved positive results. However, there is a need
for more communication among stakeholders to improve management of the system as a whole and
there is a need for a more formal venue for interaction of individuals, groups, and agencies.
198. For example, professional managers and scientists at nature reserves do not have adequate
interaction with colleagues at other Qinling nature reserves. Similarly, researchers often interact with
a single nature reserve to carry out a given project, but seldom extend their results to other nature
reserves. Tourism, land management, and water resource agencies are stakeholders in Qinling
resource management but there is no formal venue for exchange and discussion of their contributions.
Village, township, and county leaders have limited opportunities to interact with resource managers in
the Qinling.
199. A new association of Qinling stakeholders could help to facilitate communication and resolve
resource management problems by overcoming institutional barriers. The goal of the association
would be to achieve sustainable management of Qinling natural resources. Membership would
include all the stakeholders listed above and others. The association would convene an annual
meeting and produce an annual report. Working groups would be formed to address issues such as
tourism development and regulation, habitat management, wildlife management, research and others.
ii. Reforestation – Exotic Species Management
200. Two species of exotic larch were planted in mono-cultures in the Qinling beginning in the
1950s and accelerating in the 1980s. In addition to introducing exotic species that are ecologically
inappropriate to the Qinling, these plantations have also formed dense stands of trees with little or no
understory vegetation. WWF has begun a program to plant indigenous bamboo species beneath the
larch canopies for restoration of foraging habitat of the Giant Panda. This program is hampered by the
institutional restriction against felling of trees on the Qinling (NFPP) and in protected areas (State
Council regulation on activities permitted in nature reserves). This institutional barrier blocks removal
of unwanted, inappropriate trees that were planted during an era when introduction of exotics was not
viewed as an ecological threat. Retaining such trees precludes efficient planting of indigenous
63 An, L., G. He, Z. Liang and J. Liu. 2006. Impacts of demographic and socioeconomic factors on spatiotemporal
dynamics of panda habitat. Biodiversity and Conservation 15:2343-2363.
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