Final Report - Asian Development Bank

TA 4721-PRC: Preparing the Shaanxi-Qinling Mountains Integrated Ecosystem Management Project
Final Report Appendix 5
and climate monitoring. Eight parameters (temperature, humidity, wind speed,
illumination and precipitation) would be monitored at intervals to be set on installation.
The weather data will be important to evaluate the influence of climate change on
plant growth rates and distribution patterns.
(viii) In the in-situ area, medicinal plants would be sustainably cropped in by farmers. The
technology for identification and sustainable harvest of medicinal plants would be
transferred to farmers by specialists who would work individually with each family.
Researchers would assist farmers to engage in sales contracts with herbal medicine
companies. This would increase incomes of farmers and result in increased
standards of living. Increased incomes would encourage farmers to join the work of
biodiversity conservation to protect future income streams.
(ix) Taibaishan larch (Larix chinensis) is the only canopy species at the upper forest line
within the Qinling Mountains. At hill tops and ridge lines it naturally occurs in a singlespecies
forest. The role of larch forests is very important in stabilizing mountain
slopes, replenishment of water resources by encouraging infiltration of rain and
snowfall, reducing evaporative water loss, and minimizing soil erosion. But
Taibaishan larch is an economically valuable species that has been cut over much of
its former distribution in the Qinling. It is now found only at a few hill-top locations in
the Qinling; natural colonization is slow and the species is now endangered.
Research on the ecology and biology of Taibaishan larch is needed to develop
methods to encourage recovery of the species. The research project would
investigate the influence of climate change on the extent of the forest line; investigate
the causal factors preventing natural recovery of the species; and aid protection and
recovery Taibaishan larch. Protection and recovery of Taibaishan larch on the Project
Area will promote biodiversity conservation in the Qinling botanical garden, and have
important implications for habitat restoration in all nature reserves in the Qinling
Mountains.
133