Final Report - Asian Development Bank

maintain ever-increasing staff levels. During this period logging was expanded into the increasingly
steep and remoter parts of the Qinling Mountains resulting in significant environmental damage
(including biodiversity loss) and off-site effects in the form of soil erosion and flooding events
downstream.
12. The natural environment has been impacted by the historic influences mentioned above and
current contemporary influences. The historic influences have left a legacy of habitat loss, soil and
natural resource degradation that need to be remedied. Contemporary influences include loss of
ecological and environmental integrity due to pollution, over use of natural resources, and the
pervasive consumption of resources for recreation, rural-residential lifestyles, and industrialization
based on natural resources. These pressures continue to cause ecological damage and are an
outcome of the Provincial economy’s reliance upon agriculture. Agriculture has converted land onto
steep areas some of more than 30 degrees slope and at elevations in excess of 1,500 m above sea
level. Approximately 70% of the total Qinling Mountains (about 40,000 km² of the total range area of
nearly 58,000 km²) 4 is degraded.
13. The Project area comprises 458 km 2 (less than 1% of the Qinling Mountains) including the
Tianyu and Chiyu River catchments located on the northern slope of the Qinling Mountains adjacent
to Louguantai Township. The Project Area is located in Zhouzhi County, 50km south and west of Xian
one hour travel by road. The Project area includes: (i) the Tianyu River and the Chiyu River Valleys,
(ii) the hill and plain area to the north of the Qinling Mountains, (iii) the existing Louguantai Historical
and Cultural Area, (iv) a geothermal Hot Springs, (v) an existing collection of bamboo species, (vi) an
animal rescue center with endangered animals including Giant Panda and Crested Ibis, (vii) the
ancient Dao temples regarded as the birthplace of the Daoist religion, and (viii) the Louguantai Forest
Farm.
14. The registered population of the Project Area is 20,400, Of these, 14,000 to 15,000 live on
the 6,000ha of flat land to the north (zoned as ex-situ conservation zone for the Project) and 4,600 in
the 39,000 ha hill and mountain landscape (in-situ Conservation Demonstration Area (CDA) in a
mostly scattered settlement pattern. Recent policy encouraged voluntary resettlement of residents
from the CDA and also to convert people out of agricultural land use practices in the Grain for Green
program. This policy had mixed results, and along with logging bans leaves remaining local residents
with extremely limited livelihood options. Consequently an estimated 70% of households in the CDA
are extremely poor. This compares with poverty levels in the flat lands that are estimated to be 28% of
households.
15. The Project Area is representative of the northern slopes of the Qinling Mountains and has
an existing tourism sector generating revenues of about CNY17 million ($2.2 million) from 500,000
people each year. The area has a northern flat area facing intensive agriculture, residential, and
tourism development. To the south of this flat area is a hill and mountain area that ranges from
degraded agriculture and forestry land to near pristine natural forest. The majority of the Project Area
is forest land either State Forest land managed by the Shaanxi Forest Department through the
Louguantai Forest Farm or Collective Forest land administered by Zhouzhi County Forest Bureau and
managed by village level collectives.
B. Analysis of Key Problems and Opportunities
16. The Project seeks to protect biodiversity and the ecological functions of the Project Area to
reverse the negative trend on rural livelihoods and the effect of declining livelihoods on encouraging
short run resource use decision making that is non-sustainable. Declining environmental trends have
occurred as a consequence of past forestry, agriculture and other resource use activities and resulted
in the logging ban in the 1990’s. Since the logging ban the Qinling Mountains face new pressures to
use land and resources for recreation, urban development.
17. Biodiversity conservation and restoration and the loss of valuable bioresources, ecosystems
and habitats must be understood within context in which they occur. Reversing these declines
4 The total Qinling Mountains covers an area of 76,500 km² when we include the smaller portions in Henan and
Gansu provinces. See: Tsu-shen Ying and David E. Bouffard “Phytogeography of the Qinling Mountains and a
Comparison with the Flora and vegetation of Japan” (Available on the Internet).
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