Final Report - Asian Development Bank

100. Improved Village and Forest-based Livelihoods The Project will introduce technologies,
infrastructure and business development resources to reduce poverty that currently afflicts 70% of
households within the 16 administrative villages to 20% of households by Project completion.
Livelihood improvement program will be limited to the estimated 8,500ha of collective forest land
within the Project Area. The Project will demonstrate support forest based production systems to
enable policy reforms and future replication of successful models. A total of 16 village development
plans will be prepared including a forest and natural resource plan in a participatory planning process
(see Appendix 7 and Supplementary Appendix 2 for detailed procedures and pro-forma formats). The
plan will identify collective forest land that will be surveyed and demarcated, and the Shaanxi Forest
Department will issue each collective with the necessary forest tenure certificates establishing rights
to forest resources and the collective will assign these to individuals residing within the community.
During the planning process village forestry associations will be formed through which the
conservation forestry program will be implemented.
101. On completion of the planning process all village development plans will be approved by the
collective, the QNBG as represented by Louguantai Forest Farm and then submitted to the PMO for
approval. Once approved the plans will provide the agreed work plan for releasing project funds. It is
envisaged that the plans would include at least the following needs: (i) forestry management, (ii)
enterprise development, (iii) social infrastructure, and (iv) infrastructure access.
102. For forestry, local residents will receive support for the development of nurseries, planning
costs and for the planting expenses. The labor input to planting will be financed through the Project.
The program will be facilitated by trained planners (staff of Louguantai Forest Farm) and supervised
by Louguantai Forest Farm staff. A total of 5,000 ha of analog conservation forestry is budgeted
although this figure will need to change to represent the village planning outcomes. Mixed species
forests that mature into forests that are analogous to natural forest will provide substantial wildlife
benefits, reduced soil and water loss, and both forest and non-forest products for harvest. It is
expected that up to 3.5 ha may be allocated to each household based on 100% involvement and 5ha
based on approximately 70% involvement.
103. CDA communities will also access project funds for social infrastructure, small enterprise
development and improved access through the VDP. The small enterprises will be linked to
sustainable forest production systems or other benign activities such as bee keeping, essential oil
production, medicinal plant production. To avert the risk to naturally growing plants households will
also have access to plant materials and production grants to produce raw materials for local
enterprises. For enterprises involving processing of plant materials these enterprises will be operated
by the forest associations. The PMO and QNBG will administer the contracts on behalf of the
associations. Opportunities and interest in such enterprises will be identified during the village
planning process. These will be assessed through research studies into plant and plant extract for
essential oils and medicinal plants. Support is provided for market research and market chain linkage
studies to ensure viability and to maximize local producers into value chains.
104. A total of 8 Community based ecotourism home-stays for medium to high value clients will be
developed to support the growing demand for overnight accommodation in wild or natural
environments. It is proposed to differentiate these from existing home stays by providing a slightly
higher quality of service and accommodation.
105. Community infrastructure including 17.5 km of roads along the Tianyu River and 109 km of
mountain pathways will be upgraded to reduce travel times and ensure access during adverse
weather. Grants will also be available for either villages or households to develop social infrastructure
especially alternative energy sources (biogas and solar) and water supply schemes where these are
identified during the village development planning program.
106. Demonstrating Conservation of Biodiversity The CDA will be used as a demonstration and
training program for those working in other parts of the Qinling Mountain. In effect, it will operate as a
field conservation training and demonstration area from which methods and skills are developed and
then lessons learned disseminated. The project will prepare a detailed forest and habitat management
plan for the CDA as a training program for agency staff in the Qinling Mountains. A total of 2,000ha of
habitat restoration will be completed using ecological research, forest silviculture, under-storey
planting, and canopy manipulation. The objective of habitat restoration is transform existing
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