Final Report - Asian Development Bank

2
TA 4721-PRC: Preparing the Shaanxi-Qinling Mountains Integrated Ecosystem Management Project
Final Report Appendix 4
The overall goal of GEF’s biodiversity program is the conservation of biological diversity, the
sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the
utilization of genetic resources.
7. The program has four strategic objectives: (i) catalyzing sustainability of protected area
systems at national levels; (ii) mainstreaming biodiversity in production landscapes/seascapes and
sectors; (iii) capacity building for the implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety; and (iv)
generation, dissemination, and uptake of good 2 practices for addressing current and emerging
biodiversity issues.
8. The system of nature reserves in the Qinling Mountains has been expanded and extended
particularly in the eastern areas, and the financing and management of the 25 national nature
reserves and the provincial and county level reserves in the QM have been significantly improved in
the past few years 3 . These improvements and investments were made to better protect the giant
panda and other rare and endangered species and to protect important eco-systems. Recent
improvements to the nature reserves at Taibai Mountain, Foping, Changqing, and Zhouzhi (which
begins only a few km from the southern end of the PA), are particularly relevant to this project.
9. The PRC has given considerable attention to the problems and challenges of biodiversity
conservation in the QM. The Qinling Mountains are listed as one of the eleven most critical regions
for biodiversity conservation in the PRC 4 , and the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)
nominated the Qinling Mountains Ecosystem Function Conservation Area (QMEFCA) as a national
pilot program in 2001. The SP Government in 2003 recognized the QM as a national-class ecological
function protected zone, and approved the Shaanxi-QM ecological function protected zone plan. The
QMEFCA comprises about 58,000 km² (similar to the QM range in Shaanxi Province), and contains
19 existing nature reserves (about 380,000 ha or 7.4% of the QMEFCA area, including both national
level and provincial level reserves) 5 .
10. The EFCA concept is comparatively new to China and provides opportunities mainstream
biodiversity conservation and sustainable natural resource management and to display how
sustainable livelihoods and sustainable biodiversity conservation can be compatible, integrated and
mutually supportive. While the QMEFCA has to date been inadequately financed, adequate
management systems are not yet fully in place and this is not yet fully operational, the Project is being
designed and will be implemented in a manner that will demonstrate potential ways to
operationalize the EFCA concept. In Shaanxi, the local EPA has prepared a plan covering the
QMEFCA (32 counties for a total area of 51,000 km²). Four ecological function zones were specified,
with some overlapping of zones: (i) endangered species conservation (10,000 km²); (ii) water
resources conservation (37,600 km 2 ); (iii) protection/ecotourism (2,500 km²); and (iv) soil erosion
control (10,000 km²).
11. Expanding on the above, SEPA, in cooperation with other agencies, is developing a Plan for
the Conservation of National Ecological Function Conservation Areas (EFCAs) covering the period
2006-2020. The establishment of national EFCAs is a new measure in China to sustainably manage
landscape-scale ecosystems by protecting primary ecological functions. Although EFCAs take
economic growth into consideration, they can restrict development in the interest of conservation.
reversal of land degradation. OP12 projects are intended to be multifocal, dealing with two or more focal areas;
and synergistic, where achievement of benefits in one focal area leads to increased benefits in another. See:
Global Environmental Facility, Review of the GEF Operational Program 12: Integrated Ecosystem Management,
Prepared by the GEF Office of Monitoring and Evaluation, GEF/ME/C.25/5, May 6, 2005, page 7.
2 The term “good practice” is used by GEF in preference to “best practice” because the quality of different
practices of biodiversity conservation will be context-specific. Something that may be “best” in one situation
may be bad, or “worst” in another.
3 This is the current number based on the PPTA’s most recent consultations. This number covers 19 that are
administered by the SFA and Forestry Departments and Bureaus at the provincial and local government
levels, and 6 smaller nature reserves managed by other government agencies such as Water resources and
the Environmental Protection Bureau,
4 China’s Biodiversity: a Country Study. 1998 State Environmental Protection Administration, Beijing. 476pp.
5 See: “Project Development Facility; Request for Pipeline Entry and PDF-B Approval; Project Title – Shaanxi
Qinling Mountains Integrated Ecosystem Development Project”, Prepared by David McCauley, IA/ExA
Coordinator and Bruce Carrad, ADB, February 8, 2006.