Thirty-year-old Zhang Fulin, from an impoverished village in
Nanjian County, Yunnan
Province, addressed experts and officials on biodiversity
conservation at an international workshop held in Beijing on
Thursday.
Zhang has been involved in the United Nations Development
Program's (UNDP's) Yunnan Upland Biodiversity Project since
2001.
"Encouraging local residents instead of local governments to
become the backbone in biodiversity protection is the theme of the
program," said Zhang.
The UNDP emphasizes involvement of local people in the project
to ensure full use of indigenous technology/knowledge as well as to
encourage a sense of ownership of biodiversity conservation
initiatives. A bottom-up approach is employed to report grass-root
issues and demonstrate the project results to the provincial and
higher decision-makers.
An accountant, Zhang was elected to a seven-member council
implementing the initiative in Baomao Village. Their goal was to
protect the environment while finding alternative and improved
sources of income to eliminate poverty.
With a small loan of 2,000 yuan (US$241) from the UNDP, Zhang
and her husband planted cash crops, raised pigs and bought an
energy-saving kitchen range. More than 150 families in her village
got loans ranging from 700 yuan (US$84) to 2,000 yuan.
"Now our income has doubled and villagers seldom cut trees,"
said Zhang, whose household income rose to 5,000 yuan (US$602) last
year from 2,000 yuan (US$241) in 2001.
Poverty-stricken villagers in Yunnan have traditionally cut
trees not only for fuel and shelter, but also to earn money for
daily necessities, greatly affecting the biodiversity of the
region.
"We are seeking solutions incorporating poverty alleviation and
environmental protection," said Zhao Junchen, a researcher from the
Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.
The initiative in Baomao and other villages was jointly launched
by the UNDP, the Global Environment Fund and the Yunnan Academy of
Social Sciences. As of August this year, 1,424 families in Nanjian
and Yunxian counties had participated in the program.
"We have achieved initial success. All the borrowers can repay
their loans on time, and their income has increased by planting
cash crops," said Zhao.
Meanwhile, the villagers have been mobilized to make
biodiversity conservation a desirable and essential part of their
lives.
UNDP's China Senior Deputy Resident Representative Macleod
Nyirongo said that the Yunnan project has been a great example of
how to tackle poverty in upland areas.
"Poverty and biodiversity are intimately linked because the loss
of biodiversity increases poverty, and poverty is a major threat to
biodiversity," said Nyirongo.
Residents of poor rural areas depend on biodiversity for food,
fuel, shelter, medicine and their livelihood. But excessive human
activity has threatened biodiversity and led to such disasters as
floods, droughts and landslides, which in turn worsen poverty.
The pilot project draws to a close this year, and results are
being summarized and documented. The program's successes will be
extended through a series of educational and public awareness
raising activities, first among the local communities and later in
other parts of Yunnan.
(China Daily, China.org.cn September 10, 2004)