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)