China's massive natural forest conservation program has not only
had positive environmental effects, but also helped improve the
livelihoods of large groups of forest dwellers, especially those
ethnic groups in southwest China region.
About three years ago, Bai'ma Soinam, a farmer in Nyingchi
Prefecture of the Tibet
Autonomous Region, used to be content with a meager earning of
several thousand yuan from tree cutting and lumber sale.
When a government regulations banning on logging took effect for
conserving natural forests, the Tibetan farmer was initially
reluctant to change his business and contract a 6.67-hectare
nursery.
But now sales of saplings alone earns him an annual income of
more than 600,000 yuan (US$72,289).
"In the past I could only make both ends meet by logging, but
now I live a well-to-do life through tree planting," Bai'ma Soinam
said with satisfaction.
"The natural forest protection program is not only really
benefiting us, but will also leave a good ecological environment
for our future generations," he added.
Bai'ma Soinam was one of millions of ethnic people in southwest
China region.
China started the natural forest protection program, dubbed
"Tianbao" in Chinese, in 1998, which has broadened forest
conservation from natural forest areas alone to the big river
valleys. The program areas were defined in 17 provinces and
autonomous regions, covering almost all the inhabited areas for
ethnic groups in southwest China.
The program encourages local forest dwellers to consume
electricity instead of firewood, plant trees for eco-conservation
purposes and move out of mountainous areas where forests are
densely distributed and living conditions are harsh for humans.
Thanks to the program, ethnic groups in southwest China are now
living a new life and, more and more people in underdeveloped areas
there have gradually established awareness of sustainable
development.
Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan
Province has had 12,000 poor households move to areas with
better living conditions, whereas Tibet has resettled 3,560 people
Tibetan farmers and herdsmen from remote mountainous to prosperous
areas.
Three years ago, Anyang barely supported his family with gains
from grazing and hunting in a mountainous area of Tibet's Qamdo
Prefecture. Nowadays, he, together with his villagers, has moved to
a plain area in Nyingchi County, and learned how to grow grain and
vegetables. He has even bought a truck with bank loans and begun to
do transport business. Only four months after his resettlement, he
has earned 15,000 yuan (US$1,807).
Most people from the ethnic groups in southwest China live in
frigid zones and used to burn cow dung and firewood. On the basis
of the "Tianbiao" program, the people have fired marsh gas and
consumed electricity provided by hydro and solar power
projects.
In the past, it took three hours a day for Zhoi'ma, a Tibetan
farmer in Diqing prefecture of Yunnan, to cut firewood. Now she
uses methane-generating pit and an energy-efficient kitchen range
that were provided by the local government. And she has arranged a
plastic-film-covered shed to grow strawberries and vegetables with
pit residues and earned herself 3,000 yuan (US$361.5) every
year.
The "Tianbao" program has also helped the ethnic groups realize
comprehensive development of their forest resources.
After the "Tianbao" started in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Region,
more edible mushrooms grew in forests there and local dwellers have
been able to annually garner more than 200 million yuan (US$24.1
million) from only picking the mushrooms.
In other ethnic group inhabited areas in Yunnan, including Dali,
Lincang, Baoshan and Lijiang, the local residents earn over 500
million yuan (US$60.2 million) a year from growing walnuts.
Meanwhile, as "Tianbao" has effectively conserved forest
landscapes and ecological environment in southwestern China, the
sightseeing resources have been explored to develop tourism in the
region.
Statistics show that in 2001, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou
provinces, Tibet and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous regions and
Chongqing municipality in southwest China received 240 million
tourists from home and from abroad and earned US$13.52 billion from
tourism.
The "Tianbao" program has ended a pure subsidy-based approach
and turned to a new way that provides diversified development
options for forest dwellers, according to Lei Jiafu, deputy
director of the State Forest Administration.
(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2004)