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The Salt March--Gandhi's and My Own By Jan Øberg

Blogging for a Change From a Discussion with Mona Eltahawy

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Owning the Future

The Baimaxueshan (BMXS) Nature Reserve lies in Deqin County, a remote area of Yunnan Province close to the border of China's Tibetan Autonomous Region. Snow-capped peaks rise above a high plateau which forms the watershed of three great Asian rivers, the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween.

Some 60 percent of Deqin County is forested, and it is one of 200 "ecoregions" designated by WWF as being of global significance. The variety of species within the Reserve is enormous, with 922 types of seed plants providing the habitat for over 100 wildlife species including the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, snow leopard, clouded leopard and Assam macaque--all of which are highly protected in China.

The main threat to this species richness is human activity. Illegal hunting, forest clearance for farming, grazing, fuelwood and timber products, as well as the free movement of domestic animals such as yaks, cows, goats and sheep, have all taken their toll.

More recently, disastrous floods downstream on the Yangtze River in 1998 were blamed on the deforestation of the watersheds. As a result, China's natural forests in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins have been completely closed to commercial logging since 2000, although cutting from "collective" forests for the subsistence needs of local communities is still allowed.

A Community Under Threat

Much of the land within the BMXS Nature Reserve belongs to scattered, largely ethnic Tibetan communities. These communities are amongst the poorest in China. Their way of life is based on subsistence farming and forestry, and the collection of non-timber forest products, most important of which is the matsutake mushroom which they gather in the evergreen oak forests during the rainy season.

Goat-keeping, once extensive, has now been drastically reduced as a result of government pressure--for these animals can damage the environment. Likewise, the communities have been encouraged to abandon and reforest marginal fields on the higher slopes.

Even from the early days of the BMXS Nature Reserve, there has been conflict between the Reserve and the local communities who lived inside the protected area. The communities and the authorities were on a collision course.

It became clear that the success of any conservation activity in the area would depend upon the support and participation of local people. Awareness-raising and law enforcement alone would simply not work: education became the imperative.

WWF China had been involved in the Baimaxueshan area since 1992, assisting with research into the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey and with training for Reserve staff. But from 1996 onwards, a new dimension was added: environmental education (EE). The WWF China Education Program embarked on a range of school and community education initiatives. From the outset, the participation of local people and Reserve staff was key.

Model Projects

Initially, the administrative community of Yeri was chosen to act as a model and demonstration site. This community consists of the village of Yongdui and 23 smaller villages.

In another part of the Reserve, the project has also involved model environmental activities with Buddhist monks. The aim of this pilot initiative was to mobilize the monks to carry ecological and conservation messages to the community, as well as to "practice what they preached" through, for example, tree-planting and comanagement with the Reserve of a sacred mountain. Plans were developed to set up a Baimaxueshan Tibetan Community Institute close to the Dongzhuling Monastery. An eco-friendly building has been designed, and the intention is that the Institute should act as a model community eco-school in all its aspects.

Participation Is the Key

At the core of the project lies a process of participatory learning which enables people to identify, analyze and address the issues and problems in their lives and environment. The WWF China Education Program supported the setting up of two Community Learning Centers (CLCs) in the Yeri community. Each CLC has a seven-strong committee elected by the community.

The CLCs have provided a major focus for whole community learning and reflection on social and environmental issues, resulting in collective decisions and action to improve the environment and the conservation of the region.

One of the key cultural initiatives in the Yongdui CLC has been the revival of the Tibetan language and culture. At the request of the community, the CLC provides literacy classes in reading and writing the Tibetan language, and also acts as a venue for cultural events featuring Tibetan music and dance. Not only has this initiative built a sense of self-esteem and fulfillment within the community, but it has also set free the underlying spiritual empathy with the natural environment contained within the Tibetan language, culture and religion. Such cultural factors have been vital in helping change the social context in which the community views environmental issues.

The education processes catalyzed by the establishment of the CLCs have also resulted in several community environmental initiatives. A large section of forest land owned by the community has been voluntarily closed to any form of utilization. Voluntary tree-planting by the community on previously forested, steep and unstable slopes has also been undertaken--in addition to tree-planting initiatives supported by WWF China. Willows have been planted along the river to provide fuelwood, and the gathering of matsutake mushrooms has been organized on a community basis. The community is also reflecting on its use of wood for building and fuel.

Ways of reducing the amount of timber needed are now being considered: for example, the wasteful practice of renewing timber shingles on roofs every year has led to a request for assistance in providing roofing tiles. To address the over-dependence of the community on fuelwood for cooking, an ongoing process of installing biogas systems to each household in the community has begun.

Walnut trees have also been planted on a steeply terraced hillside in Yongdui village to generate income and basic veterinary training has also been given to representatives from the community.

Doing It for Themselves

The result of all this social change has been a marked improvement in relations between the authorities and the community: indeed, since the project began in 2000, no community members have been arrested for infringing conservation regulations. Forest Police, Reserve staff and the community now work in partnership on many conservation issues.

But be under no illusions. The community has made it quite clear that their motivation is not grounded in altruism. They are not doing it for the government to prevent flooding downstream. They are not doing it for the Nature Reserve or WWF to preserve habitats and wildlife--the wildlife is often a "nuisance," with wolves taking their domestic livestock in the autumn, and bears raiding their maize crop. They are doing it for themselves and for future generations. Their motivation is entirely one of self-interest, be it spiritual and cultural (through the revival of the Tibetan language and culture), economic (through income generation and the augmentation of dwindling wood resources), or security (reducing the danger of landslides which threaten their land and houses, and ensuring future water supplies).

But in serving their own interests, the community is also helping wider environmental and conservation goals. A process has begun which has catalyzed a change in the way people view their local environment and which, in a very short space of time, is having a very real impact for conservation within the area. And because the community has "ownership," both the process and its achievements are sustainable.

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