Seeing the wood for the trees: how conservation policies can place greater pressure on village forests in southwest China
Tóm tắt
In the last 6 years China has introduced a number of policies to try and conserve forests and protect watershed integrity; these include a ban on commercial logging, reforestation projects, restrictions on upland farming and burning, and controls on livestock grazing. The blanket nature of these impositions when combined with rapid socio-economic changes have increased pressures on many small rural communities. In this paper, we examine the case of Jisha Village in northwestern Yunnan, China—a typical rural Tibetan community sustained by traditional agriculture and livestock management. The cessation of commercial logging has seen the community turn to towards other income streams such as non-timber forest products (NTFP), increased livestock and attempts to foster tourism. However, timber quotas together with new road access have spurred the development of unofficial markets for village firewood and enhanced access to nearby forests. In addition, the decline of bamboo—a traditional fencing material—has resulted in an estimated 35-fold increase in demand for pine wood. Wood demands in this community are swiftly exceeding the sustainable harvest levels. Forest loss does not merely represent the depletion or degradation of future village timber resources, but also the loss of NTFP habitat. Moreover, due to proscriptions on rangeland burning, pasturelands are becoming degraded and grazing in forests is more intensive—reducing forest regeneration. These findings support calls to improve the flexibility and incorporate local needs into forest policy—the problems highlighted here seem indicative of the practical and philosophical challenges facing environmental planning and research in China.
Tài liệu tham khảo
CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research) (2005) Big bucks for the environment – China leads the way. May 25. Polex Alert. http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/docs/_ref/polex/english/2005/2005_05_25.htm. Cited 9 June 2006
Henning DH (1970) Comments on an interdisciplinary social science approach for conservation administration. BioScience 20:11–16
Hillman B (2003) Paradise under construction: minorities, myths and modernity in Northwest Yunnan. Asian Ethnic 4:175–188
Honer TG, Ker MF, Alemdag IS (1983) Metric timber tables for the commercial tree species of central and eastern Canada. Maritimes Forest Research Centre Information Report M-X-140
Li B (2003) Obstruction to local governance in natural resources management – a case study in Jisha Village northwest Yunnan. In: Xu JC, Mikesell S (eds) Landscapes of diversity: proceedings of the III symposium on MMSEA, 25–28 August 2002, in Lijiang, China. Yunnan Sciences and Technology Press, Kunming, pp 277–285
Miao GP, West RA (2004) Chinese collective forestlands: contributions and constraints. Int Forest Rev 6:282–298
Rozelle S, Huang J, Benziger V (2003) Forest exploitation and protection in reform China: assessing the impacts of policy and economic growth. In: Hyde W, Belcher B, Xu J (eds) China’s forests, global lessons from market reforms. Resources for the Future, Washington, USA, pp 109–134
Ruiz Pérez M, Fu MY, Xie JZ et al (2004) The relationship between forest research and forest management in China: an analysis of four leading Chinese forestry journals. Int Forest Rev 6:341–345
Taveau S, Wang W (2005) Value of forest resources in a Miao community of Jindou Natural Village, Yunlong County, Yunnan Province. Research Report for Community Livelihood Program. Centre for Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge, Kunming, China. http://www.cbik.ac.cn/cbik-cn/cbik/our_work/download/Valueofforest.pdf. Cited 9 June 2006
Weyerhaeuser H, Kahrl K, Su Y (2006) Ensuring a future for collective forestry in China’s southwest: adding human and social capital to policy reforms. Forest Policy Econ 8:375–385
Weyerhaeuser H, Wilkes A, Kahrl F (2005) Local impacts and responses to regional forest conservation and rehabilitation programs in China’s northwest Yunnan province. Agric Syst 85:234–253
Willson A (2006) Forest conversion and land use changes in rural northwest Yunnan, China: implications for the ‘big picture’. Mount Res Dev 26:227–236
Winkler D (2003) Forest use and implications of the 1998 logging ban in the Tibetan Prefectures of Sichuan: case study on forestry, reforestation and NTFP in Litang County, Ganzi Tap, China. Inform Bot Ital 35:116–125
Wu C-I, Shi SH, Zhang Y-P (2004) A case for conservation. Nature 428:213–214
Xu JC, Ribot J (2004) Decentralization and accountability in forest management: case studies from Yunnan, southwest China. Eur J Dev Res 16:153–173
Xu JC, Wilkes A (2004) Biodiversity impact analysis in northwest Yunnan, China. Biodivers Conserv 13:959–983
Xu ZG, Bennett MT, Tao R, Xu JT (2004) China’s sloping land conversion programme four years on: current situation and pending issues. Int Forest Rev 6:317–326
Zhang PC, Shao GF, Zhao G et al (2000) China’s forest policy for the 21st century. Science 288:2135–2136
Zheng L (2004) An analysis of household livelihoods in Tuomunan village, Xianggelila County, NW Yunnan. Center for Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge, Community Livelihoods Program, Working Paper 5. http://www.cbik.ac.cn/cbik-en/cbik/our_work/download/CBIK%20WP5%20ENGL.pdf. Cited 9 June 2006