Douglas Murray

President, Lingnan Foundation

Report on Conservancy & Development Conference: Environmental & Ecology, 9/99

PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CONSERVANCY AND DEVELOPMENT

September 1999, Yunnan Province, China

I. Yunnan:

a) Unique ecology – coexistence of cultural and biological diversity.

– high species endemism

b) Globally important.

c) Ecological problems, and appropriate cures, vary between cultures because of different traditions of land use, crops, diet, inheritance, etc. In Yunnan, "eating different flowers."

But taken individually, the problems encountered here are probably NOT unique or even unusual. Valuable lessons to be learned from other places. Uniquely IMPORTANT is the need to solve them in this remarkable place. Yunnan is the only province with a "Bio. Div. Protection Commission", but with no legal power or public input.

II. Habitat (as an organizing concept). a) animals require "habitat"; all over the world, habitat loss is a principal reason for declining wildlife populations. Similarly, cultures require habitat – physical & political. Like wildlife, cultures can be destroyed or degraded when habitat is depleted.

b) the natural environment is "habitat" for cultures because it serves many functions. Cultural forms with no function soon disappear. The same is true with elements of the natural world. What kind of functions should be considered in assessing the importance of nature and human ecology?

c) physical habitats cross polit/admin boundaries, even watersheds, to include or subsume "cultural boundaries" (Toby Volkman). Need to think large-scale, e.g. TNC, Lugu Lake and "shared habitat" - up stream and down.

IV. Habitat functions a) "objective" functions, where the "natural resource" is tangible and usually economic – related to "meeting basic human needs," income, avoiding or reducing poverty, raising GDP, etc. The familiar goals of "development." Mandatory, not optional. b) "subjective," resources that have "meaning" -- sacred and scenic sites, family traditions, etc. Related to "the quality of life."

If the only functions of the natural environment valued by gov’t and business leaders are the "objective"ones, the economic ones, then it is virtually certain that society will gradually be impoverished. The "quality of life" will decline. Not only rural communities, but also urban – e.g. culturally appropriate/ eco-friendly design, transport.

Key issue: How to keep home areas attractive as places to live – and perhaps to visit (tourism)? Not to preserve tradition, avoid modernization, or discourage emigration

per se, but to give people a CHOICE. To make tradition and preservation a real option.

V. Problems & Solutions.

Socio-economic progress tends to erode people’s "attachment" to the natural world – to weaken the "meaning" function of the natural environment.

Key issue: how to give "subjective" values far greater salience in governmental and business councils? How to maintain and revitalize the "meanings" found in the natural world -- to raise their priority, not only in policy but also in implementation?

Cannot know the nature or importance of these "subjective functions" without listening to the people, to work from the "bottom up". If gov’t and business leaders, officials, and experts don’t listen, they become not just agents of change, but of destruction. External forces more likely to be destructive than local ones (true?).

Key issues: a) how to increase consultation and participation of local communities, "bottom-up" planning? b) how to build partnerships for natural resource planning and utilization between local stakeholders and government agencies at various levels, and for mediating conflicting values? c) how to assure that a wide constituency shares the benefits of local eco-friendly and conservation measures, and that some do not pay a heavy price for the success of others?

Key issue: must do a far better job of showing where ecology and economy meet – to demonstrate the economic functions of specific natural resources that need protection, e.g. - preserving the gene pool, for local AND global contribution..

- medicinal plants

- eco-tourism

- value of delayed harvesting/larger trees.

Key issue: how to assess the prospects for successful protection? Can’t "save" everything; must practice some kind of triage to avoid pursuing dead ends. That requires combining intensive pure and applied research.

Guo Huijun said, "If we can understand nature, we can manage it well." We need to know what the land is capable of, what it can best produce, what insults it cannot stand, and how to adapt traditional practices.

Must pursue public/mass education about: a) the impact of market forces (domestic and international) and consumer tastes on natural resources, e.g. flora and fauna depletion/extinction;

b) the "successful examples" of nature and culture conservation in China (see Guo Huijun’s list) so that conservancy does not seem a "foreign" idea.
 
 

In the Ussuri project, we said "Listen to the land, listen to the people." That is what we heard all week. But to listen, and to act, requires POLITICAL WILL! The REALLY key issue.
 
 

Conclusions from Ecology Small Group session -- actions to take:
 
 

1. Strengthen public awareness and understanding of the natural world and of ecological & resource problems, through formal education, the media, and NGO participation in solving them.

2. Require relevant officials, esp. mayors, to demonstrate a grasp of ecological processes and problems – via exams? – and periodically assess their achievements in E.P. while in office.

3. Create methods and mechanisms for assessing conflicts between nature protection and culture conservation, and for solving them through compromise, adaptation, financial compensation etc.

4. Identify and publicize cases in Yunnan where traditional cultural practices enhance the protection of nature and could provide models of "good practices."

5. Identify "keystone species" of fauna & flora as a way to target areas and ecosystems to protect and monitor eco-system health.

6. Expand and improve the system for compensating local communities that lose income and livelihood when the use of a natural resource (trees, medicinal plants etc.) is banned.

7. Conduct an assessment of whether and how Chinese medicines - e.g. plants & animal parts - constitute a significant threat to ecosystems. [WWF already is organizing a conf. on this topic.]

8. Promote and preferably require local, indigenous management of protected areas, esp. those relevant to eco-tourism.

9. Study, and take steps to end or reduce, Yunnan’s consumption of animal and plant products that are endangered or threatened in other countries, e.g. via transborder trade with SE Asia.
 
 

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