Yubeng's village leader, Amu, was describing to us a landscape different from anything I'm familiar with. As a biologist I catalog and map things that are visible, but Amu conjured a multidimensional world that reaches beyond the tangible. To him the landscape before us represented both the inner and outer worlds of his strong Buddhist beliefs — a landscape that is just as real to him as plant populations and forest communities are to me

For more than a thousand years the spiritual traditions of Tibetan Buddhists have created this sacred geography. And fortunately for the Conservancy and our partners, it has direct relevance to biodiversity conservation in northwest Yunnan. At Meili Snow Mountain, this geography is tied to specific features, such as a leaning boulder that represents a doorway between the inner and outer worlds of Buddhism, and to landscapes covering thousands of acres. These sacred places are well known to the thousands of pilgrims that circumnavigate the mountain each autumn.

While making our own journey along the pilgrimage routes, my colleagues and I explored methods for documenting these sacred landscapes so their built-in protection methods could be integrated with our conservation tools. Insight into this sacred geography has direct application for site conservation planning at Meili Snow Mountain. The well-established boundaries of the sacred landscapes can be used in designing protected areas, thereby minimizing conflicts often generated by establishing reserves in China. These traditionally protected areas are also important when choosing priority conservation targets and identifying critical threats. Some landscapes are already well-protected by the spiritual beliefs of local residents. For example, below Yubeng village on slopes above the Yubeng River, two cliff bands represent opposing green and white goddesses. Upstream of a line drawn between these two deities is the no-hunting zone, protecting wildlife in a large area of the upper valley.

Though not all priority conservation targets lie within these sacred spaces, it is clear from our pilgrimage last fall that the strength of Buddhist spiritual traditions, and their inherent conservation ethic, are of varied importance among the villages in the area. As our team proceeds with its conservation activities, you can be sure we will take into account just how important a strong Tibetan culture is at Meili Snow Mountain — truly one of the world's Last Great Places.

Bob Moseley
Yunnan Great Rivers Project Ecologist