• Home
  • How We Work
  • Where We Work
  • News Room
  • About Us
  • My Nature Page

The Nature Conservancy in Africa - Conservation in Africa

The Nature Conservancy in Asia Pacific - Conservation in Asia-Pacific

The Nature Conservancy in the Caribbean - Conservation in the Caribbean

The Nature Conservancy in Central America - Conservation in Central America

The Nature Conservancy in North America - Conservation in North America

The Nature Conservancy in the United States - Conservation in the United States

The Nature Conservancy in South America - Conservation in South America

China: Meili Snow Mountain

Tibetan prayer flags at Meili Snow Mountain.
Tibetan prayer flags at Meili Snow Mountain
©TNC

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
Straddling the Yunnan-Tibet border, the Meili Snow Mountain Range rises steeply between the deep gorges of the Mekong and Salween Rivers. Towering 22,241 feet above sea level, Kawagebo Peak is the tallest mountain in Yunnan Province and is one of eight sacred mountains of Tibetan Buddhism. Moreover, this sacred geography has profound implications for conservation. The extraordinary topographic extremes of the Meili Snow Mountain range—rising from arid canyons to snow-capped peaks—have led to the region’s significant biodiversity.

Threats
Despite its rich natural resources, this remote area is one of the poorest in all of China, and recent commercial logging bans have further devastated the local economy. Wood collection for cooking, heating, and construction remain a primary threat to biodiversity in Meili. To accommodate a sharp increase in population, six new homes are completed each day on average, causing habitat destruction and fragmentation. Human demands upon the finite water supply continue to increase as well.

Plants
Because of the topographic extremes, the Meili area includes seven climatic zones, creating an incredible diversity of plant and fungi species. In addition to many endangered plant species, the Meili area is home to over 75% of Tibetan medicinal herbs.

Animals
Extraordinarily rich in biological diversity, Meili Snow Mountain provides habitat for a wide variety of endangered wildlife, including:

  • snow leopards
  • clouded leopards
  • Asiatic black bears
  • red pandas

Our Conservation Strategy
To meet the conservation needs of this area and its people, the Conservancy has completed a draft resource management plan for Meili Snow Mountain that places special emphasis on reducing the threats of future mass tourism projects. Moreover, the Conservancy will continue to work closely with Tibetan communities, government officials, and technical experts to implement the plan.

What the Conservancy Is Doing
Although Meili Snow Mountain is now within the Three Parallel Rivers World Heritage Site, it lacks protected area status. The Conservancy's work includes:

  • Assisted with the application to designate Meili as a Provincial Nature Reserve in order to secure official protected area status.
  • Introducing alternative energy to 21 villages located along the slopes of Meili Snow Mountain and the banks of the Mekong River.
  • Ongoing training of local people in natural and cultural resource protection, interpretation, guiding, marketing, and business planning.
  • Providing cultural and natural resource management training through community workshops, mentoring, and exchanges with other countries' national parks and cultural and historic sites
  • Studying the sustainable collection of non-timber forest products in partnership with the Missouri Botanical Garden and Shangri-La Alpine Botanical Garden
  • Worked with the Chengdu Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on a study of the mountain pastoral ecosystem. The information will be used to help animal husbandry agencies improve the quality of the pastures to achieve optimum grazing while protecting ecosystem integrity.
Donate Now

Help Protect Nature! Donate now and help us protect China's extraordinary natural places.