| Fast Facts |
location
bordering Sichuan Province and Tibet Autonomous Prefecture and Myanmar (Burma)
ecoregion
Nujiang-Lancang Gorge, Hengduan Mountains
project size
25,000 square miles
public lands
all land in China is public land
partners
more than 40 government and institutional partners including the Yunnan Provincial Government, the State Department and Planning Commission, State Environmental and Protection Administration, U.S. Park Service, Yunnan Poverty Alleviation Bureau
conservancy initiatives
Global Climate Change
natural events
extraordinary flower blooms including more than 160 species of rhododendron and azalea, primroses, gentians, native magnolias, lilacs and hydrangeas, spring–fall | |
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| Working with the Chinese government and local people enables the Conservancy to have an impact in a conservation project of unprecedented reach. |
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Kawagebo Peak, Meili Mountains.
© Mark Moffett/Minden Pictures |
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Geologic collisions permanently wrinkled China’s Yunnan Province into soaring mountain ranges and deep gorges. Four of Asia’s greatest rivers—the Yangtze, Irrawaddy, Salween and Mekong—sparkle and dance between the mountains, at times flowing within 60 miles of one another. Snow-capped peaks, rhododendron-covered mountain slopes, old-growth forests and glaciers combine to create a landscape so remote and timeless that many historians believe it inspired the fictional paradise of Shangri-la in James Hilton’s classic novel Lost Horizon.
For millennia, humans have been part of Yunnan’s natural tapestry. Its highest mountain, Meilixueshan, is among the most sacred in Tibetan Buddhism, and thousands of pilgrims arrive every fall to make a two-week trek around its base. Fourteen of China’s ethnic minorities live in the region, including the Naxi, who have lived in harmony with nature for more than a thousand years. |
Yangtze River.
© Glen Allison/Getty Images |
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Yunnan’s forests provide vital erosion control and flood prevention downstream. Its rivers supply approximately one in 10 people on Earth with food, water, transportation and trade. But poverty, development and pressures from burgeoning energy needs threaten the region’s resources. | |
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In response, in 1998 China invited The Nature Conservancy to help create the Yunnan Great Rivers Project, a joint effort to protect the region’s natural and cultural resources and to improve the livelihood of local communities. This project promises, in the words of Chinese Premier Jiang Zemin, to “serve as a model for all of China’s conservation efforts.” To promote effective long-term planning, the Conservancy signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s natural resource agency to train nature reserve managers from every Chinese province in our conservation methodology, Conservation by Design. Training workshops are already under way. We also develop and promote alternative energy projects, such as biogas and solar power, that meet fuel requirements without taxing the forest.
Learn more about The Nature Conservancy's work in China. |
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| Conservation Profile |
targets
Yunnan golden snub-nosed monkey, snow leopard, evergreen broadleaf forest, rhododendron shrublands, high-elevation spruce-fir forest
stresses
poverty, unsustainable agriculture, logging and fuel wood collection, unplanned tourism, unsustainable levels of harvesting and grazing, population growth
strategies
establish a system of durable protected areas, promote alternative energy sources, promote ecologically compatible land-use practices, influence land-use planning, build conservation alliances, promote ecotourism
results
plan recommending the creation of 3.4 million acres of new nature reserves adopted by the Chinese government | | | | |
