Restoring forests in China’s Miyun Reservoir benefits rural and city communities
Despite tree-planting efforts and a logging ban that has been in force since the late 1970s, three quarters of the forests in the watershed of China’s Miyun Reservoir – which provides most of the drinking water for the 17 million residents of Beijing – are in poor condition.
Many of the residents of the watershed are poor and economically disadvantaged, especially compared to their neighbours in the city. However, restrictive policies prevent local residents from reaping the full benefits of their resources and are contributing to poor forest health. Moreover, inappropriate fuelwood collection practices have prevented forests from developing and maturing into more productive and bio-diverse stands.
With the encouragement of the State Forestry Administration of China (SFA), the IUCN Livelihoods and Landscape Strategy is working with the Beijing Forestry Society to demonstrate how forests can be managed to deliver multiple benefits to the local population while recovering their productivity, biodiversity and watershed functions. If successful, the project will provide a demonstration case that can be the catalyst for policy change at a larger level.
Read more here.
Repairing forests and saving pandas in China’s Sichuan province
On the other side of the world, a community enterprise and farmers’ association supported by Carrefour, the international supermarket chain, in the mountainous Minshan region of China’s Sichuan province is not just repairing the fragmentation of forests by construction, mining and tourism development, but also helping to save one of the world’s best-loved creatures. The large wild giant panda population relies on the forests.
A wide range of stakeholders – including local people, forest companies, protected area authorities and government agencies – took part in workshops conducted by WWF China and reached agreement on a vision and targets for restoration work. The well-protected panda forests would be expanded by 30% and local people would be supported in managing and developing forest resources in a sustainable way.
Carrefour has sold a range of non-timber forest products – such as honey, walnuts, Chinese pepper and dried mushrooms – harvested by local people in its Sichuan stores. Valuable income streams such as this help prevent illegal harvesting and hunting, and give the giant panda space to live.
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Contact
For more information, please contact IUCN:
Dong Ke, Senior Forest Programme Officer, IUCN
China dongke@iucn.org.cn