Environment, Development and Sustainability (2007) 9:305–324 DOI 10.1007/s10668-006-9025-8

Ó Springer 2006

HUMAN USE AND CONSERVATION PLANNING IN ALPINE AREAS OF NORTHWESTERN YUNNAN, CHINA MARK T. BUNTAINE1,*, RENE´E B. MULLEN2, and JAMES P. LASSOIE3 1

Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology Graduate Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA 2 The Nature Conservancy, Owyhee Plaza, 1109 Main Street, Suite 333, Boise, ID 83702, USA 3 Department of Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA (*author for correspondence, e-mail: [email protected]; fax: +1-301-314-9358; tel.: +1-240-247-7066) (Received 2 August 2005; accepted 9 January 2006)

Abstract. Alpine areas in northwestern Yunnan, China possess globally significant levels of biodiversity and are important locally for livelihood activities such as livestock grazing and medicinal plant collection. Because local land use has important impacts on alpine conditions and communities have significant capacity to manage alpine resources, we emphasized local collaboration during the initial stages of conservation planning. Our collaboration with local communities investigated how livelihood strategies affect the condition of alpine resources in northwestern Yunnan and how future conservation efforts can be compatible with local livelihoods. We sampled three livestock herding sites, each within a different alpine sub-region, using open-ended interviews and maximum variation sampling. According to interviewees, livestock grazing within the alpine zone currently does not appear to be negatively impacting the availability of forage. Medicinal plant collection, however, is showing unsustainable trends. Tourism is as yet a nascent industry, but is seen as having great potential by those interviewed. It is clear that with increases in population, access to regional markets, and tourism, northwestern Yunnan’s rich alpine resources will require careful management. In addition to the data collected, we found that the methodology used may be widely applicable to organizations with limited resources that wish to engage local communities during the formative stages of regional-level conservation planning. Key words: alpine, community resource management, conservation planning, herding, livelihood change, maximum variation sampling, medicinal plants, northwestern Yunnan, rural development, tourism.

1. Introduction The northwestern portion of Yunnan Province, belonging to the Hengduan Mountains in southwestern China, is a world-renowned temperate biodiversity hotspot (Myers et al., 2000). Although northwestern Yunnan is primarily known for its forest ecosystems, approximately 12% of the geographic area is occupied by the alpine zone – areas above treeline and directly below permanent snow and ice (YGRPPT, 2002). Surprisingly, these areas sustain the highest plant species diversity Readers should send their comments on this paper to [email protected] within 3 months of publication of this issue.

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levels within the region (Salick et al., 2004). In addition, they have been utilized by humans for thousands of years, providing important ecosystem services such as livestock grazing, collection of medicinal plants and fungi, and water storage (YGRPPT, 2002; Xu and Wilkes, 2004). Such uses appear to have been sustained for millennia. However, some alpine systems in northwestern Yunnan are now beginning to show signs of fragmentation and degradation as exogenous forces such as economic development produce a transition from subsistence to market economies, and mass tourism increases (Li, 2002; Xu and Wilkes, 2004). This study was designed to gain a clearer understanding of the relationships between the local communities of northwestern Yunnan and the alpine areas on which they depend for their livelihoods and cultures. Specifically, we gathered user knowledge on temporal changes in alpine system integrity and alpine-specific species viability, availability and changes in alpine system resources, the spiritual significance of alpine areas, the perceived threats to these areas and their use, and the potential for future conservation partnerships. We fully recognize the complex linkages among human communities, culture, and the biophysical environment (Endter-Wada et al., 1998). As a result, we believe that effective conservation strategies in such as region must be based upon a clear understanding of how local communities use and manage their natural resources. In the fall of 2003, The Nature Conservancy China Program (see: http:// www.nature.org/wherewework/asiapacific/china/) initiated The Alpine Ecosystems Conservation Project, with the overall goal of: ‘‘collaboratively developing a comprehensive understanding of the alpine zone of northwest Yunnan and options for sustainable use that conserve biodiversity, while maintaining cultural integrity and ecological services’’ (R. Mullen, unpublished). The study presented herein represents an effort to engage local communities at the formative stages of this project (Hobbs, 1996) and is part of a larger effort that includes empirical botanical research and remote sensing of alpine conditions (R. Sherman et al., in review; J. Ma and B. Baker, in preparation). Our methodology allowed us to initiate collaborative conservation efforts and identify conservation priorities at both the local and regional scale by understanding the relationship between local resource use and ecological conditions. We know of no other efforts to collect primary data quantifying human uses and perceptions of northwestern Yunnan’s alpine environment, nor are we aware of any attempts to fully integrate socioeconomic, ecological, and climate change data in the identification of priorities and strategies for alpine ecosystem conservation. Furthermore, we believe that the methodology developed and used in this study may be widely applicable to conservation planners needing to efficiently identify key regional trends in similar, widely dispersed, ecosystems.

2. Study area Northwestern Yunnan is located in the Hengduan Mountains, part of the eastern Himalayan range (Figure 1). The region is well known for its high levels of

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Figure 1. Northwestern Yunnan alpine areas and study sites.

biodiversity owing to the steep topographic gradients resulting from the descents of the Mekong, Yangtze, Salween, and Irrawaddy Rivers from the Tibetan plateau, which cut deep, parallel gorges in the mountainous landscape. The area is also

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characterized by a summer monsoon climate with cool, dry winters, and by diverse microclimates due to the extreme topographic variation (YGRPPT, 2002). Northwestern Yunnan features large, often contiguous patches of alpine lands occurring between elevations of approximately 4000 and 5000 m, their exact extent being dependent largely on elevation and microclimatic conditions. These alpine ecosystems are composed of three primary vegetation subtypes: alpine meadow, alpine scree, and cold shrub/scrub (mostly Rhododendron-dominated communities) (YGRPPT, 2002). Many endemic and useful species are found within alpine areas (Salick et al., 2004; Salick and Amend, 2005; Sherman et al., in review). The study area also is culturally diverse; approximately 3 million people, comprising 10 ethnic groups, populate the region. Local communities still rely heavily on natural resources for their livelihoods (Xu and Wilkes, 2004), and their cultural traditions and practices have evolved over millennia to produce uniquely complicated forms of land and natural resource management (Pei and Luo, 2002). Specifically, the region is predominantly occupied by Tibetan people, who are known to influence alpine biodiversity through their herding practices and the collection of medicinal plants (Guo, 2003; Xu and Wilkes, 2004).

3. Methodology Our methodology was designed to engage local communities at formative planning stages and understand regional trends in alpine resource conditions and use. The methodology discussed below can identify basic conservation priorities at both a regional and local scale with limited resources. However, it is limited in its ability to capture highly detailed, site-scale community dynamics and organizational strategies. Our methodology can lay the foundation for more detailed community engagement in later project phases. We selected three study sites corresponding to plot locations used for a concurrent stratified, randomized survey of plant biodiversity across the alpine areas of northwestern Yunnan designed to generate empirical botanical data (Sherman et al., in review). The three sites, Cizhong, Bamei, and Birong, are named for the administrative villages that use them and are similar in terms of access to major roads. The Birong site is located within Shangri-la county, Geza township; The Cizhong site in Deqin county, Foshan township; and the Bamei site in Deqin county, Yanmen township (Figure 1). Although all the sites are located within Diqing prefecture, they are separated by riparian systems at lower elevations and occupy distinct ecological sub-regions of northwestern Yunnan (B. Baker, The Nature Conservancy, and R. Sherman, Cornell University, personal communication). Seventeen interview sessions of 51 people (31 males, 20 females) living in herder camps at the 3 study sites were conducted during the summer of 2004 (May–July). We chose to conduct interviews on location, when alpine pastures were being used for grazing and medicinal plant collection, to ensure we gathered information from

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users with primary knowledge of alpine systems. Our methodology can be broken down into the following steps, which are discussed in order below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Develop expert-reviewed questions that inform conservation planning Seek local review of questions and make appropriate revisions Identify a sample with the full range of variation Make introductions and create conditions for candid interviews Conduct open-ended interviews across the demographic range Summarize conclusions from interviews Present conclusions to local people for final review

In order to understand important human–alpine linkages, we developed a set of expert-reviewed questions on natural resource use applicable to comprehensive and participatory conservation planning in northwestern Yunnan (Moseley et al., 2004). A subsequent local review of the interview questions prior to field research resulted in several important additions and revisions. We carried out interviews in a semistructured format while living in herder camps. The questions focused on topics with implications for both conservation and local economic development, such as herding, medicinal plants, tourism, wildlife, income, spirituality, desires for the future, and perceived environmental change (Appendix 1). Where applicable, interviewees provided a household perspective to the questions asked. Through these interviews we were able to collect data on local community use of and relationship to alpine ecosystems, and the potential for building future partnership in conservation efforts. We employed a ‘‘maximum variation sampling’’ methodology, which documents the range of variation in a social system and more importantly the common patterns that emerge from within this variability (Salant and Dillman, 1994; Creswell, 1998). Our three study sites, being located in distinct sub-regions, allowed us to identify the range of regional variation and important common trends across northwestern Yunnan. Because of the underlying ecological and cultural differences between our study sites, similar observations could be identified as regional trends without extensive data sets that are impossible for most conservation organizations to obtain. At the site-scale, interviewees were selected to span, as evenly as possible, the entire demographic range present. This allowed us to identify both common concerns and the scope of human–alpine relations across important variables such as income and gender. We found maximum variation sampling to be appropriate for this exploration stage of conservation planning because it allowed us to observe regional and local trends in resource use, as well as the cultural and economic factors driving such use. Two to three days were spent getting to know and interviewing alpine users within each of several herding camps associated with our three study sites (i.e., villages). Introductions and interviewee selections were carried out by a local facilitator familiar with the culture, local Tibetan dialect, and customs of the study sites, and trained in our sampling methodology. The local facilitator played a central role in nourishing the social conditions necessary for candid, informative interviews, which provided a sense of community ownership over the process.

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Semi-structured interviews permitted unprompted responses and changes in interview direction at the discretion of both the interviewer and interviewee (Schensul et al., 1999). This approach has been successful in other studies where the scope of knowledge was not easily anticipated at early project stages (Hobbs, 1996; Huntington, 1998). Group interviews were sought when possible, and many times individual interviews became group interviews as interest within the community grew. We allowed camp members to resolve disagreements when they arose during a group interview, and consensus was often reached after open discussion. This allowed us to rely on the knowledge of the camp members to verify the accuracy of responses, rather than our own subjective judgments (Huntington, 1998). Responses to questions were translated from Tibetan to Mandarin Chinese by the local facilitator and recorded in English by the senior author, who speaks Mandarin Chinese. When the interviews were completed, we presented summarized conclusions about alpine resource use to a group of alpine users comprised of both the original interviewees and others who had not participated in the process earlier. Conclusions were adjusted accordingly. Thus, knowledgeable local individuals have reviewed the results and conclusions reported in this paper. A final written report, in Mandarin Chinese, was left with literate camp members, if present.

4. Herding Livestock grazing is practiced in the alpine areas across northwestern Yunnan during the summer season, the actual months depending on the timing of late-spring snow melts and the arrival of cold temperatures in early-autumn (Figure 2). According to herders and our own observations, the Cizhong area sees significantly higher snowfalls each winter compared to either Bamei or Birong, which both lie within precipitation shadows of high mountains to their west. Thus, the Cizhong area has the shortest alpine grazing season of the three study sites. Males have primary responsibility for herding activities throughout the study area. Of the 20 females who participated in interviews, only 2 reported playing a primary

Figure 2. Grazing season length for the three case study sites.

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role in herding activities. However, the precise breakdown of roles in each family unit was not clear from our interviews. Of 21 male herders interviewed, 15 were residing alone in alpine areas, which is common during the herding season. Herders live in alpine and sub-alpine herding camps during the summer months to tend to their herds and process dairy products. The breeds of livestock in the study area consisted of yellow ox (Bos taurus domesticus), yak (Bos grunniens or Poephagus grunniens), and their F1 crosses, called pianniu. According to the herders, yellow ox are limited by colder alpine temperatures and must descend into the valleys for a much longer period each year than yaks, which are highly adapted to upper elevations. Yaks were reported to be limited by the warmer temperatures characteristic of villages located in the valleys; thus, herders from lower elevation villages, such as Cizhong, do not generally raise yaks. The hybrid pianniu were reported to exhibit higher survival rates at the full range of elevations from lower elevation villages to alpine areas, have higher milk yields, and were thus preferred at all sites. Only small numbers of pure-breed animals were maintained, although Bamei interviewees expressed an interest in increasing the number of pure-breed yaks due to their stronger defensive abilities against wolf predation. The vast majority of animals were raised for dairy products, namely butter and cheese. Herders reported that milk production increased by as much as 2.5 times when livestock grazed in alpine areas in comparison with lower elevation areas. Across the study area it was stated that about half of the dairy products produced at each location was consumed within the household, and the other half was sold, with slight variations reported among households. Our interviews showed that the majority of products intended for sale were sold at regional towns with markets, which required 1 day of travel from the villages. Such trips were made one or two times per year per household across the study area. For some households, this was the only source of cash income, while others had more diversified livelihood strategies (discussed below). More than half of individual and group interviews indicated that herding accounted for more than 50% of total household incomes, particularly in Cizhong and Bamei. At each site we also investigated changing practices, perceived alpine environmental change, community management, and anticipated and desired futures. Remarkably, we found that, with one exception, there were no reports of changing herding practices during the last 10–20 years. The exception was a man from Bamei who no longer ventured to the highest herding camp due to his advancing age. Another man from Bamei, who had been herding for 50 years, reported that the only changes he had observed were the creation and dissolution of communes decades before. Hence, the timing and location of alpine herding has reportedly remained the same for many years, and is primarily limited by seasonal environmental conditions. Herders reported that only the lifestyle had improved with the adoption of new products, such as rubber rain boots and hand-cranked butter processing machines. Although it has been demonstrated in Yunnan and worldwide that high levels of livestock grazing can degrade alpine pastures (Richard and Hoffman, 2004; Xu and

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Wilkes, 2004), such problems were not currently present at our study sites. The herders we interviewed reported neither a general decrease in alpine fodder levels, nor an increase in inedible plant species, both well-known indicators of grazing land degradation (Mohamed-Saleem and Wuldo, 2002; Erschbamer et al., 2003). Many herders did indicate that fodder quality in areas directly surrounding camps, where livestock are kept during the night, is becoming degraded. There were no reports from herders of significant alpine degradation due to traditional herding practices and we detected no major concerns about the health of alpine pastures among herders at our three study sites. In support, Sherman et al. (in review) have found no evidence of severe degradation in a separate plant diversity survey of corresponding areas. Tibetan people have herded livestock in these areas and produced dairy products for millennia, indicating that their traditional practices have been relatively sustainable. In fact, it has been demonstrated elsewhere that moderate grazing can increase alpine species diversity and aid in soil retention (Ko¨rner, 2000). There were striking differences between generations regarding expectations and desires for the future in the majority of our interviews. Most young herders (age <35) stated that the herding lifestyle was too difficult and hoped to pursue other livelihood activities in the future, such as tourism and/or construction. Older herders (age >50) tended to regard the traditional herding lifestyle as secure and stated that they were discouraged by the younger generation’s desire to pursue other livelihood strategies. Some even stated that the biggest challenge to their household over the next decade would be the loss of traditional knowledge between generations. We believe that if young people succeed in entering either the tourism or general labor sector, the change would not only impact Tibetan culture and knowledge about herding, but also could have much wider impacts resulting from the increase in activities such as road building and mass tourism into alpine areas. In some areas, people with access to cash can afford to buy additional livestock and pay others to do their herding. This was the case in Cizhong, where interviewees reported that the livestock they owned made up less than half of the herd in their care. We believe that an increase in herd sizes could lead to localized degradation of alpine pastures. Strengthening local management of alpine pastures was generally seen as unnecessary, though the possibility was brought up by a small number of interviewees. All respondents told us that alpine pastures had been partitioned among nearby villages before they had begun to herd, and that these traditional divisions were well recognized and highly respected by all community members. In Cizhong, a strong need for strengthened management was reported, but this was only for sub-alpine pastures, which were receiving increased pressure. Interviewees suggested the need for annual herder meetings to decide the arrival and departure dates for the various camps utilized over the course of the grazing season. This conclusion was among those written and left with the local review group. Two issues apparently affecting these alpine lands are climate change and the national-level fire ban. It is thought that these factors are working in tandem to foster shrub encroachment, which decreases the amount of alpine meadowlands

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available for livestock grazing (Baker and Moseley, in review). An interviewee at both Birong and Bamei reported that scrub encroachment has become a problem after the national fire ban. Shrub encroachment into arctic and alpine meadows is currently being observed worldwide (Sturm et al., 2004; Baker and Moseley, in review) and if left to continue, could cause grazing to be concentrated in fewer and smaller areas. We have confirmed that in northwestern Yunnan, Tibetan people are highly dependent on rangeland resources. Livestock grazing not only sustains life through the production of cheese and butter, but also helps to define Tibetan culture (Yunzhen, 2005). Alpine areas, while only grazed during the summer months (3–7 months/year), figure largely in this tradition. In regards to rangeland resources, it is clear that continued monitoring of climate effects, changing land use patterns, and resultant impacts will be necessary and we recommend that more sites across the region be evaluated.

5. Medicinal plant and fungus collection Collectors of medicinal plants and fungi in our study were between the ages of 13 and 65 years. The majority of full-time collectors interviewed were female (17 of 26), as men had greater responsibility for herding at many of the sites and would only collect for short periods of time each day, if at all, when animals were grazing and did not require attention. Two alpine medicinal plants were collected commercially at the Birong and Bamei sites: caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps sinensis) and Beimu (Fritillaria cirrhosa). There was no commercial plant collection at the Cizhong site, as the short growing season in the alpine areas precluded the development of commercially valuable medicinal plants. At all three sites, other medicinal plants were collected opportunistically for household use, but at the time of our study there were no commercial markets for these plants (Table I). Approximately 64% (7 of 11) of our interviews dealing exclusively with collection indicated that commercially collected plants are sold at the regional market town nearest to each respective site. The other 36% reported sale locally to intermediary dealers who were reported to be responsible for initiating commercial medicinal collections at all sites. Collectors indicated that prices for medicinal plants were higher in regional markets, but factored in travel time and costs when deciding where to sell. Commercial collection was reported to represent a substantial source of household income for many of the individuals interviewed. This was particularly true at the Bamei site, where a group interview with 14 collectors revealed that income from medicinal collections accounted for 60% or more of many household incomes. Several interviewees whose households were not involved in herding indicated that the collection of medicinal plants represented their only source of disposable income. Individuals in Birong collected a similar amount of alpine medicinal plants, however this accounted for a lower percentage of their total household incomes due to

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TABLE I. Alpine medicinals used at the three study sites. Common name

Scientific name

Family

Uses

Fungi and Lichens Catepillar Cordyceps sinensis fungus

Clavicipitaceae

Snow Tea

Thamnolia vermicularis

Icmadophilaceae

Eye, aphrodisiac, reduces blood pressure, immune booster, tonic, ‘‘warming’’ Inflammation, fever, clean brain, eye

Plants Beimu Zhimu

Fritillaria cirrhosa Fritillaria delavayi

Liliaceae Liliaceae

Dahuang Jinbuhuan Longdan

Rheum officinale Scutellaria baicalensis Gentiana regescens

Polygonaceae Lamiaceae Gentianaceae

Qingjiao

Gentiana crassicaulis

Gentianaceae

Snow Lotus

Saussurea eriocephala

Asteraceae

Huhuanlian

Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora

Scrophulariaceae

‘‘Women’s disease’’, cough, appendix Cough, lungs, ‘‘women’s problems’’, inflammation, fracture Purgative Inflammation, flu Inflammation, liver, fever, cold, headache Inflammation, liver, fever, cold, headache Stomach, muscles, lung, vomit, blood disease, ‘‘women’s disease’’, inflammation, rheumatism, tension, epilepsy, skin disease Fever

(J. Salick, personal communication).

collection of the lucrative Matsutake mushroom (Tricholoma matsutake), a symbiont of oak trees not found in alpine habitats. At all the sites where commercial collection was practiced, it was reported that, because of a rise in the price of these products over the last decade, more people were now engaged in collection. At both the Birong and Bamei sites, interviewees indicated that more households are participating in collection than ever before and more members of each household are taking part in the activity. It was stated repeatedly that commercial medicinal plants were more difficult to locate than they were 10 years ago because of this increased pressure. Another commercial medicinal plant, Huhuanlian (Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora), was reported to have gone locally extinct in Cizhong 20 years ago after a period of intense commercial collection. By contrast, there was no report at any of the three sites of a non-commercial medicinal plant becoming more difficult to locate. No significant local management of this resource was reported across the study region. The highest collection pressure was reported to come from collectors who use the alpine areas within their village’s jurisdiction, with each household within a village using alpine areas as an open-access resource. Interviewees indicated that collection intensity was as high as possible, both in terms of the number of people involved and the seasonal timing of collections. At the Bamei site, fees were imposed (US$1.21) to prevent outsiders from collecting on the community’s alpine areas, and it was reported that this helped maintain a lower collection pressure. This was the only example of local management reported at our sites, yet it does not address the largest source of pressure on medicinal resources. In fact, no interviewees reported a willingness to curtail the intensity of their collection activities in the face of the

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decreased abundance of commercially valuable species. Many of the interviewees stated that the collection of medicinal plants was so important to their livelihood that they were simply unable to reduce collection intensity. Alpine areas in this regard are becoming a classic example of an open-access, common-property resource and the associated difficulties (Dolsak and Ostrom, 2003). Previous studies have demonstrated that increased difficulty in finding certain medicinal plants can be an indicator of over-collection and in fact, some species within the region do seem to be in decline (Xu and Wilkes, 2004; Salick and Amend, 2005). The reported extirpation of Huhuanlian illustrates a possible scenario for caterpillar fungus and Beimu if collecting is not managed at both the local and regional levels. Such an outcome would be a loss of a vital source of income for local communities and the demise of an important element of regional biodiversity. Because of the open-access approach to alpine medicinal plant collection, local communities in our study area run the risk of eventually losing this resource. In order to understand this more clearly, it will be necessary to investigate the total quantities of medicinal products collected and sold in local and regional markets, the attributes of habitat importance to the persistence of these species, sustainable harvest levels, and a mechanism for local and regional regulation of collection and markets (Robbins, 2000; Jodha, 2001; Olsen and Larsen, 2003; Salick and Amend, 2005).

6. Tourism Over the last decade, tourism in Yunnan Province has been increasing at a faster rate than any other province in China (Xu and Kruse, 2003). Alpine tourism, based on trekking and climbing, is already well developed in many parts of northwestern Yunnan. This trend is expected to accelerate in the coming decade, possibly having significant impacts on both local livelihoods and alpine resources. There was no experience with tourism at the Bamei site. However, interviewees at the Birong and Cizhong sites were all supportive of tourism development and many had specific ideas about how this development might occur: improvement of transportation infrastructure, construction of guesthouses, mountain guiding services, and the diversification of local food items. Younger respondents (age <25) were often more enthusiastic about tourism and viewed it as a way to earn a significant income with a less demanding lifestyle than herding or collecting. Older respondents, although supportive of tourist development in principle, often promoted a more moderate approach that would not cause the loss of traditional knowledge viewed as vital to steady livelihoods. This moderate approach was stated most strongly by an older interviewee in Cizhong (age 64), where there is less experience with tourism than in Birong. Many of the herders that stated a desire to change livelihood strategies noted that the hard lifestyle required for herding was central to their desire. In addition to tourism, many also mentioned the possibility of laboring on infrastructure projects and driving as potential future livelihood activities.

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At the Birong site, tourism planning was the issue of highest concern in most interviews, particularly the development of infrastructure. The gorge below the local alpine areas attracts an increasing number of visitors each year and community members expect tourism to become a larger part of local livelihoods in the future. Most interviewees indicated that they rent horses to tourists on a rotating basis agreed upon by the community. Several guides stated that adventure tourists are beginning to ask for guiding services into alpine areas. If the community and/or other relevant regional institutions or organizations do not manage this development, alpine areas could become highly impacted, as has happened elsewhere (Godde et al., 2000; Stevens, 2003). Although the impacts of road construction and other tourism infrastructure development are relatively immediate and quite obvious, it also has been shown that seemingly low levels of continuous trampling in alpine areas can have irreversible effects on vegetation composition and coverage (Ives, 1974). Interviews in Cizhong also revealed that adventure tourists are passing through the area’s alpine areas on their way over the nearest mountain pass (Sila), and that the community is responding positively to the development of this type of tourism. Specific suggestions were made by alpine herders to establish local guiding services, which were seen within a larger tourist development context that included the construction of guesthouses and improvement of hospitality services. Cizhong village already is a modest tourist destination due to its historic Catholic Church and winemaking tradition. While tourist development here has only reached very early stages and impacts are not yet apparent, we believe community mobilization for management could stem any problems that might arise later. Indeed, local participation in and control of tourism planning have been recognized broadly as prerequisites for equitable benefit sharing and positive livelihood development (Cochrane, 2000; Reid, 2003; Sofield, 2003). While there are many challenges facing this approach, both in general (Richards and Hall, 2000) as well as in Yunnan (Reijenga, 2003), community involvement will be essential both for effective resource conservation and positive economic and social outcomes. Unfortunately, Hillman (2003) shows that in many parts of Yunnan, local communities have already been marginalized because participation was not formalized.

7. Conservation planning The results from this study suggest the need to facilitate both local and regional management of alpine ecosystems in northwestern Yunnan. We did not find local concern with over-grazing at our study sites, though there are indications that this may be a problem elsewhere (Xu and Wilkes, 2004; Yunzhen, 2005). Land management is a dynamic process and our results do not preclude increased grazing pressures at our sites during the next decade. However, before local communities will have an incentive to actively manage alpine grazing lands or any other natural resource, some amount of damage must be present (Barrett et al., 2002). Hence,

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continued monitoring of trends in alpine grazing and resulting impacts will be necessary and more sites across the region should be evaluated. Our results did, however, indicate a clear, region-wide deterioration of important alpine medicinal species due to over-collection. Hence, conservation strategies that can combat this trend and ensure uninterrupted local resource use and biodiversity protection should be developed. Successful conservation efforts should be two-pronged and endeavor to empower local communities to manage common-property resources and to regulate regional medicinal markets in response to prevailing economic trends (Robbins, 2000). At the local level, communities in northwestern Yunnan should be empowered to manage common-property resources both through the strengthening of traditional management institutions and the establishment of new associations to regulate medicinal plant collecting at the local level. Collector associations, owing to their greater bargaining power and visibility, would have a greater capacity to ensure transparent markets and fair prices than individual collectors. Baland and Platteau (1996) highlight three prerequisites for establishing organized local management: (1) users perceive the benefits of collective action, (2) users are informed about the state of the resource in question, and (3) users understand the impact of extraction on the stock of the resource. Our interviews suggest that the latter two prerequisites are generally met across the study region, but that individuals do not yet perceive the benefits of collective action. Hence, there will be a need for experimentation at the local level in terms of education and community mobilization in this regard. In addition, different forms of community management must be appraised critically and each will likely require a site-specific approach (Agrawal and Gibson, 2001). The cultural and social setting of northwestern Yunnan suggests that community management of common-property resources can be highly successful (Dolsak and Ostrom, 2003). In general, there were a small number of collectors per area at our study sites, all of whom had strong ties to a specific village. Collection areas were traditionally partitioned among villages and there was a high respect for established boundaries. Resource use in one area did not appear to affect neighboring areas, limiting the scope of negative externalities. In addition, it is increasingly recognized that commercial resource use is causing the degradation of alpine medicinal plants. Hence, we recommend that several pilot sites be established to formally explore the possibilities of local management of alpine medicinal plants and better understand community dynamics. Community management and empowerment is also highly applicable to herding and tourism (Banks et al., 2003; Sofield, 2003). Traditional community institutions can provide the basis for adaptation to exogenous economic development. Alpine pasture areas are common-property resources and the principles of management discussed above apply. As local communities are the main sources of knowledge about site-level alpine conditions and the most viable social structures to enforce management decisions, their full involvement will be central to any conservation efforts. Likewise for tourism planning, local communities that are empowered to

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participate and control development are much more likely to ensure equitable benefit sharing and conservation of important resources than outside businesses concerned primarily with short-term profits. Hence, we recommend significant local community involvement in any conservation activity at the site-level. At a regional level, markets for alpine medicinal plants require regulations that prevent harvesting at levels in excess of production, or the decline of valuable medicinal stocks will continue. Other studies of alpine medicinal and useful plants show that sustainable harvests must be supported by clear institutional and government regulations (Karki, 2000; Robbins, 2000; Larsen, 2002; He, 2003). Demand for medicinal products is driven by prevailing market forces and alpine users will always have incentives to over-exploit for short-term gain without transparent markets and opportunities for participation. Only through regional participation by relevant governmental bodies, collectors, and traders could the most effective and enforceable harvest-limiting mechanisms be identified. Possibilities include distributing permits to community collector associations for harvesting within a predetermined sustainable yield limit. Hence, regulation would depend on a dynamic and accurate knowledge of the state of alpine medicinal resources, requiring the continued monitoring by both community members and natural scientists (Robbins 2000; Larsen, 2002). Although regional regulation should be explored, the dispersed nature of the resources in question and the lack of significant institutional development in the region pose significant challenges. We identified several other issues of local importance that may prove vital for developing site-specific alpine conservation programs. These are highlighted below to show the usefulness of our methodology not only for eliciting regional trends, but also for identifying local uniqueness. Clear understanding of distinct local issues is particularly important for the promotion of site-scale management solutions (Agrawal and Gibson, 2001). In Birong, tourism planning was the issue of highest concern to local communities. The Birong Gorge attracts an increasing number of visitors each year and community members expect alpine tourism to become a larger part of local livelihoods in the future. If this development is not managed by the community and/or a relevant regional institution, alpine areas could become highly impacted. In Cizhong, the deterioration of sub-alpine pastures was the top concern of many herders. They felt that local management was needed and suggested specific ways to make this possible. Alpine users from Cizhong also were interested in increasing tourism to the area because of several unique cultural and biophysical assets. In Bamei, herders were overwhelmingly concerned with the recent proliferation of wolves in response to new conservation policies. The protection of wolves and the resulting increase in predation have caused some herders to lose up to one half of their herd in a single year. Understandably, local communities quickly react with apprehension to any suggestions of additional conservation actions. While we were unable to assess the full implications of wolf predation, it appears that this is becoming an issue in several locations (Yunzhen, 2005). This issue should be

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prioritized for future research and must be addressed successfully if conservation projects are pursued with villages facing this problem.

8. Conclusions Using a methodology based on maximum variation sampling across a region we were able to identify important conservation issues at both regional and local levels. Regionally, the growing negative impacts of increased medicinal plant collection appear to be the most important conservation and livelihood issue. Sustainable harvest research for all commercial species and management at both the local and regional levels will be important if this trend is to be reversed. Conservation experts have cited alpine grazing as a critical threat to alpine ecosystems (YGRPPT, 2002; Moseley et al., 2004). However, we did not find grazing to be impacting our sites enough to warrant local concern, although we believe this issue deserves further investigation. Local issues, such as wolf predation and increasing tourism were also identified and will be further explored to determine whether these issues are having a greater impact on alpine areas than this study reflected. Regional issues will clearly be important factors for development and implementation of any broad scale conservation strategies. These data reflect only the views of herders and medicinal plant collectors from alpine camps who directly use the resources in question. Indeed, interviewees were selected because of their primary knowledge of alpine systems. Hence, they might be expected to be less candid about any degradation of alpine resources, since such recognition could pose a risk to these critical livelihood strategies. However, through our local facilitator, we were very careful to ensure interviewees that the data were for the beneficial use by their community and for developing a long-term collaboration with them. We are continuing to get acquainted with and interview people in the villages that use these alpine areas. All interview data will be integrated with a larger data set arising from our ecological, climate-change, and monitoring work across the alpine ecosystems of northwestern Yunnan (R. Mullen, unpublished). It is our aim to use the entire study to form the basis for working with additional partners to collaboratively develop regional conservation strategies, and to determine priority issues and locations that warrant more concentrated study. The trends identified in this paper require confirmation before specific land-use policies can be responsibly formulated. However, we have shown that conservation organizations with limited budgets, staff, and time can engage communities to begin identifying regional trends and local issues that will inform conservation planning at its earliest stages. The methodology used in this study is especially well suited to large areas with limited existing land-use data and heterogeneous landscapes. We are confident that it could be used to collect livelihood and land-use data for organizations facing similar constraints elsewhere.

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The Nature Conservancy China Program was instrumental in supporting and facilitating this work, both financially and otherwise. We are especially grateful to Mr. Ma Jian for creating a GIS map of our study area and local facilitators for their language and cultural expertise. Dr. Jan Salick provided traditional use data for the medicinal plants and fungi found at our study sites. Drs. David Inouye, Ruth E. Sherman and two anonymous reviewers made helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. Most importantly, we would like to thank the alpine users of northwestern Yunnan for their incredible hospitality, knowledge, and visions of a sustainable and prosperous future.

Appendix 1. Interview Questionnaire 1. How many people are in your household? 2. Grazing (a) Which members of the household are engaged in alpine grazing? Gender? Age? (b) What is the size of your herd today? Five years ago? Every year how many new livestock are born? What kind do you want to keep? (c) When during the year do you graze alpine areas? (d) What areas do you use for grazing? (possibly use maps) (e) What types of animals are grazed? (f) How many animals were sold at the market last year and what was the price of each? (g) During what times of the year do you collect milk? (h) How much and what is the value of the products sold at market during one year? (i) Where is the market and how often do you go? How long is the travel time? Do you sell locally? (j) How important is grazing alpine areas for maintaining your livelihood? (k) Are you satisfied with pursuing your livelihood through grazing? Why or why not? (l) In the past ten years, have there been any changes in grazing practices? (m) Do you believe the quality of alpine grazing lands has improved, deteriorated, or stayed the same during the past ten years? Why? (n) What will grazing be like in ten years for your village? (o) Does your village make collective decisions about the management of grazing practices, including partitioning alpine areas among different villages and conflicts that arise from such partitioning? Please explain. (p) Are there other institutions that influence grazing in this area? (q) How effective is this management in meeting the needs of your household? 3. Alpine Plants

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(a) Which members of the family are engaged in alpine plant collection? Gender? Age? (b) What are the most important species collected? (c) During what times of the year do you go to the alpine for these plants? (d) Where to you go to collect it? (e) In the past ten years, have there been any changes in collection practices, including amount collected? Why? (f) Do you believe the abundance of these plants has increased, decreased, or stayed the same during the past ten years? Why? (g) In the past year, what was the total approximate income earned from these plants? (h) Where is the market and how often do you go? How long is the travel time? Or are these plants sold locally? (i) How much of alpine plant collection is for household use? (j) Does your village make collective decisions about managing plant collection? Please explain. (k) Are there other institutions that influence plant collection? (l) How effective is this management in meeting the needs of your household? (m) Are you satisfied with pursuing livelihood through plant collection? Why or why not? 4. Tourism (if participating in tourism) (a) In what type of tourism do you participate? Please explain. (b) Which members of the family are engaged in tourism? Gender? Age? (c) During what times of the year do you participate in tourism? (d) How much income in the past year has this household earned from tourism? (e) In what areas does tourism take place? (use map) (f) Do you believe that tourism has caused or will cause changes in alpine areas? (g) How does the village make decisions about tourism, if at all? Please explain. (h) Are you satisfied with pursuing your livelihood through tourism? (i) What impact do you hope tourism will have on the life of your household? How? 5. Tourism (if NOT participating in tourism) (a) Would you welcome the development of tourism in this village or the alpine areas associated with this village? Why or why not? (b) If yes, what would you envision for tourism in this village? (c) To your knowledge, has this village been approached by those seeking to develop tourism? 6. Wildlife (a) What wild animals are present in alpine areas today? (b) How has the abundance of wild animals changed in your lifetime and why? (c) How does wildlife affect herders and villagers?

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7. Income (a) What is the approximate total income your household earns in one year? (b) How much income did your household earn from grazing activities in alpine areas during the last year? (c) How much income did your household earn from selling alpine plants during the last year? (d) How much income did your household earn in tourism last year? (e) What are other major sources of income for your household, including non-alpine activities? (f) What portion of alpine products are used within your household instead of sold? 8. Beliefs (a) Do you believe that the surrounding alpine areas are sacred in any way? (b) What is the traditional culture associated with sacred areas? (c) What alpine resources are located in these sacred sites? (d) If yes, how does that belief affect the way you use alpine resources? 9. Desires for the future (a) What do you hope life will be like in ten years for your household (and children)? (b) What is the greatest asset you possess to achieve that desired future? (c) What do you believe is the greatest obstacle to achieving your desired future? 10. Environmental Change (a) Do you believe the condition of alpine areas has deteriorating, improved, or stayed the same in the past ten years? Why? (b) How important is additional protection of alpine areas? (c) If important, what steps can be taken to ensure alpine protection? 11. Is there anything else about alpine areas you believe is important that has not been mentioned?

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