Biodiversity and Conservation (2007) 16:757–774 DOI 10.1007/s10531-005-6199-6

Ó Springer 2006

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Plant diversity and priority conservation areas of Northwestern Yunnan, China MA CHANG-LE1,2, ROBERT K. MOSELEY3, CHEN WEN-YUN1 and ZHOU ZHE-KUN1,* 1

Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Biodiversity, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650204, China; 2Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China; 3The Nature Conservancy, 77 Xichang Road, Kunming, Yunnan 650034, China; *Author for correspondence (e-mail: [email protected]; fax: +86-871-5219932) Received 11 March 2005; accepted in revised form 11 November 2005

Key words: China, Conservation area, Endangered plants, Endemic plants, Northwestern Yunnan, Plant diversity Abstract. The Global Plant Conservation Strategy of the Convention on Biological Diversity calls for ‘‘protection of 50% of the most important areas for plant diversity.’’ All global biodiversity analyses have identified the mountains of northwestern Yunnan as a conservation priority for plant diversity. The challenge we were presented with was how to transform this sweeping global recognition into regional geographic priorities and measurable conservation action. This challenge is especially acute in Yunnan where there are no readily accessible data on the distribution and status of plant diversity, yet great conservation urgency due to the rapid pace of economic development. We used endangered and endemic species to represent plant diversity as a whole due to time and financial constraints. To identify conservation priorities, we relied on experts’ knowledge, supplemented with a rapidly assembled plant diversity data base, rapid field assessments to fill knowledge gaps, and analyses of the spatial patterns of richness and habitat relationships. Ninety-eight endangered species and 703 endemic species occur in the project area. Experts identified nine Plant Diversity Conservation Areas for northwestern Yunnan, including eight specific geographies and one priority habitat. We found that the current nature reserve system is serving an important role in plant diversity protection, even though many of the reserves were not specifically designated for plant diversity considerations. This project provided a means for scientific experts to directly contribute to conservation decisionmaking by government and Non-Government Organizations, and essential information for the plant conservation in Northwestern Yunnan. Abbreviations: GIS – Geographical Information System; PDCA – Plant Diversity Conservation Areas; YGRP – Yunnan Great Rivers Project Area; TNC – The Nature Conservancy

Introduction The Global Plant Conservation Strategy was approved at the 6th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002. It establishes plant diversity conservation goals for the year 2010, including Target 5, ‘‘protection of 50% of the most important areas for plant diversity assured.’’ Under this strategy, the most important areas for plant diversity in the world

758 will be identified using species-based criteria, such as patterns of endemism and richness, as well as ecosystem-based approaches, such as unique and relic habitats (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity 2004). All global biodiversity analyses have identified the mountains of south-central China as a conservation priority for plant diversity (Davis et al. 1995; Barthlott et al. 1996; Klotzli 1997; Olson and Dinerstein 1998; Boufford and van Dijk 1999; Myers et al. 2000). Included within this hotspot are the mountains of northwestern Yunnan Province. The ever-present challenge is figuring out how to transform sweeping global recognition into regional geographic priorities and measurable conservation action. In 1999, the Yunnan Great Rivers Project (YGRP) was established as a conservation collaboration between the Yunnan provincial government and The Nature Conservancy in 15 counties of northwestern Yunnan. One of the main goals of this conservation project is to follow a systematic conservation process, beginning with the use of focal or priority conservation targets to design a network of conservation areas (Groves et al. 2002; Redford et al. 2003). Plant diversity was chosen as a focal target for the YGRP (Yunnan Great Rivers Project Planning Team 2001). In parts of the world where finescale data have been compiled, the procedure would be to identify individual focal species, assess the viability of their population occurrences, and set representation goals for each in the conservation area network (Groves 2003). In the YGRP, however, we have the difficult combination of immense plant diversity and paucity of data, both in terms of precise distributions and conservation status of individual species. Thus, we decided to take a different approach and treat plant diversity, collectively, as a focal target and use expert knowledge, in combination with rapidly assembled data on species and habitat distributions, to identify priority conversation areas.

Methods Study area The YGRP includes 15 counties in four prefectures of northwestern Yunnan, covering 66,000 km2 or 17% of Yunnan’s total size (Figure 1). Four of Asia’s great rivers, Jinsha (upper Yangtze), Lancang (upper Mekong), Nu (upper Salween), and Dulong (tributary of the Irrawaddy) traverse the area in close proximity, at one point only 90 km apart. The study area lies in a transition zone between the Tibetan and Yunnan plateaus, a topographically complex area known as the Hengduan Mountains. The topographic extremes in the area are enormous, with an elevation range from 700 m to 6740 m. Coincident with this extreme topographic gradient is a similarly steep environmental gradient. Compressed within short distances are subtropical ecosystems in the canyon bottoms, rising through temperate, boreal, and arctic-alpine life zones to permanent snow on the high summits. The special location and compli-

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Figure 1. Yunnan great rivers project area.

cated geographic environment in this region form the diverse ecosystems and remarkable vertical vegetation distributions: evergreen broadleaf forests at lower areas, mixed and conifer forest at higher elevation, and the alpine screes on the summits (Wu 1980, Wu and Zhu 1987). The human population within the YGRP is slightly over 3 million, 90% living in rural areas. Average population density in the largest of the four prefectures is 24 persons/km2, with somewhat higher densities in the other three prefectures. This population density is relatively low compared to the rest of Yunnan and especially eastern China. Most people are subsistence farmers and most industry revolves around agricultural production or collection of non-timber products from natural areas. Commercial logging was banned in 1998, and there is only one major mine, although more are planned. Commercial tourism, transportation infrastructure, and hydropower development is growing rapidly in the region. Most of the population relies heavily on goods and services provided by natural ecosystems, including for housing, food, medicine, fiber, energy, cash income, water, and spiritual needs (Xu and Wilkes 2004). Yunnan Province has the richest flora in China, with over 16,000 species of higher plants (Yang et al. 2004). Over 7000 species have been recorded within the YGRP, accounting for 31% of the provincial total (Wang and Zhang 1994; Wu and Ding 1999). About 13% of the flora is endemic, including 12 genera, accounting for 16% of China’s total endemic genera (Li and Li 1993). Additionally, this region is the center of diversity for many famous horticultural plants, including Rhododendron (160 species), Primula (100 species), Gentiana (100 species), and Pedicularis (>200 species) (Li and Li 1993).

760 Plant diversity database Because plant diversity is very high, we used two subsets of species to represent overall plant diversity of the YGRP: (1) species considered in danger of extinction and (2) species endemic or near-endemic to the YGRP. These represent the irreplaceable elements of plant diversity that are of greatest conservation concern because they are either highly threatened with extinction or are so narrowly distributed that there are no or few conservation options outside of our project area (Noss and Cooperrider 1994; Mittermeier et a1. 1998; Groves 2003). When the project began in 1999, no readily available plant databases existed that could be used for broad-scale conservation planning. One of the first steps, then, was to rapidly create an electronic database of the distribution and habitat relationships for endangered and endemic species. Over 12 months, beginning in August 1999, we used the following steps to produce this database: (1) Created a list of species classified as in danger of extinction under Chinese law, hereafter referred to as endangered species. These plants occur in native habitats, have small geographic distributions, and are threatened by human causes. They may also have important economic, scientific, or cultural value (Chinese State Committee of Environment Protection 1984; Yunnan Provincial Government 1989; Fu and Jing 1992; Yu 1999; Li et al. 2003). (2) Created list of plant species endemic to the Hengduan Mountains of northwestern Yunnan and immediately adjacent regions of southwestern Sichuan and southeastern Tibet (Li and Li 1993). (3) Developed a simple distribution database for endangered and endemic species using specimen data from the Kunming Institute of Botany Herbarium. This herbarium is second largest in China, with over 1.1 million specimens (New York Botanical Garden 2004). It is the single best collection of YGRP plants. Information from the herbarium specimen data was supplemented with the China seed plant database (Wu and Ding 1999). The following information was collected for each specimen: (a) Location in administrative township – Township is the most precise level of location that we used because many village and other local place names have changed since the specimens were collected or are very difficult to locate on existing maps. The YGRP encompasses 162 townships, with an average size of 41,300 ha (maximum =283,600 ha, minimum 72 ha). (b) Habitat – listed the most important habitat types (up to two), identified by Vegetation Subtype of the Yunnan vegetation classification system (Wu and Zhu 1987). (c) Elevation of the collection, if known. (4) Conducted two Rapid Ecological Assessments (Sayre et al. 2000) during the post- and pre-monsoon field seasons of 1999–2000 to supplement geographic gaps as they emerged from the specimen database that was being concurrently developed.

761 From this database we conducted spatial analyses in the GIS of the richness of endangered and endemic species across townships and major habitat types, and created habitat relationship models. As explained below, we used these analyses to provide supplementary insights for expert workshops during the design of priority conservation areas.

Identification of plant diversity conservation areas The most important areas for plant conservation in the YGRP, what we call Plant Diversity Conservation Areas (PDCA), were identified using expert workshops. Expert workshops are commonly used in regional conservation planning, especially where readily available data are lacking (Dinerstein et al. 1999; Groves 2003). We tried to reduce the bias often associated with relying on expert opinion (Groves 2003) by supplementing expert knowledge with insights gained through Rapid Ecological Assessments and habitat and township richness analyses of the plant diversity database. Three expert workshops were conducted in an iterative way to design the final set of PDCA. The first workshop was held in January 2000, after the lists of endangered and endemic species were developed, the database was under development, and the first Rapid Ecological Assessment had taken place. The first iteration of PDCA identified geographic and taxonomic gaps in knowledge. This was followed by refinement of the database. The second workshop took place to prepare for the second Rapid Ecological Assessment during the pre-monsoon season of 2000. A concluding workshop was held in July 2000 to identify the final set of PDCA. Persistence of populations is an important consideration in the design of a biodiversity conservation area network and, for species; this usually means an evaluation of population viability (Margules and Pressey 2000; Groves et al. 2002). Population viability data, however, are lacking for all species in the YGRP. Instead, we relied on expert knowledge to direct PDCA identification to areas of high ecological integrity (and presumed population viability) using a synthesis of factors, such as existing protection or compatible management, habitat quality, and magnitude and imminence of threats.

Results Endangered species Ninety-eight endangered plants are known to occur in the YGRP, represented by 58 families and 84 genera. Among these families, Liliaceae has the most endangered species with 10. Magnoliaceae and Ranunculaceae each have seven. Orchidaceae, Solanaceae, Theaceae and Pinaceae each have three endangered species.

762 There are endangered plants in 88 of the 162 townships in the YGRP (Figure 2). Dulongjiang Township of Gongshan County is by far the richest with 30 species (Table 1). Adjacent to Dulongjiang in Gongshan County are Cikai and Bingzhongluo townships, also among the richest in the YGRP. Yunling and Yanmen, adjacent townships in Deqin County, and Baisha Township of Yulong County are also among the richest in the project area for they encompass two mountain ranges, Meili Snow Mountains in Deqin and Yulong Snow Mountain in Yulong. Although individually they do not appear very rich, four small townships in Dali County that encompass the Cang Mountains, Qiliqiao, Chenyi, Yinqiao and Wanqiao, collectively have 18 endangered species. The Cang Mountains as a whole have more rare and endangered species than other areas except the Gongshan County townships.

Endemic species There are 703 species, or about 10% of the flora, that are endemic to the YGRP and immediately adjacent areas. These belong to 71 families and 235 genera. Ten families have more than 10 endemic species each, with Asteraceae, Ranunculaceae, and Scrophulariaceae all having more than 50 endemic species. Thirteen genera contain 10 or more endemic species, 11 being herbaceous and including many well-known horticultural plants such as gentian (Gentiana), monkshood (Aconitum), Delphinium and Impatiens. Within the two woody genera, the famous horticultural genus Rhododendron is especially rich in endemics, with 16% of its 160 native species being endemic to the YGRP and adjacent portions of Sichuan and Tibet (Table 2). Most townships in the YGRP contain at least one endemic species (Figure 3). There is considerable overlap between the richest townships for endemic species and those rich in endangered species, with 8 of the 10 richest townships occurring in each category. As we found for endangered species, Dulongjiang Township is the richest for endemic species, with the two adjacent Gongshan County townships, Cikai and Bingzhongluo, also ranking high (Table 3). Also, similar to endangered species, the same four small townships that comprise the Cang Mountains in Dali County collectively are rich in endemics, containing 54 species.

Relationship between plant diversity and vegetation types Figure 4 illustrates the relationship between vegetation type and endangered and endemic species in the YGRP. For endangered species, the most important habitats are Evergreen Broadleaf Forest, Alpine Meadow, Temperate Conifer Forest, and Mixed Forest. Endemic plants are rich in the Evergreen Broadleaf Forest, Subalpine Meadow, Alpine Meadow, and Alpine Scree.

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Figure 2. Endangered plant species in townships of the Yunnan Great Rivers Project. Blank townships have no records.

764 Table 1. Ten richest townships for endangered plant species. Township

County

Number of species

Dulongjiang Bingzhongluo Baisha Yunling Cikai Yanmen Xiaozhongdian Sanba Shangpa Yongchun

Gongshan Gongshan Yulong Deqin Gongshan Deqin Shangri-La Shangri-La Fugong Weixi

32 20 17 16 16 16 13 11 10 10

Table 2. Genera containing 10 or more endemic species in the Yunnan Great Rivers Project. Genus

Number of species

Pedicularis Rhododendron Aconitum Gentiana Saxifraga Delphinium Ligularia Corydalis Silene Salix Cremanthodium Arenaria Impatiens

46 26 32 19 20 15 15 12 12 10 10 10 10

Two groups of vegetation types, occurring at opposite extremes of the elevation-temperature gradient, stand out as being especially rich in endangered and endemic species. At the low, warm extreme is the subtropical Evergreen Broadleaf Forest, while Alpine Meadow and Alpine Scree habitats occur at the high, cold extreme. The Evergreen Broadleaf Forest, especially, contains a disproportionately higher concentration of endangered and endemic species relative to its aerial coverage in the YGRP (27% of species vs. 4% coverage of project area; Yunnan Great Rivers Project Planning Team 2001). This subtropical vegetation type is at the northern periphery of its range in northwestern Yunnan, being much more extensive in to the south Yunnan and southeastern Asia (Li and Walker 1986). It is dominated by trees in the Fagaceae, Lauraceae, Magnoliaceae and Theaceae and is unique among vegetation types in the YGRP in occupying habitats that are both warm and wet. Most other low-elevation habitats are dry and are dominated by scrub or warm pine forests

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Figure 3. Endemic plant species in townships of the Yunnan Great Rivers Project. Blank townships have no records.

766 Table 3. Ten richest townships for endemic plant species. Township

County

Number of species

Dulongjiang Baisha Sanba Bingzhongluo Xiaozhongdian Yunling Cikai Shengping Yanmen Dadong

Gongshan Lijiang Shangri-La Gongshan Shangri-La Deqin Gongshan Deqin Deqin Lijiang

103 101 102 79 57 55 38 34 29 30

Plant diversity conservation areas Experts identified nine PDCA, totaling 11745km2 or 17% of the YGRP (Figure 5; Table 4). Eight of these priority conservation areas are specific geographies, river valleys or mountain ranges that are particularly rich in endangered and endemic plants. Experts delineated one PDCA, Alpine Ecosystems, because of the critical importance of this major habitat type in conserving plant diversity of the YGRP.

Figure 4. Relationship between vegetation types and plant diversity in the Yunnan Great Rivers Project area. Solid bar = endemic species; open bar = endangered species. Vegetation types are as follows: (1) Evergreen Broadleaf Forest; (2) Cold Sclerophyllous Oak Forest; (3) Dry/Hot Valley Sclerophyllous Forest; (4) Deciduous Broadleaf Forest; (5) Warm Conifer Forest; (6) Temperate Conifer Forest; (7) Mixed Coniferous and Broadleaf Forest; (8) Bamboo; (9) Warm Sparse Woodland; (10) Cold Scrub; (11) Dry/Hot Scrub; (12) Subalpine Meadow; (13) Alpine Meadow; (14) Alpine Scree; (15) Grassland; (16) Other, including minor types such as wetlands, aquatic, and rock outcrop habitats.

767 Table 4. Yunnan Great Rivers Project plant diversity conservation areas. Plant diversity conservation areas

Endangered species

Endemic species

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

32 22 11 9 16 15 13 25 24

103 118 102 50 55 66 57 157 268

Dulong River Valley Yulong Snow Mountain Haba Snow Mountain Baima Snow Mountains Meili Snow Mountains Cang Mountains Qianhu Mountains Gaoligong Mountains and Biluo Snow Mountains Alpine Ecosystems

Dulong River Valley Located in Dulongjiang Township, Gongshan County, this is the richest area for both endangered and endemic plants. The area contains 36% of the endangered plants in the YGRP and about 15% of the endemic species. The Dulong River Valley PDCA is largely defined by the distribution of Evergreen Broadleaf Forest, where it is relatively well conserved. Much of this PDCA occurs in the Gaoligong Mountains Nature Reserve, although critical Evergreen Broadleaf Forest habitat at the lowest elevations along the Dulong River was excluded from the nature reserve because of human habitation (Yunnan Forestry Department 1998; Li et al, 2000). The Dulong people, an ethnic group endemic to this valley and adjacent Myanmar, occupy villages there. The Dulong River Valley PDCA also coincides with high vertebrate species richness (Yunnan Great Rivers Project Planning Team 2001). Yulong Snow Mountain Located in Baisha and Dadong townships, Yulong County, this PDCA encompasses a diversity of habitats, including Temperate Conifer Forests, Subalpine Meadow, Alpine Meadow, Cold Scrub, and Alpine Scree habitats. Most of the PDCA was established as a nature reserve in 1984 to protect these native habitats, although subsequent tourism development in the core of the nature reserve may jeopardize conservation management efforts (Ives 2004). Haba Snow Mountain This massif lies across the 3000 m-deep Yangtze River gorge (known as Tiger Leaping Gorge) from Yulong Snow Mountain. The PDCA encompasses Haba Snow Mountain Nature Reserve, which is more isolated and less disturbed by mass tourism development than Yulong Snow Mountain Nature Reserve. Habitats here are similar to Yulong Snow Mountain PDCA. Baima Snow Mountains Encompassing a range of mountains in Deqin and Weixi counties, the Baima Snow Mountains contain well-developed high-elevation habitats including

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Figure 5. Plant diversity conservation areas of the Yunnan Great Rivers Project. *For Alpine Ecosystems, includes only area of alpine habitat outside other PDCA.

Mixed Forest, Broadleaf Forest, Temperate Coniferous Forest, Alpine Meadow, Subalpine Meadow, Cold Scrub, and Alpine Scree. This PDCA also includes habitat for four populations of the highly endangered Yunnan snub-

769 nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti), for which a nature reserve was established to protect 1983; 66% of this PDCA is encompassed by the nature reserve. Meili Snow Mountains This PDCA lies along the narrow divide between the Lancang and Nu rivers on the Yunnan–Tibet border. Although our analysis identified the two townships (Yunling and Yanmen) as being particularly rich in endangered and endemic species on the Yunnan side of the ridge, we predict that the unexplored Tibetan side is equally important and should be included in this PDCA. The highest peak of the Meili Snow Mountains is one of the top tier of sacred mountains in the Tibetan world. The sacred value of this range, its relative remoteness, and the traditional land use practices of local Tibetans have combined to preserve the ecological conditions here (Anderson et al. 2005), especially of the forest and alpine habitats. Populations of endangered woody species, such as Pseudotsuga forrestii, Taxus wallichiana, and Tetracentron sinensis, are well developed here. This PDCA is not currently in any official protected area, although legislation is currently being proposed by Deqin County to establish a conservation area that allows for a more flexible approach to management that allows cultural and traditional uses. Cang Mountains This is an isolated massif in Dali County, lying administratively in the four small townships mentioned in the richness analyses, Qiliqiao, Chenyi, Yinqiao and Wanqiao. There is a dense human population along the base of the eastern slope of the range and almost no primary vegetation below 3200 m. This adjacent plain has been inhabited for many centuries by the Bai minority, a relatively sedentary ethnic group of rice farmers with no cultural history of exploiting natural resources of high mountains (Fitzgerald 1941). Temperate Conifer Forest and Cold Scrub occurs between 3800–4000 m, with alpine habitats above 4000 m. The upper elevations of the range were designated as a nature reserve in 1981 and the natural habitats are considered to have high ecological integrity even though it is in close proximity to a high human population. Qianhu Mountains The endangered and endemic species richness analyses identified Xiaozhongdian Township, Shangri-La County, as being particularly important. The Qianhu Mountains represent the best habitat in this area. They are a rolling upland terrain of Temperate Coniferous Forest, Subalpine Meadow, and Cold Scrub habitats. This area used to be state-managed forest, when it was heavily logged commercially in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Currently it is used primarily for yak grazing by Tibetans from nearby villages, but was recently leased by the local government to private investors for mass tourism development.

770 Biluo and Gaoligong Mountains This PDCA represents a corridor in the Nu River valley between the crests of the Gaoligong Mountains on the west and the Biluo Snow Mountains (sometimes referred to as the Nu Mountains) on the east. Administratively, it encompasses a series of townships in Gongshan and Fugong counties that were identified as being among the richest in the YGRP for both endangered and endemic species. Included in this PDCA is the full elevational gradient of vegetation types. The richest habitat present is the Evergreen Broadleaf Forest, which is scattered throughout the PDCA, but is especially well represented by large, high quality tracts in Cikai Township, Gongshan County. Important Alpine habitats are scattered as islands along the crests of both ranges. The Gaoligong Mountains Nature Reserve encompasses some of this PDCA, including low elevation Evergreen Broadleaf Forest and Alpine habitats. Along with the Dulong Valley PDCA, this area also has the highest vertebrate richness in the YGRP. Alpine Ecosystems Unlike the other eight PDCA, which were delimited as contiguous geographies, experts identified the Alpine Ecosystems PDCA based on the distribution of a mosaic of vegetation types that intermix on a relatively small scale, Alpine Meadow, Alpine Scree, and Cold Scrub (primarily Rhododendron-dominated communities). Experts believed that, given their current understanding, all occurrences of the alpine ecosystem should be identified as conservation priorities because of overall species richness, high endemism rates, threats, and the value of these habitats to the economic and cultural well-being of local communities (Yunnan Great Rivers Project Planning Team 2001; Deng and Zhou 2004; Salick et al. 2004; Baker and Moseley 2006). Alpine Ecosystems cover approximately 12% of the YGRP. While this ecosystem occurs in other PDCA, about 3654 km2 of YGRP alpine habitat occurs outside of these geographically designed areas. In assessing the conservation management of this PDCA, however, we consider it important to distinguish between the large, continuous patches in the northern portion of the YGRP, versus the smaller, disjunct ‘‘islands’’ occurring in the mountains of the southern half. The large continuous blocks of alpine are obviously important because of their size and connectivity to the Tibetan Plateau. These areas are also the most accessible to scientists. The southern alpine islands, however, are less accessible and their biota have not been explored thoroughly. The recent discovery of new plant species on these islands may indicate their regional importance as centers of speciation and endemism (Fang Zhendong, personal communication).

Discussion and conclusion Because of the rapid pace of change in China (Economy 2004; Ives 2004) and the high diversity of Yunnan (Yang et al. 2004), we felt it was essential to

771 produce a plan that could guide conservation action as fast as possible. Our method efficiently and quickly identified a credible first iteration of plant diversity conservation priority areas for the YGRP, requiring 12 months to complete and costing approximately US$60,000. Contrary to the implications of some discussions of conservation planning, the bulk of the effort was not in designing some optimal arrangement of conservation areas, but was instead in simply gathering and collating data and expert opinion. Our results were later validated by a conservation priority setting exercise done 2 years later for Conservation International’s Mountains of Southwest China Hotspot, a much larger area of about 1 million km2 that encompasses the YGRP (Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund 2002). Although delineated at a coarser scale, the hotspot priority setting identified a similar set of plant diversity priority areas for the Yunnan portion (World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International, unpublished data). Our analysis shows that the current nature reserve system in northwestern Yunnan is serving an important role in plant diversity protection, even though many of the reserves were not specifically designated for plant diversity considerations. For example, Baima Snow Mountains Nature Reserve was designated in 1983 primarily for the protection the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, one of the most endangered primates in the world (Konstant et al. 2002). As stated earlier, however, our knowledge of viability and threats to the endangered and endemic species is nonexistent, so this analysis of protection status is rudimentary. For instance, it is widely acknowledged that existing nature reserves in China are not managed effectively (Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund 2002), a factor that must be taken into account when evaluating the actual status of plant diversity protection in the future. It must also be acknowledged that the PDCA network goes beyond the configuration of a protected areas system, an issue recognized by the Global Plant Conservation Strategy (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity 2004). While it is recognized that the system of protected areas needs to be much larger and more numerous than currently exists, we have to expand the scope of our conservation vision to include plant diversity outside of formally designated conservation areas. The suite of conservation activities available to use in this broader landscape include more sustainable use of natural resources, protection of watersheds, supportive legislation, and environmental education, among others. In addition to identifying plant diversity conservation priorities, this project also provided a means for Chinese scientific experts to directly contribute to conservation decision-making. Following completion of the broad-scale priority setting in 2000, which included four other focal targets (Yunnan Great Rivers Project Planning Team 2001), TNC began working with local community and government partners at five sites in the YGRP. These sites encompass all or parts of four PDCA, Dulong River Valley, Meili Snow Mountains, Gaoligong Mountains-Biluo Snow Mountain, and the extensive alpine areas of northern Shangri-La County. Because of the broad-scale of the

772 planning, our PDCA are rough delineations of the highest-quality occurrences of the plant diversity conservation target. During the site planning process, the PDCA boundaries were modified to more precisely and accurately reflect finescale patterns with which to design effective conservation strategies (Moseley et al. 2004). In addition to these priority action sites, TNC also recognized that a broader-scale approach was needed to conserve alpine habitats across the YGRP. Considerable attention was being focused on specific sites and protected areas, and on forest conservation, generally. Little attention was being focused on the alpine ecosystem, despite it’s regional importance for maintaining biodiversity (Yunnan Great Rivers Project Planning Team 2001; Deng and Zhou 2004; this study), increasing threats to its viability (Moseley in preparation; Baker and Moseley 2006), and the significance of alpine systems to people’s livelihoods (Salick et al. 2004; Buntaine et al. 2006). In 2003, TNC started the Alpine Ecosystem Project, a collaboration among community, government and research institutes to focus attention on, understand, and conserve the alpine ecosystem across the YGRP. Our work is based on the expert’s knowledge system and thousands of pioneer’s achievements of specimen collection; it is only at the starting phase for the conservation cause in this biological important region. It serves as a guide for immediate action for our conservation work, we hope it can also serve as a stimulus for further exploration, brings more concerning from the public to explore more such isolated alpine region in China, before it is too late.

Acknowledgements The priority-setting phase of the YGRP was co-funded by The Nature Conservancy, Yunnan Province, and the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation. We thank other members of the plant diversity and vegetation experts’ teams for contributing their time and knowledge, especially Mr. Fang Zhendong, Prof. Li Xiwen, and Prof. Ou Xiaokun. GIS analyses and map figures were supported by Stuart Sheppard and Ma Jian. Two anonymous referees for their useful criticisms. We are grateful to the National Key Basic Research Program (973) (2003CB415102), National Natural Science Foundation (40332021).

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