Environment, Development and Sustainability (2007) 9:305324

DOI 10.1007/s10668-006-9025-8

Springer 2006

HUMAN USE AND CONSERVATION PLANNING IN ALPINE AREAS

OF NORTHWESTERN YUNNAN, CHINA
MARK T. BUNTAINE1,*, RENEE 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: buntaine@umd.edu; 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 signicant 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 signicant
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 aect
the condition of alpine resources in northwestern Yunnan and how future conservation eorts can be
compatible with local livelihoods. We sampled three livestock herding sites, each within a dierent 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 Yunnans 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 BhaskarNath@aol.com 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. Specically, we gathered user
knowledge on temporal changes in alpine system integrity and alpine-specic species
viability, availability and changes in alpine system resources, the spiritual signicance 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 eective 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/asiapacic/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 eort to engage local communities at the formative stages of this project (Hobbs,
1996) and is part of a larger eort 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 eorts 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 eorts to collect primary data quantifying
human uses and perceptions of northwestern Yunnans alpine environment, nor are
we aware of any attempts to fully integrate socioeconomic, ecological, and climate
change data in the identication 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 eciently
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). Specically, the region is predominantly occupied by Tibetan people, who are known to
inuence 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
stratied, 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 (MayJuly).
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 nal review

In order to understand important humanalpine 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 eld 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 eorts.
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 dierences between our
study sites, similar observations could be identied 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 humanalpine 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 nal 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 signicantly 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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311

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 diversied 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 1020 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 Homan, 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 signicant 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 (Korner, 2000).
There were striking dierences 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 dicult 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 generations 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 aord 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 aecting these alpine lands are climate change and the
national-level re 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 re 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 conrmed 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 dene Tibetan culture
(Yunzhen, 2005). Alpine areas, while only grazed during the summer months
(37 months/year), gure largely in this tradition. In regards to rangeland resources,
it is clear that continued monitoring of climate eects, 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

Scientic 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
Inammation, fever, clean brain, eye

Plants
Beimu
Zhimu

Fritillaria cirrhosa
Fritillaria delavayi

Liliaceae
Liliaceae

Dahuang
Jinbuhuan
Longdan

Rheum ocinale
Scutellaria baicalensis
Gentiana regescens

Polygonaceae
Lamiaceae
Gentianaceae

Qingjiao

Gentiana crassicaulis

Gentianaceae

Snow Lotus

Saussurea eriocephala

Asteraceae

Huhuanlian

Picrorhiza scrophulariiora

Scrophulariaceae

Womens disease, cough, appendix

Cough, lungs, womens problems,
inammation, fracture
Purgative
Inammation, u
Inammation, liver, fever,
cold, headache
Inammation, liver, fever,
cold, headache
Stomach, muscles, lung, vomit,
blood disease, womens disease,
inammation, 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 dicult to locate than they were
10 years ago because of this increased pressure. Another commercial medicinal
plant, Huhuanlian (Picrorhiza scrophulariiora), 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 dicult to locate.
No signicant 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 villages 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 communitys 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 diculties (Dolsak and Ostrom, 2003).
Previous studies have demonstrated that increased diculty in nding 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
signicant 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 specic ideas about how this development might occur: improvement of
transportation infrastructure, construction of guesthouses, mountain guiding services, and the diversication of local food items. Younger respondents (age <25)
were often more enthusiastic about tourism and viewed it as a way to earn a
signicant 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 eects on vegetation composition and coverage
(Ives, 1974).
Interviews in Cizhong also revealed that adventure tourists are passing through
the areas 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.
Specic 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 benet sharing and positive livelihood
development (Cochrane, 2000; Reid, 2003; Soeld, 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
eective 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 nd 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 eorts 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 benets 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 benets 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, dierent forms of community management must be
appraised critically and each will likely require a site-specic 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 specic 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 aect 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; Soeld, 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
eorts. Likewise for tourism planning, local communities that are empowered to

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M. T. BUNTAINE ET AL.

participate and control development are much more likely to ensure equitable benet
sharing and conservation of important resources than outside businesses concerned
primarily with short-term prots. Hence, we recommend signicant 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 eective and
enforceable harvest-limiting mechanisms be identied. 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 signicant institutional development in the region pose signicant challenges.
We identied several other issues of local importance that may prove vital for
developing site-specic 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 specic 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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319

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 nd 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
identied and will be further explored to determine whether these issues are having a
greater impact on alpine areas than this study reected. Regional issues will clearly
be important factors for development and implementation of any broad scale conservation strategies.
These data reect 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 benecial 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 identied in this paper require conrmation before specic land-use
policies can be responsibly formulated. However, we have shown that conservation
organizations with limited budgets, sta, 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
condent that it could be used to collect livelihood and land-use data for organizations facing similar constraints elsewhere.

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M. T. BUNTAINE ET AL.
Acknowledgements

The Nature Conservancy China Program was instrumental in supporting and

facilitating this work, both nancially 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 satised 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 dierent villages
and conicts that arise from such partitioning? Please explain.
(p) Are there other institutions that inuence grazing in this area?
(q) How eective is this management in meeting the needs of your household?
3. Alpine Plants

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321

(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 inuence plant collection?
(l) How eective is this management in meeting the needs of your household?
(m) Are you satised 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 satised 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 aect 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 aect 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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