[China story] Poverty-stricken village benefits from eco-conservation

Located in the core area of the world natural heritage—The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture is known as a “pearl in the kingdom of animals and plants” and a “world gene bank” with rich forestry and ecological resources.

In the mountainous Gaobudeng Village located in Nujiang’s Lanping County, concrete paths between the green trees lead to many new houses of local Lisu people.

In the 1980s, the mountain forests were delegated to households in Gaobudeng. At that time, because the villagers were less aware of the importance of environmental protection, deforestation and mudslides were resulted.

At the beginning of the 1990s, a mass village meeting was convened to solve the prominent ecological problem. The villagers then decided to divide the forest into two functional parts, one for preservation and forestation, the other for grazing and firewood. Two rangers had been hired to patrol the preservation areas.

Their policy of “take less and giving more” has nourished the mountains in the village. The deforestation had been effectively controlled. On the other hand, the program to return farmland to forest was also carried out. The mountains became verdant again with more and more wildlife, and mudslides were left in history. The Party secretary of the village Yu Jianlong concluded that the changes taking place over the years made it a consensus for the villagers: a good ecological environment is the foundation for poverty reduction and would bring concrete benefits.

Now in the Gaobudeng, the walnut and prickly ash trees have grown into forests and begin to bear fruit. The villager also became richer and richer. Last year, the average per capita net income of villagers reached 6,000 yuan, about half of which came from the economic forest. (People’s Daily)

Editor: Wang Shixue