Mountains of southwest china
April 2011
Background
The Mountains of Southwest China Hotspot stretches over 262,400 square kilometers of mountains between the Tibetan Plateau and the Central Chinese Plain. Although it only covers about 10 percent of China’s geographical area, it is home to about 50 percent of the country’s birds and mammals and more than 30 percent of its higher plants. The hotspot also supports great cultural diversity and delivers ecosystem services of high economic value.
Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) engagement in the Mountains of Southwest China Hotspot began with the development of an ecosystem profile1 for the region in 2002. This was followed by a five-year investment program, under which CEPF supported 80 projects led by civil society, with a total investment of $6.5 million.
CEPF is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation.
In 2002, civil society in southwest China was at a very early stage of development. Grassroots organizations and professional local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were just beginning to take greater advantage of opportunities to collect and disseminate analyses of environmental problems, convene to publicly debate development scenarios, and link local conservation issues to national policies and programs. The CEPF investment strategy for the Mountains of Southwest China Hotspot took account of this situation, as well as biological priorities, the pattern of conservation investments by other donors and the socioeconomic context. Based upon an evaluation of these factors, a niche for CEPF investment that ensured the greatest incremental impact was determined.
With its relatively modest investment, CEPF focused its attention upon nurturing key organizations and individuals who could be capable of seizing opportunities for conservation. The five-year program occurred at a time of unprecedented opportunities to safeguard the region’s natural areas and species. Increased awareness of the long-term risk to China’s development presented by environmental problems and recognition of the contributions civil society could make toward addressing these challenges opened new areas for dialogue between government and civil society. CEPF capitalized on these opportunities by finding, supporting, training and encouraging alliances within a growing civil society sector and between it and government to design and implement programs adapted to China’s unique and complex system.
Achievements
During its five years of implementation in the Mountains of Southwest China, CEPF played a fundamental role in catalyzing growth in civil society’s capacity, networking and influence. CEPF took advantage of the fact that civil society was increasingly being viewed by county, prefecture and provincial government as a resource for incorporating community input and technical advice into the development process. CEPF maximized this opportunity by disbursing funding and sustained technical guidance through three small grants mechanisms. In some ways, southwest China was the most challenging of investment climates for CEPF to date, given that there was so little local civil society when investment began in 2002. Today, some would argue that CEPF was instrumental in helping to launch a true people’s movement.
Another key feature of CEPF’s approach during the initial five-year investment period was its flexibility, which meant that CEPF was able to respond to opportunities and emerging threats as they arose. For example, in 2003, hydropower projects on the Salween River and tributaries of the Yangtze River, as well as on pristine alpine lakes sacred to local people, emerged as urgent concerns. CEPF resources enabled local organizations to participate in public dialogue on the merits of such projects, by analyzing Environmental Impact Assessments, conducting relevant scientific investigations and producing publications that provided a broad perspective of costs and benefits.
Results identified as part of an assessment of CEPF achievements in the Mountains of Southwest China Hotspot2 included the following:
• The designation of the highest priorities for conservation in the hotspot at species, site
and corridor scales.
• Increased capacity of nearly 150 grassroots organizations to take part in conservation
efforts and influence decisions that affect lives and livelihoods, and the establishment of
at least one new organization: Green Khampa.
• The establishment of five community conservation areas, with a total area of more than
25,000 hectares.
• The creation of five new nature reserves, totaling nearly 170,000 hectares, and the
upgrading of two nature reserves, totaling more than 500,000 hectares, to a higher level.
• Support to the Ministry of Construction, State Forestry Administration and provincial and
county divisions in preparing a successful application for the Sichuan Giant Panda
World Natural Heritage Site, covering nearly 1 million hectares.
• The operation of a Community Conservation Fund, which provided 24 communities with
small grants to take local conservation actions.
Justification for Consolidation
While much was achieved under the initial CEPF investment in the Mountains of Southwest China Hotspot, the gains are fragile. Many challenges remain to ensuring that the conservation efforts initiated with the help of CEPF are placed on a sustainable and solid footing. These challenges go hand-in-hand with opportunities for the emerging civil society sector, through which additional, targeted support could not only sustain the gains made within the hotspot but also enable greater influence of policy at the national level. Relatively modest additional investment could ensure the financial, social and institutional sustainability of CEPF’s key achievements, consolidate nascent civil society networks and leverage experience from pilot projects to effect policy change.
One of the key lessons learned from CEPF investment in the hotspot was that identifying, funding and linking grassroots organizations through networks is an effective means of finding local solutions to conservation challenges. CEPF investments were connected through a “web” of partnerships: several overlapping networks of grassroots organizations knit together by the vision set out in the ecosystem profile. At the beginning of the CEPF investment period, in 2003, a capacity assessment of 16 NGOs operating within the hotspot revealed that half were not formally registered, and only 13 percent had an annual operating budget of more than $13,000. Over the following five years, CEPF demonstrated that support for this burgeoning civil society sector (in terms of motivation, training and mutual support, as much as financial) can generate significant returns with minimal investment but requires sustained presence and an ability to actively help troubleshoot problems that arise during implementation. Because of its commitment to innovation and learning, CEPF was willing to fund high-risk projects that other donors might not support. Innovative approaches piloted in the hotspot with support from CEPF included an initiative to empower local communities to take legal action to prevent unsustainable infrastructure development; and a pioneering payment for ecosystem service project. Such projects generated invaluable experience and insights, relevant both to other actors interested in replicating successful approaches and to development of national policy.
Although the final reports from these projects are available on the CEPF Web site, there remains a need to share the rich pool of experiences and lessons learned more broadly still to help consolidate the achievements of phase I CEPF investment and set the stage for replication. With Chinese civil society at such an early stage of development, practical experience and advice would be more useful to conservation actors if it was organized to address specific issues of concern and distributed in accessible formats and local languages. These lessons learned products could be more than project reports and might include a range of user-friendly formats designed to be shared with government and the private sector, as well as other civil society organizations.
CEPF’s investments in landscape and site-level conservation were focused on three conservation corridors: the Giant Panda Corridor, which covers 7 million hectares of panda habitat in the mountains of Sichuan and Gansu provinces; the Snub-nosed Monkey corridor, which includes 1.5 million hectares in the high mountains of Yunnan province and Tibet Autonomous Region; and the Species-rich Sacred Landscape, which covers 57.7 million hectares in Qinghai, Sichuan, Tibet and Yunnan, including the upper catchments of the Mekong, Salween, Yangtze and Yarlung Tsangpo rivers. Within these corridors, CEPF supported work by The Nature Conservancy, CI China and other partners to establish and strengthen the management of formal nature reserves, and link them through Community Conservation Areas (CCAs). CEPF support demonstrated the effectiveness of CCAs as a means of enhancing landscape integrity. In order to consolidate CEPF investments in these corridors, there is a need for the pilot CCAs to be strengthened, legally recognized as part of the nature reserve system, incorporated into provincial-level conservation planning, and, where feasible, sustained through long-term financing mechanisms.
As well as supporting work on the ground, at sites and corridors, CEPF also funded efforts to tackle two of the biggest threats undermining conservation efforts in the hotspot: illegal trade in wildlife; and infrastructure development. Wildlife trade is the major threat to many species in southwest China. CEPF supported several wildlife trade and consumption-related projects, ranging from surveys of market demand and consumer education to enhancing law enforcement. Civil society coordinated its efforts to tackle wildlife trade through the NGO coalition “Save Wildlife in Trade,” which encouraged its members to assume complementary roles in field information collection, education, government relations and international convention processes. The coalition had a number of notable successes, such as successfully advocating for strengthened controls on trade in tiger parts. Although individual actions by coalition members have continued beyond the end of the CEPF investment period, coordination and joint action have declined. In order to consolidate the coalition, there is a need to address its financial sustainability through formally constituting a system of financial contributions from its members, and support it to undertake strategic actions aimed at promoting cooperation and alliances with and among government agencies, as well as the finalization and implementation of key policies and regulations to control the wildlife trade currently being developed by government.
A key niche for CEPF was in helping local civil society groups, communities and individuals to mainstream biodiversity into development planning and policy. CEPF grants to groups such as the Center for Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge (CBIK) enabled a new network of environmental groups, law practitioners and legal researchers to emerge and address environmental justice issues related to major development projects. This ground-breaking work introduced legal approaches as tool for biodiversity conservation in the Mountains of Southwest China, and CEPF projects had a number of notable successes, including: providing public comment from the conservation community on the Ahai Dam Environmental Impact Assessment; formulating new environmental assessment procedures for dam construction in southwest China; incorporating a multiple benefits approach into the Plantation Initiative under the Grain to Green Program in Sichuan and Yunnan; and promoting public debate on the impact of the South to North Water Diversion Project. In 2008, Yunnan became one of three pilot provinces to establish “environmental courts,” an experimental legal mechanism introduced by the Ministry of Justice to address major environmental violations, and expanded them to the entire province in 2009. To date, however, very few cases have been brought by civil society groups, due to a lack of mobilization among legal practitioners and limited capacity among NGOs. There is a need to support the civil society networks established through CEPF to take full advantage of available legal mechanisms to address negative biodiversity impacts of development projects, as well as a need to link field experience from previous CEPF investment to the development of government policy at national and provincial levels.
Building on the assessment of five years of CEPF investment in the hotspot, four mutually reinforcing themes have been selected to consolidate CEPF’s initial investment. These themes take full advantage of the opportunities that have arisen as a result of the emergence of a nascent local civil society in southwest China and the relevance of CEPF’s results to several key pieces of legislation currently under development, such as the Property Law, the Wildlife Protection Law and on Protected Areas Law. To successfully implement these themes and consolidate CEPF investment in the hotspot, a total of $1.35 million is envisioned.
In May 2008, Sichuan province was struck by a devastating earthquake, which affected some 45 million people, with nearly 90,000 people dead or missing and more than 370,000 people injured. The epicenter of the earthquake was in Wenchuan County, located at the eastern edge of the hotspot, and giant pandas, along with other species and their habitats, were heavily affected. According to data and statistics collected by the CEPF-supported Peking University Giant Panda Conservation Research Centre, more than 60 percent of the wild panda habitats (including 35 giant panda nature reserves) were affected by the earthquake. One positive thing to emerge from this tragedy has been a greater recognition among provincial, prefecture and county officials of the positive role that civil society can play in delivering relief, reconstruction and sustainable development. However, the planned infrastructure developments arising out of post earthquake reconstruction efforts create a greater need for taking biodiversity into account in development planning: a need that the CEPF consolidation program responds to.
Investment Priorities and Outcomes
Investment priority 1: Enhance landscape integrity through consolidating CEPF investments in Community Conservation Areas
Implementing partners: Sichuan: Shan Shui Conservation Centre ($200,000); and Chengdu Institute of Biology ($50,000 via sub-grant). Yunnan: The Nature Conservancy ($175,000); Yunnan Golden Monkey Conservation Association ($25,000 via sub-grant); Yulong Community Association for Wildlife and Plant Conservation ($25,000 via sub-grant); Deqin Community Conservation Association ($25,000 via sub-grant). Potential leverage: Blue Moon Fund, Conservation Stewards Program, ECBP, FedEx, Government of China, PepsiCo
Outcome 1: CEPF investments in Community Conservation Areas (CCAs) in the Species-rich Sacred Landscape, Giant Panda and Snub-nosed Monkey Corridors sustained and scaled up through community capacity building and legal recognition
Activities CEPF budget: $500,000 Strengthen on-the-ground management and build community support for conservation objectives through capacity building for community management bodies responsible for six CCAs established under phase I CEPF investment: · Nianbaoyuze CCA, Qinghai province. · Yajiang Pamuling CCA, Sichuan province. · Wenxian Liziba CCA, Gansu province. · Deqin Bamei CCA, Yunnan province. · Yulong Laojunshan CCA, Yunnan province. · Weixi Tuolongding CCA, Yunnan province.
Develop a clear strategy and training manual, and conduct training-for-trainers to strengthen the capacities of CCA management bodies. Promote the formal recognition of CCAs at the provincial level, including via inclusion within provincial nature reserve development plans.
Build a broader coalition for the CCA approach within the Species-rich Sacred Landscape, Giant Panda and Yunnan Snub-nosed Monkey Corridors, including by documenting other models piloted during phase I CEPF investment as a basis for replication.
Investment priority 2: Leverage CEPF investments in civil society networks to influence and improve wildlife-trade-related policy and legislation
Implementing partners: Beijing Normal University ($350,000) Potential leverage: CITES Management Authority of China; State Forestry Policy Administration; local administrations at country, township and village level
Outcome 2: Policies and legislation related to trade in wildlife approved and implemented, and networks initiated under phase I CEPF investment formalized and placed on a sustainable footing.
Activities CEPF budget $350,000 Enhance the Save Wildlife in Trade coalition’s role in influencing wildlifetrade- related policy in China and under CITES, including through formally constituting a system of financial contributions from its members.
Forge alliances with and strengthen collaboration among government agencies at national and provincial levels, including Customs, Forest Police, Fisheries Department, and Market Management Authorities, to consolidate CEPF investments related to wildlife trade.
Build upon phase I policy successes to support the finalization and implementation of key policies and legislation related to wildlife trade.
Investment priority 3: Enable civil society to promote complementary objectives of conservation and development in the Mountains of Southwest China Hotspot
Implementing partners: Shan Shui Conservation Center ($150,000); and Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims ($100,000) Potential leverage: MacArthur Foundation Outcome 3: Civil society participation in promoting development policies and plans that are consistent with biodiversity conservation increased through strengthening grassroots capacity and replicating the successes of phase I CEPF investment
Activities CEPF budget $250,000 Reinforce networking among civil society groups engaged in CEPF pilot projects on legal aid to local communities, facilitate exchange of experience among members, and catalyze coordinated action to address high-impact developments.
Train experienced law practitioners and legal researchers in environmental issues and the use of existing legal tools to address the biodiversity impacts of development projects, and provide them with first-hand experience from CEPF projects that facilitated public comment on development projects.
Promote integration of lessons learned from CEPF pilot initiatives on biodiversity mainstreaming into relevant provincial legislation.
Investment priority 4: Ensure lasting government support for CEPF priority site and corridor outcomes through targeted advocacy and engagement
Implementing partners: CI-China ($250,000) Potential leverage: Government of China, Tsinghua Brookings Policy Center, Walton Family Foundation
Outcome 4: CEPF investments in Community Conservation Areas (CCAs) consolidated by integrating experience gained into targeted legislation processes
Activities CEPF budget: $250,000
Advocate for the recognition of CCA as a category of protected area under the national law on protected areas, which is currently under development, and for the inclusion of CCAs into the ongoing nationwide forest tenure reform process.
Advocate for the incorporation of the conservation agreements model into national and provincial policy, to promote the emergence of an enabling environment for equitable sharing of benefits with local communities.
Explore opportunities created under emerging national legislation on payment for ecosystem services to design and encourage investment in financing mechanisms that ensure a sustainable funding stream for CCA management and equitable benefit sharing.
Total consolidation: $1,350,000
Donor Collaboration: CEPF and its potential grantees are committed to collaborating with a variety of donors to achieve the conservation outcomes pursued under this consolidation program. During the preparation of this program, CEPF has liaised closely with key donors with existing or pipeline investments in the Mountains of Southwest China Hotspot, including several CEPF donor partners.
The MacArthur Foundation has a portfolio of active grants in Yunnan province, under its
Conservation and Sustainable Development theme in the Eastern Himalayas. MacArthur sees no redundancy between its portfolio and the CEPF consolidation program, and some areas of potential synergy regarding site-based and policy work on CCAs, which will be explored in greater detail as individual projects are developed. Over the longer term, MacArthur might expand its grant-making within China, and, in so doing, may create more opportunities to build on the foundation of local civil society capacity that will be reinforced through the CEPF consolidation program.
The GEF, through UNDP, is currently designing a project to enhance the financial sustainability of protected areas in Gansu province. This project will include four protected areas in southern Gansu targeted by CEPF projects in the phase I investment period. Because protected areas are not a direct focus of the consolidation program, and because site-level consolidation activities focus mainly on Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, there will be no overlaps with this initiative.
The Conservation Stewards Program at CI has committed to put in place long-term financing for the conservation agreements mechanism being piloted at Yajiang Pamuling CCA. This support complements the activities envisioned under Investment Priority 1 by addressing the financial sustainability of the CCA.
One of the largest single investments in the conservation of China’s biodiversity is the European- Commission-funded EU China Biodiversity Project (ECBP). Between 2005 and 2010, with a budget of over €49 million, the ECBP funded 17 field projects in central and western China, to test innovative and replicable mechanisms for biodiversity management, policy implementation and partnership. The ECBP was granted an 18-month, no-cost extension, which will allow it to continue until September 2011. During the extension period, which focuses on consolidation, work is continuing on selected field projects, including two that are directly relevant to CEPF’s consolidation program: a project led by The Nature Conservancy to develop a legal and administrative framework that will satisfy needs for local development and safeguard biodiversity resources in the “Three Parallel Rivers Area” of northwest Yunnan; and a project led by Shan
Shui Conservation Center to develop and demonstrate community-based approaches to
conservation in Qinghai and Sichuan provinces. Because both of these projects are being implemented by organizations envisioned as implementing partners for the CEPF consolidation program, CEPF will be able to work closely with grantees during the development of individual projects to maximize synergies and avoid duplication of effort.
The Blue Moon Fund is currently supporting work by civil society groups on CCAs, payments for ecosystem services and wildlife trade. There are potential synergies with these initiatives and the CEPF consolidation program, particularly activities under Investment Priorities 1 and 2. Further consultation will take place during the development of individual consolidation phase portfolios to realize these opportunities.
Opportunities to leverage co-financing have already been identified for each of the projects envisioned under the CEPF consolidation phase, including several exciting opportunities to engage the private sector in the sustainable funding of CCAs. Additional opportunities are expected to arise through collaboration with the partners identified above and others during implementation of the consolidation program.
Monitoring Plan: CEPF will monitor the performance of its grantees in achieving a core set of consolidation targets as outlined below through the review of programmatic and financial progress reports and site visits to each project. The specific targets presented in Table 2 have been selected based on their relevance from the CEPF Global Results Framework. Targets have also been developed based on the unique aspects of the consolidation program for the Mountains of Southwest China Hotspot.
Table: Mountains of Southwest China Biodiversity Hotspot Logical Framework for Consolidation, (PDF - 46 KB)