This ecosystem profile was compiled primarily from the results of a five-day workshop to determine conservation priorities in the Upper Yangtze, an area that encompasses the majority of the hotspot; meetings with government, civil society and conservation stakeholders; and a review of existing literature.
The purpose of the ecosystem profile is to provide an overview of the causes of biodiversity loss in a particular region and to couple this assessmnet with an inventory of current conservation activities to identify the niche where CEPF investment can provide the greatest incremental value. The ecosystem profile is intended to recommend broad strategic funding directions that can be implemented by civil society to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity in the targeted region. Applicants propose specific projects consistent with these broad directions and criteria. The ecosystem profile does not define the specific activities that prospective implementers may propose in the region, but outlines the conservation strategy that will guide those activites. For this reason, it is not possible or appropriate for the ecosystem profile to be more specific about the site or scope of particular projects or to identify appropriate benchmarks for those activities. Applicants will be required to preapre detailed proposals that specify performance indicators.
The focus of this ecosystem profile, the Mountains of Southwest China hotspot, overlaps with a WWF Global 200 region comprised of the Qionglai-Minshan Coniferous Forests, the Hengduan Mountains Alpine Coniferous Forests and the Nujiang-Lancang Gorge Alpine Conifer and Mixed Forests ecoregions. It also includes Yunnan Province, The Nature Conservancy's conservation focus in China. Politically, the region includes parts of western Sichuan Province, northwest Yunnan Province, eastern portions of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the southeast tip of Qinghai Province and the southern tip of Gansu Province. The hotspot is the most biologically diverse temperate forest ecosystem in the world.
The Provincial Planning Committee of Sichuan, CI, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) organized the Conservation Priority-Setting Workshop for the Upper Yangtze, which was held in Chengdu, China from March 21-26, 2002. Although the workshop focused primarily on the ecoregions listed above; CEPF will provide resources for projects throughout the hotspot. The workshop brought together more than 80 Chinese and foreign experts in a participatory process to identify the region's most biologically important areas, assess threats and assign priorities for biodiversity conservation.
In addition to the workshop, meetings were held with other stakeholders, including central and local government agencies such as the Sichuan and Yunnan Forestry Departments, State Forestry Administration, State Environmental Protection Administration, Sichuan Tourism Bureau, Chengdu Tourism Bureau, Sichuan Construction Committee and Western Development Program Sichuan Office. Consultations were undertaken with county-level officials, nature reserve staff, local businesses such as tour agencies and operators, university environmental groups, local communities, local and international NGOs, bilateral and multilateral aid agencies and conservation experts. In all, additional meetings were held with 87 individuals representing 34 groups.
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