Newsletter of Minshan Initiative July to September 2008 Thank you for your long term support and attention to our work!

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1 Scientific Finding Red fox appeared in the photo shot by stealth camera in Sichuan for the first time Two photos of red fox were shot recently by stealth camera in Yele nature reserve, Sichuan Province. With the confirmation of Mr. Li Sheng, a biology expert from Peking University, it is the first time that the red fox was shot in Sichuan giant panda nature reserve. Yele nature reserve is located in Liangshan Mountains. With the support of WWF, Yele and Shenguozhuang nature reserves carried out stealth camera biodiversity monitoring project since March cameras are set in the two nature reserves. So far, the cameras have worked more than 300 hours and shot several hundred photos of red panda, black bear, badger, tufted deer, Satyr Tragopan, Blood Pheasant, etc. Liangshan-Xiangling mountain system is the most southern habitat for giant panda nowadays. About 160 wild panda are sharing the gradually fragmented habitat due to infrastructure construction (road, hydropower, electricity transmission, etc), mining, firewood collection and poaching. In order to cope with those problems, WWF kicked off Liangshan-Xiangling Landscape Initiative in Such project as monitoring and patrolling, capacity building, alternative energy and livelihood are being collaboratively implemented by WWF and its local partners, including nature reserve, forest farm and neighboring communities. Red Fox Red Panda Tufted Deer Disaster Relief Post-disaster Assessment Training Held in Chengdu July 24-25, WWF held a training workshop for the nr staff in chengdu. the training was about how to assess the impact of the earthquake to the giant panda nature reserve in Sichuan. 26 nature reserve staff from 12 panda reserves, including Wolong, Wanglang, Tangjiahe, Piankou, Qianfoshan, Xiaozhaizi, Baodinggou, Longxi- Hongkou, Baishuihe, Caopo, Jiudingshan and Anzihe, participated the training. Several local NGOs, which would do the same work, also attended the workshop. WWF expected to introduce some new assessment measures for the nature reserve and relative NGO in post-disaster reconstruction. The training was designed for how to assess the earthquake impact both to the local farmers and to the environment. All the experiences shared in the training were taken from WWF-US and Red Cross for the post disaster assessment in Indian Ocean tsunami and Pakistan earthquake. 1

2 Through the training, all the participants got their own idea in reconstruction. Some of them said that they were a little bit blindfolds in the reconstruction. But now they became clear. "We have to redesign our plan to avoid wasting time and resources." some said. Earthquake Community Damage Assessment Training in Gansu August 7 8, WWF held a training workshop earthquake community damage assessment in Tianshui, Gansu province. The training was about how to assess the impact of the earthquake to the giant panda nature reserve and the neighboring community in Gansu. 25 staff from seven affected panda nature reserves in Gansu and several local NGOs participated the training. WWF expected to introduce some new assessment measures for the nature reserve and relative NGO in post-disaster reconstruction. The training was designed for how to assess the earthquake impact both to the local farmers and to the environment. All the experiences shared in the training were taken from WWF-US and WWF Red Cross for the post disaster assessment in Indian Ocean tsunami and Pakistan earthquake. After the training, WWF is planning to select 7 nature reserves in Minshan (including Gansu and Sichuan) landscape to carry out the assessment in the selected panda habitat and neighboring communities within the next few weeks. The Temperate Protection Station in Baishuihe Nature Reserve Finished The Daping temperate protection station in Baishuihe nature reserve was completed on September 22 nd, Mr. Dai Baiyang, the Deputy Director of Sichuan Forestry Department and Mr. Guilermo Castillejia, the Global Program Supervisor of WWF, attended the opening ceremony of the protection station. Baishuihe nature reserve is very close to the epicenter of the 5.12 Earthquake. The earthquake destroyed all its three protection stations, including Daping, Wangjiaping and Donglinsi. With the disaster assessment, WWF decided to help Baishuihe to rebuild the station first and launched the construction on July 2 nd. The construction was received many helps from different walks of lives. Before the rebuilding, WWF contacted Mr. Yang Xin, a very famous conservationist in China, and asked him to introduce his experience. He was very positive to share his experience about building protection station in Tibetan plateau. Guilermo & Mr. Dai Unveiling the Plate for the Protection station As a member of WWF, I am very please to attend the ceremony, Mr. Guilermo Castillejia said, I saw what Chinese government and people achieved in front of the catastrophic disaster, 2

3 which deserve to win respect all over the world. At the same time, WWF is trying its best in fundraising in order to help the affected nature reserves and neighboring communities. I appreciate WWF s long term support on giant panda conservation in Sichuan and China at large and specially thanks for the immediate and effective help after the earthquake. I also hope that the cooperation between WWF and Sichun Forestry Department will be further improved in the future, Mr. Dai Baiyang said. The total area of the new station is 60 m 2, which meets the ranger s need of daily work and logistics. WWF also provided computer and printer for the station. The station can be used for 10 years. With the development of the reconstruction in the affected nature reserves, WWF will also take part in the construction of permanent protection station. In the next step, WWF will help the nature reserve and community to rebuild with existing material as well as reduce the negative impact on the environment. Visiting the Broken Bridge Program Progress River Health Scorecard Assessment in Chengdu The river health scorecard assessment for Baitiao River, the major fresh water resources for millions of people living in Chengdu, was carried out from January to August The average score of the river is 89, which means that it is pretty healthy now. Except bank solidification and the width of the bank vegetation (below 80), all other indexes are above 80. There are still some problems along the river, which is closely linked with millions of people s health in Chengdu. For example, polluted water directly drained into the river. The riverbank was solidified in some sections and the function of natural riverbank is ignored. The width of the vegetation along the back is not enough somewhere. The scientific research, however, shows that only 30 m width of the vegetation can provide good habitat for different wildlife as well as clean the water. Environmental scorecard is one popular mechanism used in America to educate people about specific environmental issues. It is a document that concisely identifies specific environmental indicators under categories and assigns either letter or numerical scores to each indicator, and then provides an aggregate score. Some categories could include pollution, habitat, fisheries, water quantity, and public health to natural resources. Environmental scorecard for rivers, as a qualitative Ready to go Suvey in the field 3

4 and quantitative assessing mechanism, has dual function of monitoring health conditions of rivers as well as educating general public. Yuhe Nature Reserve General Management Plan Developed The general management plan of Yuhe nature reserve was completed during a workshop in Yuhe nature reserve from August 20 to 21, Supported by WWF, the nature reserve invited conservation experts from Gansu Wildlife Administration Bureau, Gansu Forestry Academy, Baishuijiang nature reserve, etc, to help them to develop the general plan for nature reserve management. They also invited local stakeholders from the neighboring communities to attend to meeting. The plan identifies the reserve s middle and long term strategic goal, mission and developing direction. The plan is a guidance for sustainable usage of natural resources of the nature reserve as well as effective protection of endangered species, such as giant panda, gold monkey and takin, and their habitat. Yuhe nature reserve is a new established panda reserve in the south of Gansu province. It is the joint place between Minshan and Qinling, connecting with Baishuijiang nature reserve(gansu province), Qingmuchuan nature reserve(shaanxi province), and Maozhai nature reserve(sichuan province). Its specific geological position and typical mountainous forest ecosystem make the nature reserve one of the most rich biodiversity area in Qinling-Minshan and the key point for the conservation network of Gansu province. WWF all along supports Yuhe nature reserve in monitoring and patrolling, anti-poaching, capacity building and community development from 2004 when it was established. ECBP Baseline Survey Finished in Sichuan and Gansu The ECBP tradition Chinese herbal medicine sustainable management baseline survey was finished in Sichuan, including Meigu county and Pingwu County, and Guansu, including Wen county from August to September. The survey focused on the resources of the Chinese medicinal herb in the three project counties. The survey was delayed because of the earthquake. The members of the survey team had to travel and work in a very dangerous and sordid conditions because of landslide cause by the earthquake and big rain, since September is raining season in Sichuan. Luckily, with the team s great efforts, the survey was successfully finished in all counties by the end of September. The followings are the real situation in these counties: 1. The high valuable wild medicinal herb is dried up while the herb with low value is not collected by the villagers; 4

5 2. The scale of planted medicinal herb is pretty large but lack of the support from management, information, marketing and launching capital; 3. The collecting of wild herb has seriously threatened the biodiversity conservation in these areas; 4. The economies of the areas deeply depend on herb collection and the dependency will increase in the future; 5. The communities are eager to find sustainable and alternative livelihood in medicinal herb planting. The data and information obtained from the survey are under further analysis currently. WWF will adjust the plan according to the analysis result and findings to realize sustainable management and use of traditional Chinese medicinal herb in these areas. The Identification and Establishment of Community Chinese Herbal Medicine Organization for ECBP Finished By the end of September, the identification and establishment of community Chinese herbal medicine organization for ECBP was finished in Wen county, Pingwu county and Meigu county. The activity was carried out by Shuguang, a WWF s local NGO partner in Sichuan, from June to September The experts from Shuguang and nature reserve staff together went to the villages close to the nature reserve and interviewed the farmers personally to understand the basic information of the community, such as what kind of herb they collect, what kind they plant, and the organization in the community. After the interview, the working team identified 5 farmers in the village and established a herbal medicine organization. It was just the very beginning. The operation mechanism of the organization was not yet set. In the next step, the working team will help these organizations to apply small alternative livelihood project to improve their capacity of project implementation as wall as set up an effective operation mechanism for them. Human wildlife Conflict Management Pilot Project Finished in Maozhai NR The pilot project of human wildlife conflict management was finished in Liutian village nearby Maozhai nature reserve by the end of September With the development of conservation, the population of wild animals increases rapidly in recent years. Since the limitation of the nature reserve area and resources, many wild animals, such as monkey and wild pig, often patronize the farmland of the neighboring communities, which causes serious lost to the farmers. WWF supported Maozhai nature reserve to carry out a pilot The Young Plant of Chinese Flowering-quince 5

6 project for this reason. The reserve helped the local farmers plant Chinese Flowering-quince (Chaenomeles sinensis) as eco-fence to prevent wild pig s patronage to their crops. When the project finished, 50 farmers grasped the skill of planting Chinese Flowering-quince and the follow-up management. The reserve also helped the farmers to plant 12,000 Chinese Flowering-quince. WWF expects the pilot project can reduce local farmer s lost caused by wild animals in the nature reserve as well as generate their income by planting such kind of economic plant. WWF will closely follow up such kind of human-wildlife conflict management pilot project around giant panda habitat to find a win-win way for both nature reserve and local farmer. Collective Forest Sustainable Management Pilot Project Completed in Qianfoshan NR The WWF supported collective forest sustainable management pilot project was completed in by Qianfoshan nature reserve in September The collective forest is an important component of the forest resources, and the management of it not only makes influent on the construction and protection of the ecological environment, but also on the direct economic income of numerous community residents. It is one of the important works of the nature reserve that provides the technical guidance for the collective forest management of the peripheral communities around it. Therefore, with the support from Forest Station of Sichuan Forestry Department, Anxian County Forestry Bureau, Qianfoshan nature reserve carried the series survey, assessment and analysis on the collective forest management of Chaping Town and selected the pilot communities to continue the collective forest sustainable management. They also made the programs for the collective forest sustainable management of the pilot communities. Those activities stimulate the enthusiasm of the community residents to participate in the comanagement, and enhanced the self-development capacity of the communities, as well as improved the project management of the nature reserve. It is proves that the sustainable management of the collective forest can not only improve the economic income of the community farmers, but also ease the pressure on the management of the nature reserve. It provides a successful case for reasonable solving the conflicts between conservation and economic development as well as experiences for the sustainable management and resources protection of the collective forest around the nature reserve. The Capacity Building of the Community Management Group The capacity building of the community management group was finished in Chengdu on September 16, Because of the earthquake, the venue was changed from Pingwu to Chengdu. The 6 participating community management groups were from the communities neighboring giant panda habitat in Sichuan and Gansu. 6

7 The 6 first-stage management groups the 4 ones of the next stage participated the training. In 2006, funded by the WWF, the first stage of implementing the community development fund pilot project in the neighboring communities of the nature reserves was carried out in 6 selected communities of 6 nature reserves in Sichuan Province. The first stage of the project successfully brought positive impact on the community sustainable development as well as released the community s pressure of natural resources to the nature reserves. The second stage will be carried out in 4 selected communities. The training provided systematic managing skill and exercise on how to effectively manage the community development fund. It also provided a platform for the management groups to share their experiences and lessons of the community development fund management. The training also helped the management groups to improve their operation scheme and management system of the community development fund. For further information please contact: YANG MING Communicator WWFChina Chengdu Office myang@wwfchina.org Telephone: Address: Room 606 Wu Ding Yuan Shan Yang Zuo Bei Er Duan 100 Yihuanlu, Chengdu, P. R. China 7