Course:CONS370/Projects/Environmental protection and management in Qilian Mountain Pastoral Area: A case study of the Yugur Ethnic Minority in Gansu Province, China

The distribution of Yugur ethnic minority.

Qilian Mountain is located in Gansu Province, Northwest China, most of the pastoral areas are located in Sunan County, with deep mountains and dense forests, rich in forest resources. It is a water conservation forest approved and announced by the State Council of China. In recent years, with the rapid development of animal husbandry in pastoral areas and the establishment of Qilian Mountain National Nature Reserve, the Yugur people living nearby have been affected by many factors. Based on the analysis of the environment and management status of Qilian Mountain, some suggestions are put forward to improve the environmental protection and management of pastoral areas.

Description

Locating in the frontier between the northeast position of the Qinghai Province and the western position of the Gansu Province, Qilian mountain in China's western region is one of the main mountains in China, which consists of many northwest-southeast parallel mountains and dales. It is not only the source area of three inland river (the Shiyang River, Heihe River and Shule River), but also the main source of water in the western region of the Yellow River, including the Ejina Banner, Inner Mongolia, which is the source of life for tens of millions of people The Yugur Autonomous County of Sunan was established in 1954 in the pastoral area of the Qilian Mountain. This is the Autonomous County with the smallest population of a single ethnic group in China. The total population of the county is 37,579, which is composed of 15 ethnic groups, including 10,152 Yugurs, accounting for 27% of the total population.

Tenure arrangements

Landscape of Qilian Mountain National Park

For thousands of years, people of the Yugur and other ethnic groups living in here have been living a nomadic life of migrating to wherever water and grass are available, and the social formation is controlled by the tribe. The tribal leaders are able to determine various affairs in the ethnic group (community). The resources of production factors, such as the land, meadow and other factors, are owned by tribal leaders, herd owners and landowners, and the people can make a living by selling their labor as well as renting the land and grassland. The People's Republic of China was founded in 1949 and then the system of regional ethnic autonomy was implemented.

The Yugur Autonomous County of Sunan was established in 1954, which then led to the cooperation and the socialist transformation of the herd owner's economy, implementing the public ownership for land and grassland. The autonomous regulations of the Yugur Autonomous County of Sunan in the Gansu Province was approved and implemented in May 1989, which clearly stipulates that the autonomous institution of the Autonomous County can manage and protect the land, grassland, forest, mineral resources, water and river, rare wild animals and other natural resources in the county, and prohibit any organization or individual to illegally occupy, trade and destroy in terms of the law. The grasslands owned by the whole people and the grasslands used by the collective for a long time was registered and recorded in a document as well as examined and issued the certificate by the People's Government for confirming their right of exploitation.

In short, the land, forest and grassland resources are all owned by the whole people while the residents have no ownership but only the right to use. The duration of these rights is a long and area-based term which is recognized through the forest rights certificate. The certificates are issued by the local government above county level or the competent forestry department of the state council according to Forest Law or Rural Land Contract Law. The length of time specified in the certificate according to the contract is generally limited to no more than 70 years .

Administrative arrangements

In order to strengthen the protection and management of the forest for water resources conservation and other natural resources in the National Nature Reserve at the Qilian Mountain, Gansu Province (hereinafter referred to as the reserve) for protecting the natural environment and maintaining the biodiversity, the Regulations on administration of the National Nature Reserve at the Qilian Mountain, Gansu Province" was passed in the 16th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th People's Congress of Gansu Province on November 30, 2017.

According to the regulations, the reserve must take the management and protection as the main work, carry out the comprehensively and deeply scientific argumentation, develop the works of ecological restoration by suiting their measures to local conditions, such as closing mountains and cultivating forests and grass, constantly expand the area of forest and grass vegetation, strengthen the protection of glaciers, wetlands, permafrost and wild animals and plants, and obey the positioning of key ecological functional areas determined by the main functional divisions of the state, so as to improve the function of ecological service.

Therefore, the regulations stipulate the following articles for local residents and tourists in the forest reserve：

1. Activities such as logging, grazing, hunting, fishing, medicine gathering, reclamation, land burning, mining, quarrying and sand dredging are prohibited in the protected areas. Except as otherwise provided by laws or administrative regulations.

2.  The protection zone is divided into core zone, buffer zone and experimental zone, which shall be marked and announced by the provincial forestry administrative department. Unit or individual are prohibited from moving boundary markers in the protection zone without authorization. No one is allowed to enter the core area of the reserve except when observation or investigation for scientific research is required  with an application and an activity plan submitted to the administration in advance and approved by the competent forestry administrative department at the provincial level. If the original residents in the core areas of a protected area are necessary to move out, the people's government of the place where the protected area is located shall make proper arrangements for them. Tourism and production activities are prohibited in the buffer zone of the reserve. For the purpose of teaching and scientific research, those who need to enter the buffer zone of the protected area to engage in non-destructive scientific research, teaching practice or specimen collection activities shall submit an application and activity plan to the administration bureau for approval in advance. The experimental areas of the protected areas can be used for non-destructive scientific experiments, teaching practice, visiting and investigation, tourism, domestication, breeding of rare and endangered wildlife and other activities. No production facilities shall be built in the core areas and buffer zones of the protected areas. No production facilities that pollute the environment or destroy resources or landscapes shall be built in the experimental areas of the protected areas. For other projects, the discharge of pollutants shall not exceed the national and local standards. If the discharge of pollutants from the established facilities in the experimental areas of a protected area exceeds the discharge standards set by the state or local authorities, the facilities shall be treated within a limited time. If damage has been caused, remedial measures must be taken. Projects constructed in the outer protection zones of the protected areas shall not damage the environmental quality of the protected areas;Where damage has been caused, it shall be cured within a limited time.

3. Hunting, killing, purchasing or trafficking wildlife in the protected areas is prohibited.

4.  It is forbidden to introduce alien wild plants in the reserve, scatter or release wild animals introduced from places outside the reserve.

5. Transportation of timber, forest products, forest by-products and wildlife under special protection and their products within the protection areas shall be carried out in accordance with relevant laws and regulations .

Affected Stakeholders

The comprehensive management of the ecological environment of the forest pasture, land, river and lake in the Qilian Mountain pastoral area has a far-reaching impact on the production and life of the local Yugur people. Environmental management in accordance with the law is in the long-term interests of the people. "Green water and green mountains are gold and silver mountains", which has long-term ecological and social values for environmental protection and governance but may lead to the interest damage for individual areas or some owners of agricultural and animal husbandry at present.

The interlacing of forest and agriculture as well as forest and animal husbandry is very common due to the residents inside and around the area mainly depending on cultivated land, grassland, forest and other resources to make a living and seek for the development, , which directly leads to the tension between human and nature.

(1) Taking away the animal husbandry as the major part, results in the income of the residents' livelihood in the National Park of the Qilian Mountain becoming lower and the source of livelihood is single with higher natural dependence and vulnerability;

(2) The residents in the National Park of the Qilian Mountain as a whole have a weak perception of the National Park of the Qilian Mountain. They have little and indistinct understanding for the concept of national park, the construction process and relevant policies of the National Park of the Qilian Mountain. The residents have little support for the construction of the National Park of the Qilian Mountain, to which most of them are opposed or neutral, so that the perception of residents for the relevant policies is seriously derailed from the construction process of the park;

(3) At present, the relevant policies implemented in the construction process of the National Park of the Qilian Mountain such as forbidding grazing and construction projects, closing scenic spots and mines, cut off the source of residents' livelihood, leading the the decrease of their employment opportunities.

(4) There is no unified land use planning in the reserve. The ownership or use right of grassland, cultivated land, water area, unused land and other land in the reserve belongs to farmers and herdsmen or other departments, which are respectively managed by agricultural and animal husbandry, water conservancy, land and other departments. As a matter of the fact, the woodland is also included in the grassland. The shrub woodland, sparse woodland and suitable woodland are all herdsmen's grassland, which have lots of the questions of the "two certificates in one place". It is difficult to coordinate departmental and local interests, lacking of long-term coordinated management mechanism of ecological environment protection and governance, and lacking of comprehensive management power of the management department of the protected area over the land, which is not conducive to the overall protection and restoration of the ecosystem .

Interested Outside Stakeholders

1. Visitors

Tourists are fond of experiencing and appreciating the folk culture of ethnic minorities, which can realize the economic value of ethnic minorities’ folk culture, thereby enhancing the awareness  of local residents to protect folk culture consciously, and that it inherited and developed song and dance, costume, diet culture and other cultural treasures of ethnic minorities. Meanwhile, the economic income brought by ecotourism makes local residents realize that only protecting the ecological environment of Qilian Mountain and they can get long-term and stable income. Driven by economic benefits, the awareness of local residents to protect and participate in the ecological environment construction of Qilian Mountain is continually growing.

However, local residents’ money worship thought is enhanced and turns some residents take whether to obtain economic benefits as the standard for judging all behavior. The relationship between local residents and tourists is simple and direct interest relationship. Any help and service must on the premise of the payment of remuneration, and strive to maximize the remuneration.The honest custom of hospitality and helpful is disappearing quietly. In addition, folk culture has been changed wantonly or imitated violently. In order to attract tourists, some Han nationality operators in scenic sits also wear costumes of the Tibet autonomous region or the Yugur nationality, and pretend to be ethnic minorities. Some scenic sits also specially organize teams to display "the folk culture of Tibetan" and "the customs of Yugur nationality" for tourists, but these are mostly "pseudo culture" after "packing" which makes tourists unable to contact and understand the local folk culture comprehensively and truly, also caused the local inherent cultural tradition gradually lose their characteristics.

2. Scientific researchers

After the establishment of the reserve, the construction of scientific research infrastructure could not be included in the agenda due to various reasons. There was a lack of special investment in scientific research facilities and equipment, leading to backward research methods and poor research conditions, and part of the scientific research work could not be carried out. Despite the efforts made by the Qilian Mountain administration to improve the investment and research environment, there is still a lot of work to be done in the areas of infrastructure and equipment, books and materials, transportation and communication, and the overall improvement of the quality of scientific and technological personnel, which needs long-term construction and support from the whole society .

Discussion

The purpose of our article is to take Sunan county as the object, analyze the current situation and existing problems of the ecological environment in the pastoral area of Qilian mountain, and put forward the countermeasures for the ecological environment protection in the pastoral area of Qilian mountain.

Achievement

1. An ecological resettlement project has been launched in the core area of the Qilian Mountain National Nature Reserve (within Sunan County). According to the national ecological resource management personnel management protection standards and the shortage of forest farm management personnel, priority will be given to the Yugur people living in mountainous and pastoral areas to be converted into ecological resource management personnel, which not only solves the pressure of ecological immigration, but also solves the shortage of ecological resource management personnel problem .

Yugur horsemen perform equestrianism during a traditional ethnic minorities sports meeting.

2. The prospect of eco-tourism development in Yugur Autonomous County is brilliant. Sunan Yugur Autonomous County mainly develops ten tourist attractions, such as Mahoi temple, Qilian cultural industrial park, Danxia scenic spot, folk custom resort, hunting ground and Qilian mountain grassland .

3. The competent departments of forestry governments at all levels and the administrative organs of nature reserves conscientiously perform their duties and fully implement the forest law of the People's Republic of China, the law of the People's Republic of China on the protection of wildlife, the regulations of the People's Republic of China on nature reserves and other laws and regulations.This has led to a significant reduction in illegal activities such as logging, hunting, fishing, drug collection, reclamation, land burning, mining, quarrying and dredging in the nature reserve.

Managed critical issues or conflicts

1. The ecological pressure in Yugur Autonomous County is high. Since the residents in and around the area mainly rely on arable land, grassland, forest and other resources to maintain their livelihood, it is very common to have interlacing of forestry and animal husbandry, which directly leads to the tension between man and nature. Most of the shrubby woodlands and meadows suffer from serious vegetation degradation, aggravated soil erosion, and decreased water conservation function and biodiversity due to overgrazing . With the increasing number of Yugur people beginning to engage in the management of nature reserves and ecotourism, people's dependence on natural resources decreased, which is conducive to the protection of local natural resources.

2. The participation of Yugur’s herdsmen in the eco-tourism development industry is still not enough and they are lack of understanding of the development status. In the analysis on the proportion of residents' main economic sources (Table 1), Herdsmen, 52.8% of people surveyed that animal husbandry is the main economic source, relying on agriculture, animal husbandry and people who work for the source of income each accounted for 9.9%, 3.5%, 30.3%. However, tourism as the main income of herdsmen accounted for only 3.5% of the total, showed the herdsmen to the development of the local ecological tourism participation is low, to a certain extent hindered the development of ecological tourism. In addition, the survey of local people's understanding of ecotourism (Table 2) illustrates that local herdsmen's understanding of eco-tourism development status is also low . Most local herdmen do not know much about eco-tourism development. Recently, local tourism management workers are actively popularizing the knowledge of eco-tourism for local herdsmen, so as to let local people know the benefits of developing eco-tourism to local people as well as local ecology. If the tourism environment can be reasonably developed and planned, it will help to maintain and improve the basic service facilities and environmental conditions of the tourist reception areas, and protect the natural environment of the tourist attractions.

3. The livelihood income of residents in Yugur Autonomous County is low and the income source is single. The main income source is animal husbandry. Thus, the livelihood of local residents is naturally highly dependent, and their income is vulnerable to environmental impacts, which is very unstable. Recently, local tourism officials have been training local yugur villagers as tour guides, asking them to interpret the local history, culture, local customs and the unique ethnic culture of the yugur people. In addition, the staff of the scenic spot, drawing lessons from the thinking of e-commerce, vigorously promote the national handicrafts and unique agricultural products in order to increase the popularity, which attract more tourists and improve the income of local people.This helps establish Yugur's own brand and create brand effect. This method combines ecotourism with culture, and establishes an ecotourism scenic spot with historical and cultural background.

Assessment

Objectively speaking, the Qilian Mountain's pastoral area has followed the pace of China's reform and opening-up development. Economic and social progress has been made and the environmental conditions of the pastoral area are getting better. Deep into the Yugur community, we can feel a significant improvement in people's life.

There is no deny that there are also some contradictions and problems in the management of the Yugur people and pastoral areas. For example, the restrictions on animal husbandry cause the income of the Yugur people to decrease, and the employment is frustrated. The Yugur residents should be guided to find new employment directions. Some Yugur residents do not know much about the construction management and policies of Qilian Mountain Forest Park. Therefore, there are often deviations in the specific implementation. It is necessary to strengthen education and publicity work to let the Yugur people understand the necessity and importance of the construction of nature reserves.

At present, the implementation of the ecological migration project in the core area and buffer zone of the Qilian Mountain National Nature Reserve (within Sunan County) has insufficient forest farm management and protection personnel. The qualified personnel in the permanent mountain closure and grazing-free areas can be placed to make them eligible. The transformation into ecological resources management and protection personnel not only solved the employment pressure of ecological immigrants, but also solved the problem of shortage of ecological resources management and protection personnel. This requires institutional protection, and the government takes the initiative.

At the same time, the contradiction between the target task of environmental protection and the serious shortage of management and compensation costs has not been resolved. The state attaches great importance to the construction of the ecological environment and regards Qilian Mountain as a nature reserve. The project of returning grazing land to grassland and logging area to forests in pastoral areas in Sunan has been implemented in more than 5 million mu (a unit of area) of grazing land converting to grassland, as well as some comprehensive management projects in the upper reaches of the Heihe River, which require a lot of resources. Judging from the current situation, the relevant funds are in short supply, and it is necessary to increase the investment of the higher level government to complete this target task.

While conducting ecological migration, the local government should also actively carry out the projects of closing mountains for forest cultivation, banning grazing and returning grazing land to grassland. Practice has proved that it is a good way to restore and expand the area and coverage of forest grassland with less investment and quick effect to close mountains for forest cultivation, ban grazing and return grazing land to grassland. In particular, the vegetation coverage of severely degraded shrubby and grassland can reach 75% in 4-7 years, and the sealing effect is very obvious.

Recommendations

1. The government should attach importance to the role of science and technology in environmental protection, strengthen the training of professionals in scientific research and management of forestry nature reserves, and improve the quality of management teams.They should establish databases on the distribution of ecosystems, vegetation and rare and endangered species in nature reserves, and improve the ecological and resource monitoring system in nature reserves.

2. Relevant personnel in the management of the nature reserves should straighten out the management system of the nature reserves, improve various infrastructure, clarify the relationship of land ownership, and attach importance to protecting the interests of individual Yugur residents..

3. The government should actively listen to the views and suggestions of local residents and herdsmen, and solicit opinions from all sectors of society. After weighing various interests of different stakeholder, the government needs to fully develop local ecotourism resources. They should deepen the development of eco-tourism products and combine the local natural landscape with Yugur culture. Therefore, a environmental friendly and cultural eco-tourism destination can be created, which follows a high-level, modern and sustainable development path aimed at protecting local eco-tourism resources.

4. The relevant management personnel of the protected areas should strengthen the training of scientific research, management and other professionals, and strengthen the cooperation with colleges and universities and scientific research institutes to vigorously carry out the research on the protection technology and management policies and measures of the forest nature reserves. Only in this way can the database of ecosystem, vegetation and the distribution of rare and endangered species in nature reserves be gradually established, and the ecological and resource monitoring system of nature reserves be perfected.

5. Local media and government propaganda departments should strengthen public opinion guidance, mobilize public participation, and form a strong social atmosphere that "everyone has the responsibility to protect the ecology". In addition, the local government should give full play to the role of public supervision, public supervision and public opinion supervision, and effectively promote the ecological and environmental protection of public forests and grasslands.

6. The local yugur villagers should respond to the government's call to build ecotourism, actively learn about ecotourism, and understand that ecotourism can improve the income of local residents and protect the ecological environment.In addition, yugur people should also enthusiastically participate in the construction and management of local protection areas and contribute to the development of their hometown.

Attachments

Table 1. Analysis on the proportion of residents' main economic sources

	Frequency	Percentage	Effective percentage	Cumulative percentage
Agriculture	14	9.9	9.9	9.9
Animal husbandry	75	52.8	52.8	62.7
Tourism	5	3.5	3.5	66.2
Breeding	5	3.5	3.5	69.7
Working for others	43	30.3	30.3	100.0
Total	142	100.0	100.0

Table 2. Local herdsmen's understanding of eco-tourism development status

	Frequency	The percentage	Effective percentage	Cumulative percentage
Very familiar with	15	10.6	10.6	10.6
Familiar with	41	28.9	28.9	39.4
Don't know much about	81	57.0	57.0	96.5
Know nothing	5	3.5	3.5	100.0
Total	142	100.0	100.0

This conservation resource was created by Peilin Chu, Yuge Shi & Zixuan Wang. It has been viewed over {{#googleanalyticsmetrics: metric=pageviews|page=Course:CONS370/Projects/Environmental protection and management in Qilian Mountain Pastoral Area: A case study of the Yugur Ethnic Minority in Gansu Province, China|startDate=2006-01-01|endDate=2020-08-21}} times.