First published on 05/14/2018
By: WANG Zhilu
To the left of the Laojun Mountain runs the Jinsha River, the upper reach of Yangtze River and to its right, flows the Lancang River, the upper stretch of Mekong River – the two largest rivers in East Asia, together with Nujiang River, parallel in the southeast of Yunan Province, China, where is widely known as Three Parallel Rivers Protected Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Laojun Mountain, the core area of the Protected Area, extends over 630 square kilometers and bears a population of 7647 people, with diversified ethnic groups including Bai, Lisu, Nakhi, Pumi, Yi and Han. Laojun Mountain is also the major habitat for Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, an endemic and endangered species in China. However, for more than 30 years, the old-growth forests in Laojun Mountain have suffered excessive cutting – slides for woods transfer are still seen everywhere. Villagers were not the only ones who relied on the trees, so did many outsiders, who were in constant disputes with the locals. Cut trees were used as fuels or sold as timber, and left with the bare surface which accelerated land degradation. Due to the long-standing conflicts between conservation and development, a local NGO and GEF SGP launched a sustainable project in four villages at the foot of the Mountain, by promoting “endogenous” development within the community, to reach a win-win situation in both locals and natural surroundings.
‘Bank of Village’ (community mutual aid fund) is an innovation in the seeking of the balanced distribution of forest resources and a practice of traditional custom in the modern sense. The logic of Bank of Village is simple. Villagers voluntarily fund half of the principal of the bank, and the other half come from the project in the ratio of 1:1. Through sortation, villagers divided into three rounds borrow the money in equal amounts with the one-year term. The environmental protection agreement is required for every applicant. The one who violates the agreement would be punished on his/her shares. At the very beginning, villagers could loan 6000 Yuan from 1000 Yuan invested. After 3 years, the local government invested the same ratio of money, making each applicant could borrow up to 10,000 Yuan. The statistic has shown that up till now, the total capital of Bank is as high as 723,000 Yuan, including the shares of 378 families.
The economic benefits from the ‘Bank of Village’ are significant. The very first villagers who loaned 6000 Yuan could profit more than 3000 Yuan in average through the investment in apiculture and gastrodia planting. Consistent monitoring indicates a 60% increase in the income of every participant family. But the meanings of this implementation are not limited to accounting numbers. Environmentally speaking, the diversification of business prevents villagers from unrestrained exploitation on the Mountain. The direct connection of money-loaning to the conservation through written norms, on the other hand, transfer the responsibility of overseeing natural resources from a small group of people to the entire community. Reputation matters everything in a such small community. The ones who break the rules such as hunting or cutting down trees will not only lose their shares of money but will also be alienated from others. For instance, it would be a shame if no one attends certain occasions like weddings or funerals. The expression of conventions in the new mechanism greatly promotes the conservation of the environment.
The efficient implementation of the pioneering ‘Bank of Village’ is a preliminary measure to establish community conserved areas in communities of Laojun Mountain. The fundamental design of the banking system was discussed over and over again by villagers and through countless quarrels and compromises, a final settlement was reached. Alternatively speaking, ‘Bank of Village’ reflects the willingness of community as a whole and in return it serves the villagers. That’s what we called the “endogenous” development inside the community. Indeed, during the establishment of 20 community conserved areas in Laojun Mountain, “endogenous” is repeatedly emphasized. The distribution of project funds, for example, are decided by the villagers themselves through a series of procedures. If a community group has an idea, the group would devise formal proposals, give a speech, debate it with competitors and answer questions in front of other groups of community representatives and outside specialists and stakeholders, who would make the final decision by scoring on each of the proposals. To implement the principle of “endogenous”, the evaluation procedure usually involves the whole community but allows limited assistance from outsiders in the project design. Through the competition, the distribution of public resources achieves a balance between efficiency and fairness.
Another institutional method worth mentioning called “ecological cooperative”, a platform for the co-management of public resources to develop ecological agriculture. The cooperative promotes the replacement of traditional with more ecological agriculture modes. For instance, tobacco leaves planting was once dominant in Jinhe Village, in which process are many burnings. Now they turn to walnut growing instead. Villagers even raise funds for a cold pressed walnut oil project. The ecological cooperative is established in all four villages in the area and launched 6 joint-stock projects, symbolling the mature and well-operative self-governance in those communities. Different rules are discussed and settled by villagers themselves according to their unique situations. Heshang Village, for example, approved a rule for the endangered bamboo fish: no one is allowed to fish in the area. In total, 20 community conserved areas were established during the project, preserving more than 13 thousand hectares of forests.
