First published on 05/14/2018
By: WANG Zhilu
Sanjiangyuan, meaning ‘sources of three rivers’ in Chinese, is a national nature reserve on Tibetan Plateau which gives birth to three of the greatest rivers in East Asia – the Yellow, the Yangtze and the Mekong. Its varied landforms – meadow, wetland, forest and snow mountain breed diversified wildlings. However, the ecosystem is vulnerable, suffering the human activities which accelerates the devastation and threaten the delicate environment and their habitants.
Located in the interior of Sanjiangyuan, Gamai Village is a small village with the typical Kam-Ba culture. Nearly a thousand Tibetans live in the indigenous land, taking nomadism, mainly, and some plateau climate crops such as barley and potato for a living. Grassland and forest meet here and not far away are mountains covered by white snow all year around – “sacred mountains”, revered by locals – where multiple rivers, the upper sources of the Lancang (Mekong) River, spread through the land. Yak and Tibetan sheep are seen everywhere. Endangered animals like leopards, bharal, lynx and bar-headed goose can be witnessed sometimes as well.
Of this 1000 km2 land, more than seven fractions are covered by the forest, which leaves the grassland, the pasture for livestock, with an area no more than two fractions. The livelihood of the villagers is profoundly constrained. Although some of them may profit from caterpillar fungus, an expensive medicine in China, most of the villagers, turn to the forest to seek more space. The chopped woods are used as building materials or firewood and the bare surface after deforestation provides the room for cattle expansion. A great amount of forests, the habitat of wildlife, is razed to the ground. Besides the aggravated threats to endangered wild animals, “white pollution” is worsening too, due to the wide use and random disposal of plastic goods. Widespread poaching activities even the existing ecological clash between men and nature.
Before GEF SGP coming, the youngsters in the village have been voluntarily protecting the homeland, begun by clearing the wildlife hunting traps and plastic waste in the mountains. Based on it, in 2013, the Jinpa Project, a local NGO, launched the community conserved area project in Gamai with the support of GEF SGP. Several measures were taken by Jinpa targeting the existing problems. For example, a waste station for the accumulated disposal of the garbage instead of burning it in open-air. Publicity on harms of plastic waste was carried out too, following by the remarkable result that waste management system has been gradually built in the area.
In order to develop a comprehensive research on the biodiversity facts of the community conserved area and to summarize the threats it meets, Jinpa organized a patrol team of 20 locals, all trained by professionals in GEF SGP and equipped with infrared camera and GPS. The outcomes of several patrol activities are a biological species database with over ten wildlife and the corresponding management protocols on wildlife, grassland, forest and sacred mountains. The project even designed a roadmap based on the information collected to attract tourist, create more income, and at the same time, not to disturb the ecological environment. Furthermore, the camera set up in the wild to some extent deterred the poachers.
In the past, woods were massively cut down for fuels. In Tibetan Plateau, cow dung has been utilized universally as fuel materials by local herdsmen, for its economy and disinfection but in Gamai, due to the rainy climate and cliffy landscape, cow dung is not easily dried thus wet usually breed bugs, which is against the local belief that killing is forbidden if they are burned alive. The dilemma resulted in the sacrifice of cypress woods, which were rare in plateau climate. The project came up with a method to dry the cow dung faster: to expose the cow dung under the sun by the bamboo stick. The innovation saved the trees – statistics show that 80% percent of devastation to woods has been effectively constrained that 1000 cypress trees are prevented from being cut down and burned.
Faithful locals believe in the sacred mountains and the traditional Tibetan Buddhism virtue that all living beings are equal. Three times a year, villagers in Gamai salute the “mountain gods”, thank the giving from nature and regret the seizing. Customs lay the foundation for the active participation of locals in the building of community conserved area. The project, on the other hand, introduces the outside experiences and the scientific preservation measures to Gamai. The inside willingness to protect and the outside assistance match perfectly. In the future, the project plans to extend the sustainable livelihood, by training local women with traditional craftsmanship and developing eco-tourism.
