Research themes

Introduction

Biodiversity conservation and sustainable development are simultaneously interdisciplinary and international challenges: interdisciplinary because complex socio-economic and landscape processes need to be understood to meet the goal of conservation; and international because most of the world's biodiversity is found in tropical and subtropical developing countries (Noss and Cooperrider, 1994). Human activities are particularly important because biodiversity "hotspots" are often associated with high levels of poverty, natural resource dependence and environmental degradation. For example, 1.1 billion people now live within the world's top 25 biodiversity hotspots (UNDP, 2000). In these densely populated areas, conservation reserves operate under a constant threat of encroachment and degradation. For this reason, a conservation strategy based only on the establishment of reserves has limited utility (Wood, Stedman-Edwards and Mang, 2000). Conserving these ecosystems therefore requires a broader strategy as well as an integrated response to the problems of economic development and conservation, including the restoration of areas not yet included in formal conservation tenures (Soulé and Orians, 2001). Since this agenda entails issues of conservation, economic development, and governance, significant intellectual challenges - conceptual, methodological, and ethical - will need to be overcome.

To meet the combined challenge of biodiversity conservation and economic development, scientists need to work at the confluence of three forces: (i) ecological and environmental factors that govern the existing and future patterns of biodiversity, (ii) economic livelihoods and population dynamics of local people that drive patterns of resource use, and (iii) governance structures and policies that impact biodiversity conservation and human development

The research region is situated on the eastern edge of the Himalayas and is home to a rich diversity of both ecosystems and indigenous peoples. In this high-altitude region, there are 7,000 species of vascular plants, of which 3,000 are endemic to China and 1,000 to northwest Yunnan. Approximately 300 species of mammals are found in the province, of which 66 are endemic to Yunnan alone; over 800 species of birds (9% of the world's total), and about 150 species of reptiles. Moreover, four of the great rivers of Asia- the Mekong, the Yangtze, the Salween, and a tributary to the Irawaddy,- traverse this region carrying one-fifth of the world's fresh water. Finally, the area is home to 26 distinctive ethnic minorities totaling some 5 million people. Traditionally considered a remote and inaccessible part of China, the region is now subject to potentially transformative changes, most notably through (i) complex demographic changes, including inter-regional migration, (ii) infrastructure development, and (iii) domestic and international tourism, and (iv) national policy and institutional imperatives. China's new 'western region development policy, which was first implemented in 1999, is particularly relevant here. It seeks to reduce the growing economic disparity between China's western inland (including Yunnan) and eastern regions by catalyzing economic development. Land use policy is an important feature of the policy.

This is an environment therefore in which the interaction of threatened landscapes, livelihood strategies, and cultural and biological diversity are crucially important. These interactions are mediated by the formal institutions and policies of the state and by the informal institutions of ethnically diverse populations. A further complicating factor is that both China and Yunnan are undergoing important political and economic changes that create significant institutional uncertainty.

We take, as our starting point, the recently promulgated view that orthodox approaches to environmental management and policy have significant conceptual and operational shortcomings (Berkes and Folke, 1998; Roling and Wagemakers, 1998). Two key assumptions have been undermined by recent research and theorizing. First, the simplistic assumption that responses of ecosystems to human use are linear, predictable, and manageable; and second, that human and natural systems are somehow separate and distinct and can therefore be treated independently. Recent research shows that these systems behave in non-linear ways; exhibit thresholds, and that social-ecological spheres act as strongly coupled and integrated systems (Folke et al ., 2002.

This research suggests that what is needed is greater adaptive capacity in socio-ecological systems to cope with rapidly changing circumstances (Gunderson and Holling, 2002). This adaptive capacity in biological systems is related to genetic diversity, biological diversity, and the heterogeneity of landscape mosaics (Carpenter, 2001). In social systems it is strengthened by the existence of institutions and networks that learn and store knowledge, create flexibility in problem solving, and balance power among interest groups (Scheffer et al ., 2000)