Gaoligong a national-level nature reserve.^71 It was the second area in Yunnan
province to become a national PA, after Xishuangbanna.
In its nearly 20 years of operation, the Mt Gaoligong Nature Reserve has
confronted all the predicaments of law, policy, and administration affecting
China’s PAs. Initially, conflict between local minority cultures and the PA
administration threatened biodiversity conservation. The Director attributes
the success of Mt Gaoligong (as a nationally recognized PA and the best
managed one in Yunnan) to these factors: ‘We have a traditional perspective.
We apply the laws and regulations with a traditional perspective in mind. We
want people, especially the local people, to recognize the importance of
biodiversity’.^72 Nevertheless, the lack of a landscape approach to the design of
nature reserves means that the PA faces pressures from increases in population
outside the reserve in the Nu River area. Also, external economic growth
endangers some species, particularly fish, within the nature reserve.
The Mt Gaoligong Nature Reserve has a collection of buildings, situated
within the experimental zone of the reserve: dormitories for workers, a rescue
center for injured species, an environmental education center (focusing on bird
watching), and rudimentary eco-tourism facilities. A well on the reserve
supplies water for reserve staff needs and is shared with residents in the
experimental zone. The administrative center of the reserve is an hour’s drive
away in Baoshan city, the headquarters of Baoshan county, and physically
across the courtyard from a city office building.
Reserve managers navigate complex relationships with a host of superior
and parallel government bodies. The SFA claims supervising authority over
this national-level reserve. The Yunnan Provincial Forestry Bureau exercises
authority too. (It is a program office with just ten officials.) The SFA is in
touch with nature reserve managers once or twice a year only; provincial
forestry officials have more frequent contact, about seven or eight times
yearly. The provincial office examines construction and work plans and
facilitates budgeting for the reserve.
It is the local government that has the most frequent communication with
the reserve staff. The Director commented:
‘In general the municipal government does not have much authority. Yet we are part
of the municipal government in many respects. They examine all the laws and
regulations; they supervise construction plans. The Baoshan municipal forestry
administration also has responsibilities with respect to the protected area. However,
its mission is larger. Several thousand people work for it; its responsibilities extend
to putting out forest fires. Overall it is a confusing relationship.’When asked about his relationship with the head of the forestry department of
Baoshan, the Director said ‘He’s my “older brother” in terms of authority’.
Although the nature reserve is not rich in terms of fiscal resources, it is
118 Governance of biodiversity conservation in China and Taiwan